A Sweet | Salty | Spicy Journey

6th May 2012. Written by Xin Li.

Located at the Rail Mall, Sweet Salty Spicy is a casual and elegant Thai restaurant located in a laidback part of Singapore, the perfect stop for a morning or evening walk around the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Rail Corridor.

The restaurant, inspired by Nahm, a London-based Thai restaurant found by David Thompson seeks to fill in the gap between high-end Thai cuisine and fast-food style Thai cuisine under restaurant chains such as Lerk Thai and Thai Express.

The chef hopes to introduce a casual, comfortable, café style restaurant while serving delicious authentic Thai food. The ingredients itself were provided by a dedicated supplier who gets them from Thailand.

The menu is a sketch of Thailand itself, offering various specialties across the various regions of Thailand including street food, noodles and a colourful array of curries.

For a start, Sweet Salty Spicy brings you on a tour of the streets of Thailand’s delicious street food scene with a selection of food which you could share on a Tasting Platter (4 Choices) (26.00++ SGD).

We got the Miang of prawns and pomelo on betel leaves with a palm tamarind and crispy garlic (3.50++ SGD). An earth mixture of flavours and textures such as the juicy flesh of pomelo and herbal flavours of betel leaves. I call this a ‘Thai popiah’. I find the leaf a bit limp though otherwise, it was a rather unique appetizer.

The Traditional Prawn and Vegetable Rice Rolls with a Sweet Tamarind Dressing and Crispy Garlic (6.00++ SGD) was comparatively ordinary, unlike the rice rolls we are used to, this one has a thicker skin.

One of my favourites is the Crispy Soft Shell Crab with Chilli Jam and Lemongrass Dressing (13.00++ SGD), it has a nice crispy batter and the chilli jam was really good. This is the perfect comfort food.

However, the Sweet Salty Spicy Crispy Rice Cakes with a Warm Chicken and Prawn Chilli Dip (10.00++ SGD) easily took the crown for the best street food. The rice crackers itself was crispy without being too oily it was rather light.

You could either dip the rice cracker or enjoy it by spreading a spoonful of their wonderful, spicy and fragrant dip on the rice cracker and savour it slowly while you take in the aromas from the chicken and prawn chili gravy. It is simply divine.

For soup, instead of the usual Tom Yum, we went for the Spicy Chicken and Coconut Broth infused with Thai Blue Ginger, kaffir lime and lemongrass ($10.00++ SGD). It is a milky white broth which is accumulatively spicy with a sourish aftertaste.

The flavours reminded me of Tom Yum except that instead of prawns, this is chicken. Quite a robust and hearty soup but I just find the chicken slightly rubbery.

Pad Thai is being offered at Sweet Salty Spicy but we decided to try something different such as the ‘Chang Mai’ Curried Noodles with Chicken and Mustard Greens (12.00++ SGD). Topped with fired crispy noodles and served with a quad of condiments including sesame oil, lime, onions, this is indeed something different.

Underneath the spicy, nutty curry broth is a serving of tender, springy rice noodles. You could either squeeze lime juice into the noodles itself to give it a citrus kind of finish and lighten the palate or into the sesame oil dip.

There is also the Deep Fried Silken Tofu stuffed with Fresh Crab, Coriander and Minced Pork (18.00++ SGD). This is one dish in which all components need each other to work. The fresh crab is sandwiched between two tofu layers and it must go with the sweet and spicy Thai chilli sauce. Together, it is a tasty appetizer.

But what is Thai food without curries and Sweet Salty Spicy lets you choose not one but three kinds of curry inclusive of jasmine rice to share with their Curry Triplets (18.00++ SGD for 2-3 pax). Add 2 SGD each if you opt for their Panang Curry or Jungle Curry.

Firstly, we had the classic green curry but at Sweet Salty Spicy, it was served with a baby snapper. The Green Curry of Baby Snapper with Apple Eggplants and Holy Basil has a herbal, earthy flavour.

Then there is the Roast Duck Red Curry with Seedless Grapes and Fried Shallots, a sweet, spicy curry which goes very well with jasmine rice. This was pretty good.

Lastly, the Jungle Curry of Scallops and Prawns with Long Green Beans and Sweet Thai Basil has a more familiar flavour and aesthetics. It looked like the belachan curry paste we find in Malay cuisine but upon tasting it there is a significant difference, this curry has a mild sweetness to it and the prawns served with it was plump and succulent.

And to finish the meal, you could opt for one of the two Thai desserts available on the menu. We decided to go for the Black Sticky Rice with Caramelized Coconut Flakes and Coconut Cream (7.00++ SGD). Similar Black Rice Porridge or Pulut Hitam, this dessert was rich and the cashew nuts gave it a nice crunchy texture. The coconut cream however is slightly salty.

Overall, I find Sweet Salty Spicy to be a nice place to hang out or relax. Even on weekends, the restaurants doesn’t get too crowded and because it shares the same venue with Café Epicurious, you could even order the Baked Eggs from Café Epicurious while you snack on Sweet Salty Spicy’s delicious street food.

Thank You Sweet Salty Spicy for the invitation!

Sweet | Salty | Spicy
392/394 Upper Bukit Timah Road,
The Rail Mall, Singapore 678046.
Opposite railway bridge

Telephone: +65 6877 2544
Fax: +65 6877 2647