Sawadee kap! It’s now 2014 and Nana Thai restaurant (Golden Mile Complex) has already been around for a few years. So how has the food been? Has it changed over these years…or has not? This review article is our take on this well-known Thai restaurant serving original Thai food.
The restaurant is located on the first floor of Golden Mile Complex and has pretty decent seating capacity able to sit in fairly many diners. It extends all the way out of the restaurant and temperature is cooling (at least at the time we were there when there were not many diners). I know there is a huge typhoon fan there so you know your heat from their spice is well-taken care of. Though the staffs there do not speak English well, they are still able to converse with you with minimal difficulty. Menus are bilingual in Thai and English with plenty of illustrations.
Mango Salad ($5.00)
The first dish ordered was the Mango Salad. The nature of this dish is pretty spicy so the waitress gave us an option of choosing the level of spiciness. The salad does not taste too sour like some we tasted before and the spiciness was still there despite lowering to our preference. Now this is good as in what is Thai Mango Salad without the spice in it? The sour and spice has a balance in this appetizer, served with fresh onions, peanuts and julienned mangoes with lots of sauce, tangy enough to open up your taste buds to the mains coming up.
Iced Milk Tea ($1.50)
On your visit to Nana Thai, you may want to try out their Iced Milk Tea. It’s quite a big glass of tea for the $1.50 price compared to what you’ll normally get for a pathetic home-made Iced Lemon Tea at a kopitiam. The milk and the tea, you still can taste the tea flavour as you sipped your first sip of the beverage. Now, some times some places served tea with the milk overpowering the tea flavour. This is different. Milky taste first ending with the sharp flavour of the tea as it flows down from your tongue to your throat. Oh and the crushed ice gives this beverage as very refreshing feeling.
Stir Fried Kai Lan With Pork ($10.00)
The first main we ordered was the Stir Fried Kai Lan With Pork. The quantity of this dish is quite a lot (yeah maybe because it’s $10). Taking a closer, the roasted pork pieces are actually big, chunky and generous! The same goes for the Kai Lan presented here, crunchy and green. And the sauce, sip! It is flavourful. The fried shallots topped on this dish enhances the flavour, especially when the shallots gets soaked in the sauce (you know what happens when fried shallots soaks up in soups, porridge or a dish) and a scoop of everything with white rice….hmm hmm! We think the pork is the plus point here because some places is going to serve really small pieces of roasted pork that you will think you are having chopped strips of bacon.
Basil Pork ($10.00)
Basil Pork is the Thai dish that will always pops onto our table whenever we visit a Thai eatery joint. Their Basil Pork caught us by surprise. It wasn’t too spicy at all. This dish there is no option to reduce your spice and as you can see in the photo, there is no bits of chopped chilli in sight. So for those who had fire fighting experience with similar dish, this sure is some good news. In view of the ratio of pork and basil/long beans, it has a lot of pork to chow at and the way they cooked it, it isn’t too dry so every scoop of the slight fatty pork is moist with a pinch of basil taste in it, not to mention the crunch of the chopped long beans. Also available in Basil Chicken as well.
Suddenly a tall hot stoneware appears.
Seafood Tom Yum ($10.00)
In the tall hot stoneware contains the signature of Thai food, Seafood Tom Yum soup (Red). Guess what, the fire below that is heating up the soup constantly, is powered by charcoal! Look, typically Seafood Tom Yum soup serves up in bowls and even if it is being heated up, most likely will be using solid fuel like the ones you see in 小碗面. Charcoal fire really gives a different taste in soups or dishes cooked. Grandma knows this well. Again, Nana Thai displays its generosity in its ingredients…just look at the above! Mushrooms, big fishballs, crab sticks, prawns, squids, tomatoes, carrots and spring onions. The soup tastes Tom Yum-ly good – balanced spicy and sour. It’s spiciness is just right and you can comfortably sipped the soup while it’s still hot. The prawns are fresh and you can tell by its crunchiness as you bite them and same goes for the squid and other ingredients too.
Nana Thai restaurant really serves up quality Thai food with the display of what Thai food should be – fresh ingredients and generosity. The ultimate question to every end of a meal, will you feel thirsty after eating? The answer is no. You can be assured no artificial flavourings being added in their cooking (especially Tom Yum soups and stir fried dishes). Combining this with the fact about their quality of ingredients, no wonder the folks at Nana Thai restaurant calls it Original Thai Food. Khob Khun Krap!
Nana Thai Restaurant
5001 Beach Road #01-51/52/66C
Golden Mile Complex Singapore
Tel: 62978498
Opening Hours: Daily: 11:00 – 22:00
