Nara Thai @ WestGate

Hey guys! Today my bosses brought the company for an impromptu farewell lunch for me, and my mgr, wai & I got to choose the location. So when i knew Nara Thai opened at Westgate, I suggested for us to give this a try, as this restaurant is highly raved by SG bloggers for the outlet in Bangkok, at Siam Paragon.

They had two seating areas, one outdoors one indoors, initially we got seated indoors, but the aircon was way too cold. I guess it was cause the restaurant was pretty vacant at opening time, we reached the restaurant at about 11.45am. So switched to the outdoor area, which was pretty relaxing, due to the lush "greeneries" just behind our table of 6.

We practically ordered a feast fit for a queen's or princess's banquet i think, lots of dishes ranging from carbos to proteins to sugars;

This is "Khao Pad Samunprai" aka Thai Herb fried rice cost $10.90, we ordered this cause of curiosity as we have never tried and seen blue colored rice. I don't know what this should taste like, but for me this was a mediocre dish, just fragrant colored rice...

This is "Khao Pad Sappaprod" aka Thai Pineapple fried rice with chicken and pork and cost $12.90. Honestly, I had high expectations of this dish, but it disappointed me. Rice didn't had that "wok-fried" taste, it was pretty moist, in fact this dish felt like they cooked it in the rice cooker, didn't think it was fantastic, rather have the blue rice.

This is "Phad Thai Gai" aka chicken phad thai and cost $14.90. Quite awesome really nothing to complain about, though my mgr commented that we shouldn't be matched with chicken, should have matched with prawn instead to make it more fragrant.

We ordered "Tom Kha Gai" aka chicken in coconut soup that costs $13.90, and "Tom Yum Kung" aka river prawns in spicy lemongrass and lime soup that costs $19.90, both for 2-3pax portions. My bosses and mgr loved the Tom Kha Gai, i guess people who loved coconut milk and spicyness will love this dish. I honestly do not really like it, as I felt it was less flavorful as compared to the Tom Yum Kung, which I absolutely loved, and practically finished half the pot on my own!

We ordered "Yum Sum O" aka Pomelo Salad that costs $13.90. Superbly good and appetizing! The aroma of the fried shallots and the cashew nuts, as well as the sweet sauce with the pomelo was a heavenly match! Then we ordered "Koh Moo Tord Hgar" ask deep fried pork neck with sesame seeds that costs $9.90. We ordered cause my boss tried it in bangkok and said it was awesome. And true enough, the lime chilli sauce that go with the crispy pork neck was superb!

This is "Tord Mun Pla" aka thai fish cakes that costs $13.90 for a mere 6 pieces. You can order this if you want to try your luck, but i wouldn't suggest that, the fish cakes were too hard to even bite, and my boss complained that it wasn't fresh, all of us had 1 bite, and then we got the waiter to refund us. Though the waiter claimed this fish cakes were freshly made everyday.

Hors D'oeuvre Nara aka assorted nara dishes that costs $17.90 suitable for 2-3pax, if you don't want to order the sides separately and just wanna sample, 3 pieces of thai chicken satay, 3 pieces of pandan chicken, one mini pomelo salad, and I recalled 2 thai fish cakes(-.-||| which we totally left it there un-touched)

"Gai Tord Kapi" aka thai version of shrimp paste chicken that costs us $9.90. This came with a sauce dish of pepper and salt that matches the chicken quite well, crispy, but the meat a little dry. I reckon not enough shrimp paste too.

 "Phunim Phad Pong Karee" stir fried soft shell crab with yellow curry that costs us $18.90. Honestly this dish actually quite nice, but cause they used deep fried soft shell crab, it was a little salty, best to match with some plain carbos like a bowl of white rice? The curry wasn't spicy at all, so its suitable for the people who prefer non-spicy dishes.

I love pandan lemongrass drink, from the first time I drank it, so when i saw this pandan lemongrass roselle cooler, i thought i tried it, it costs $6.90 i think. I love my teas without sugar, so they went a bit heavy with the syrup, this drink was quite sweet, and hint of lemongrass was mediocre. The waiter promoted their thai young coconut, claiming it was shipped in from Thailand, from Nara Thai's own plantation. But when we ordered two of it, well the meat was pretty tough, so I guess the coconut is pretty old?

(You guys can try making this drink on your own actually, I boil a huge batch from time to time, 1 bunch of pandan leaves and 1 stalk of lemongrass plus 1 green tea bag would suffice for a 1.5litre portion to be kept in the fridge and added with hot water whenever you want to drink it or just drink it cold lo.)

 Before we ordered desserts, we were mostly neck-full, kinda over ambitiously over ordered. But girls being girls will somehow always have room for desserts right? We ordered their "Khao Neeo Mamuang" aka thai mango sticky rice that costs $7.90, we didn't regret this, though portion of the rice was a pretty small ball, but the mango was ubber sweet! Then we ordered "Tub Tim Krob" aka thai red ruby, my usual favourite thai dessert, nothing much to complain about this dish, totally love the jackfruit slices on top!

My bosses paid for this, so i don't really know much it amounted to in the end, but base on estimate, 5 pax, 3 carbs, 2 soups, 5 sides, 5 drinks, 2 desserts, I reckon it amounted to $200-250 plus the gst and svc charge. It may be a little expensive for some people, and way "pricier" than hawker thai food, but I think it is quite worth for the ambience and the quality of most of their dishes.

It is located at Westgate #03-07, opened everyday, 11.30am to 10pm. This is their menu from their website that you guys can browse http://narathai.com.sg/nara-menu-singapore-2013-e12.pdf and for reservations can call 6710 5867.