When it comes to deciding where to eat, Daniel and I have endless discussions before we come to a consensus. Many factors come into play but none more so than the "feeling", or craving that I have at that point. Our typical pre-dinner exchange is something along the lines of this:
Daniel: So what do you feel like having?
Me: I dunno.
Daniel: Italian? Japanese? Chinese?
Me: Dunno leh...
Daniel: Ok...More Western or Asian?
Me: Err. Dunno?
Daniel: Let's do Mexican.
Me: Don't feel like Mexican leh...
And the debate carries on.
So when we found ourselves in the Waterloo Street area one evening after an event, and I didn't feel up to making any decision, Daniel suggested taking a short walk over to Sunshine Plaza to try out Aroy-Dee, a Thai cafe that had been getting rave reviews on hungrygowhere.com for its affordable and authentic Thai cuisine.
The rather drab ambience of Aroy-Dee wasn't exactly what I'd expected, perhaps having unconsciously related it to the more "atas" (high-class) A-Roy Thai restaurant in Siglap. The "cafe" was really a coffeeshop set-up, complete with foldable tables and plastic chairs. We opted to sit inside, where we'd spied an air conditoner unit, but unfortunately it wasn't terribly effective and ventilation was less than ideal. Nonetheless, we proceeded with our orders, which arrived promptly.
The stir-fried minced pork with basil was easily one of the best we'd tasted in Singapore (including some of the Thai joints in Golden Mile Complex). It was obvious the spice level had not been turned down for local tastebuds, which works perfectly for us. Each mouthful was a wonderful combination of searingly hot chili, sweet basil, and rich bits of fatty ground pork.
Our claypot tang hoon (glass noodles) with prawns was equally authentic, full of flavour from the seafood and pork fat. It was a pity though, that the chef was rather heavy-handed with the fish sauce in this dish, making it a tad too salty. Aroy-Dee was extremely generous with the prawns - I think we counted at least 8 medium ones - in this one dish alone.
We also had the green chicken curry (Daniel practically inhaled the curry, hence no photo), washed down with some very sweet Thai iced tea.
My only gripe with Aroy-Dee is its service. The wait staff took down one of our orders wrongly (despite them having a number system for all their items), and one of the service staff couldn't even understand English, much less serve effectively! But I guess I can forgive these glitches considering our bill came in at under S$40 for 2 of us - an absolute steal for the generous portions and quality. We'll be back soon, for sure.
Aroy-Dee is at 91 Bencoolen Street, #01-12 Sunshine Plaza. Note they are closed on Sundays.
