Divine Thai experience at Thai Chi
This restaurant is at the top of the Thai cuisine game and makes for an all-round rewarding sensory experience. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- One has to be careful when ordering from the menu at Thai Chi as the prices are not inclusive of VAT and accompaniments come at an extra cost.
- Naturally if frugality is not your thing, you need not bother. On hearing this, I thought about my shekels, and asked my waiter to get me the cheapest classic rice noodles they had. They were pleasantly filling and had a great gelatinous texture, just how I like them.
Few exotic cuisines provide for a more gloriously rewarding sensory experience than Thai food. From powerful aromas to strong flavours, vibrant colours and a myriad of textures, I have not known any gourmet who does not enjoy Thai offerings.
I properly explored Thai cuisine during two weeks I spent in Thailand where eating out costs next to nothing, so you can imagine my hesitation to pay three times more for a meal here.
However, if I am going to be fleeced then I must be placated with my money’s worth and Thai Chi more than does this. As far as décor, service and ambiance goes, this restaurant is at the top of its game. Soft piped oriental music offers a pleasant atmosphere and the expert juxtaposition of wood panelling, silk embroidery and Buddhist ritual artefacts complete the Asian theme.
Sitting on the floor at one of their low tables last weekend, I had the best pla rad prik (Thai crispy tilapia topped with tamarind sauce) I have had since my trip to Thailand.
NOT FOR THE FRUGAL
As opposed to the regular whole tilapia I have had in the past, Thai Chi offers cutlets of tilapia starched and deep-fried to a nice and crispy brown.
The magic of this otherwise simple dish is in the garlic and tamarind chilli sauce which is nothing short of divine. Sweetened with traditional Asian palm sugar and a smidgen of coconut milk to counter the tartness of the tamarind, the sauce is definitely among my most cherished toppers ever!
The fish is soft enough to cut through, but holds well and does not break, something which is among my most intolerable culinary peeves.
One has to be careful when ordering from the menu at Thai Chi as the prices are not inclusive of VAT and accompaniments come at an extra cost.
Naturally if frugality is not your thing, you need not bother. On hearing this, I thought about my shekels, and asked my waiter to get me the cheapest classic rice noodles they had. They were pleasantly filling and had a great gelatinous texture, just how I like them.
The menu has a wide range of noodle varieties, enough to make your mouth water from just reading their descriptions and I can’t wait to go back with a healthier wallet so I can explore them.
As if I wasn’t already won over, they later brought me a fragrant fortune cookie which had me wild with excitement. It had been yonks since my last one and I cracked it open as I waited for my bill. The message inside obviously did not excite me much as I no longer remember it, but as sure as eggs is eggs, I will not be forgetting the total on my bill any time soon.
