Rochor Thai — A Thai Adventure In More Ways Than One

Xin Li, and myself attended the event. So dashing, in his Wong Kar Wai moment. 

Greeted with the vibrant orange interior and numerous pictures of Thai street scenes, this place exuded a homely vibe. It was a vibe that was further extended by our warm host, Kenny, and his young team of chefs, headed by Joel. 

Nam Tak Krai Kab Bai Toey - Pandanus Lemongrass Welcome Drink

This was a refreshingly sweet and cool drink, with the intensely aromatic and sweet flavour of pandan accompanying the refreshing citrus flavour of the lemongrass. A great drink, probably a hit with the kids with it's bright green colour as well. 

Cha Yen - Thai Iced Tea

Using good tea is a key to making thai iced tea. The smoky taste of tea filtered through the richly bodied milky tea, and it wasn't too sweet or heavy. Pretty good. 

Kanom Jeen Sao Nam - J's Cold Sald of Kanom Jeen Noodles

While this amuse bouche tasted pretty good, I was expecting a sharper, perhaps more uplifting start to a meal. The noodles had been sprinkled with grated coconut and dried shrimp, resulting in a interesting medley of savoury sweetness. You can imagine the slight "hay bee hiam" taste (acquired taste, this one, I like it though) being quite well-balanced with the full-bodied, slightly salty creaminess of the grated coconut, all gone along with the refreshing vermicelli. Not too bad. 

Som Tum - Green Papaya Salad Central Thailand Style

I have to be honest and admit that this wasn't anywhere near the best of papaya salads I've had. It tasted overtly wet and soggy, over-marinated in something that tasted too heavily of vinegar. The carrots tasted slightly raw and it didn't go very well with the long beans at all. Although the accompanying nuts was a good effort, it fell quite short as the characteristically associated flavours of sweet, sharp, spiciness of a thai salad didn't come through.

Tom Yum Talay - Hot and Spicy Seafood Soup with Thai Herbs

First, the good stuff: It wasn't as oily as I expected, and it was quite spicy enough to give me a good kick, like a good tom yum soup should. However, the prawns weren't too fresh, and the offerings inside didn't play the part of revealing the fresh seafood flavours that were masked under very heavy spices in this tom yum soup. Additionally, the overwhelming saltiness (presumably an overdose of fish sauce) made this a very confusing mix of flavours — it sort of kicked away the spiciness of the tom yum, but it also masked the seafood that wasn't very fresh.

Po Taek - Clear Spicy Sour Soup with Holy Basil and Kaffir Lime Leaves

This was a deadly spicy soup, so I was wow. The lime and citrus flavours that presumably came with this was sadly masked by the very heavy overdose of fish sauce. Not good at all. 

Pla Nin Pao - Salt Baked Whole Tilapia served with Spicy Coriander Sauce

I am actually not a very big fan of fish even though I eat it quite regularly (happens when your family is Teochew). Tilapia is one of those freshwater fishes that can taste very muddy and fishy (utterly nasty) if not chosen properly — after all, it is a bottom feeder fish, residing at the bottom of the riverbeds feeding on plants and algae. However, I was very pleased to say that this was an excellent tilapia — so good, you could actually eat it on its own. The salt-baked crust ensured that the moisture was packed in, avoiding those situations where you had an awfully dried fish I've had at some tze char restaurants. It had a nice light saltiness to it, presumably because of the crust, and tasted wonderfully fresh, even evoking the taste of the water that it was in. I was okay with the spicy coriander sauce, which was not very spicy despite its namesake. The tilapia was so good in fact that I just ate it on its own, which is something I don't usually do with freshwater fish. 

Kor Moo Yang - Seared Pork Collar served with Aromatic Dried Chilli Sauce

This was quite salty, especially for some of my dinner companions on the table. While the pork collar was fairly tender and well-layered with fat (not too much, thankfully), it went well with the dried chilli sauce in my opinion. If I could suggest any improvements to this, I would suggest that the sauce be made sweeter to balance out the salty nature of the pork. 

Gaeng Kaew Wan Gai - Chef's Special Green Curry with Chicken Thigh and Thai Eggplant (right) This did taste surprisingly sweet for a green curry — not that I minded, though. The chicken was not dry (always a good thing) and the eggplant was not too disgustingly mashed and overcooked. Above average, but nothing to write home about other than it being exceedingly thick and creamy, which gets a bit gelak after a while. Gaeng Phet Pla Krapong Daeng - Dry Red Curry with Red Snapper Fillets I think this was personally one of my favourite dishes of the night. The slight sweetness accompanied the sharp saltiness of the red snapper well, in a robust medley of textures assaulting my mouth. There was a wonderful smokiness to this dish that added an extra dimension to the interplay of sweet/savoury, and the snapper was sufficiently moist to say the least. This was quite well done, and I would recommend this highly.

Goong Pad Nam Prik Pao Kab Horapa — Stir Fried Prawns with Thai Chilli Jam and Sweet Basil Didn't remember much about this dish other than the slightly sweetness of the thai chilli jam kicking in with the robust flavours of the sauce, which was very heavily wok hei-ed. Hoay Lai Pad Prik Pao - Clams Flambe in Chilli Jam and Chef's Stock The clams weren't too bad — fresh, and went well with the robust, wok hei flavours of the stock.

Khao Niew Ma Muang - Mango Sticky Rice

With the coconut milk sauce copiously absent, it was replaced with toasted sesame seeds instead. I did miss the full-bodied creaminess this sweet dessert is known for, but I also did appreciate the very soft and mushy texture of the rice going well with the mango that wasn't too sweet. It was an interesting take on the traditional dessert, perhaps from reminiscient of the variant made in Thailand. 

Tab Tim Grob - Thai Red Ruby

Tasting just like strawberry milk and red beetroot, there were complaints on the table that the chestnuts weren't big enough. That aside, there was a creamy, fragrant sweetness overwhelming your tongue, and definitely a dessert that the kids would love to go into a sugar high for. 

While certainly not the best Thai restaurant I've tasted, I am tempted to give it a chance on the virtue of it being 2.5 weeks old (at time of tasting). It does show a very raw potential, and the passion for such a young team of restauranteurs trying to strike it out in an intensely competitive culinary landscape is quite commendable. 

The food, with some misses, was largely above average and the commitment to not using MSG and things like no service charge and GST make the deal a tad bit sweeter here. An honest restaurant wanting to strike it out, I am tempted to give it a chance. 

As with most Thai food, actually.

Our deepest thanks to Joel & Kenny for the invite for this tasting and for hosting us. 

Rochor Thai
340 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427592

Email: rochorthai@modasflame.com.sg

Opening Hours
Daily: 11.30AM-10.00PM
Last Order: 9.45PM
Closed on Mondays

Mid-Autumn Enchantment? | Park Hotel Mooncakes

Mu Yao: Karen from the Park Hotel group (not to be confused with the Parkroyal chain of hotels) kindly sent me 2 boxes of their acclaimed mooncakes for review. I took the opportunity to try out some of their lovely mooncakes, as well as collect their beautiful mooncake boxes (please don't judge me, I'm a sucker for pretty little things).

Xin Li: Freshly delivered to my house, I went straight for the colourful snowskin moon cakes which has got my niece and sister excited about. We went ahead trying the various mooncakes without looking through the items first, trying to comprehend these mid-autumn treats as we savour them one by one.





They sent me two boxes — the assorted snowskin mooncakes ($50+ for a box of 8) and a selection of the more traditional baked mooncakes ($50-59+ for a box of 4).



Apart from the highly lyrical language they have used from their press release ("evoking feelings of mysticism and excitement") of which I have a general aversion for, I was genuinely intrigued by the ingredients used. Sakura Truffle, Baileys Truffle and Mint to tempt your tastebuds, for one.



I have to say that while the texture of all the snowskin mooncakes were generally fine, as with the thickness of the skin (meaning that the mooncakes were sufficiently full of filling), I found the lotus paste they use inside the mooncakes much too oily. I guess that's a tradeoff when you want your paste to be smooth...

Clockwise from top left: Black Sesame & White Lotus Snowskin, Bailey's Truffle & Mint, Lychee & Lychee Snowskin and Sakura Truffle & White Lotus Snowskin

Mu Yao: First up was the exotic looking Black Sesame & White Lotus Paste With Mochi in Snowskin mooncake (wah, so long the name). Sprinkled with pretty gold dust, the mooncake tasted richly decadent and very evenly sweet, even though it was quite heavy on the palate because of the oily lotus paste. The sweetness wasn't cloying, however, and it was pretty good actually. My family members all remarked that they thought this was the best mooncake of the four.

Xin Li: The most striking moon cake among the four is the Black Sesame and White Lotus Paste with Mochi in Snowskin with its mysterious dark skin and a gold imprint of the Imperial Park restaurant’s logo, a new addition to the family of snowskin mooncakes this year. The sesame flavour was rather faint and the addition of the mocha makes it difficult to cut it into segments.

Mu Yao: The Lychee & Lychee Snowskin mooncake was next, touted as their best-seller. The taste was just like it's namesake — Lychee, and more lychee. Unfortunately for me though, it wasn't quite my thing, for I wasn't too big a fan of lychee. It didn't have the fruity sweet fragrance of a lychee, and I thought it didn't go too well with the texture of the snowskin. This was a fruity overload.

Xin Li: The white Lychee and Lychee in Snowskin is the easier to cut among the four but I found the lychee flavour to be overwhelming.

Mu Yao: I tried the Sakura Truffle with White Lotus Paste In Snowskin mooncake next. I loved this one. The sakura accents weren't too sharply overpowering (aka it didn't smell like I was swallowing a bottle of perfume) and complemented the overall sweetness of the lotus and the white chocolate truffle inside quite nicely. The white chocolate truffle had another layer of pink inside, of which I suspected to be some sakura infusion thingy. It may strike some as quite sweet, but I liked it, as did my brother.

Would the "devilishly decadent" Bailey's Truffle & Mint Snowskin mooncake fare better? It wasn't as creamy as I thought it would be, but I could taste very strong minty accents and the alcoholic kick was there. Perhaps I should have tried it first, because it felt as though it didn't quite match up to the full-bodied sweetness of the other mooncakes. But still, it was quite a refreshing kick and I would recommend this if you like minty things.

Xin Li: My family generally favoured the Sakura Truffle and White Lotus Paste in Snowskin and Baileys Truffle and Mint in Snowskin mooncakes because the combination of chocolate truffles and the white lotus paste worked well here especially the Baileys Truffle & Mint in Snowskin. My only gripe with all the snowskin mooncakes is its oily lotus paste.





Mu Yao: My experience with the baked mooncakes was much better, however.

Xin Li: While the snowskin mooncakes were underwhelming, the traditional baked mooncakes were excellent. The paste was smooth and it the flavours in general were well-balanced without going overboard on the avant-garde. These are the kinds of mid-autumn treats that one I will enjoy without any hesitation with some quality Chinese or Japanese tea.



Xin Li: One of my favourites among the baked mooncakes was the Golden Jade with Duo Nuts ($55 for a box of 4), a new vegetarian addition in this year. The green lotus paste has a pleasant and fragrant pandan flavour and the addition of nuts adds a great crunchy layer of texture to the mooncake.



Mu Yao: I first tried the Golden Jade With Duo Nuts. While I found the pandan flavour fairly full-bodied (as Xin Li had mentioned), it didn't smell aromatic enough. However, what was good about this was the skin of the mooncake — not too oily or thick, emanating a slight fragrance that whetted my appetite.

 

Xin Li: Classics like the White Lotus Seed Paste with Double Yolk ($59+ for a box of 4) as well as the White Lotus Seed Paste with Macadamia Nuts ($50+ for a box of 4) were great too. In short, I enjoyed the baked mooncakes by Imperial Park a lot but the snowskin mooncakes needs more fundamental fine-tuning before attempting to be too adventurous on the flavours.

Mu Yao: In contrast to the snowskin mooncakes, the white lotus paste here was not oily at all, and smooth. While not the most fragrant I've tasted, what I also appreciated about this double-yolk mooncake was the fact that the yolks were not oily at all — which makes it less gelak and easier on the tummy/calories. Finally, there was just the right amount of saltiness to the sweetness of the lotus paste.

Mu Yao: And I've saved the best mooncake (in my humble opinion), for the last. This is what baked mooncakes should taste like, unpretentious (not going for the avant-garde mish-mash of flavours/ingredients), wholesome, and most importantly, heartwarming. The White Lotus Seed Paste with Macademia Nuts mooncake had a right mix of savoury nuttiness finely melded with the creamy sweetness of the lotus paste, with a thin skin and filling that tasted not too heavy or oily. Perfect.


And that, for me, was all it took to get me enchanted.




Park Hotel Group
Mooncakes are available from the following:

Grand Park City Hall
10 Coleman Street
Singapore 179809
Tel: +65 6432 5888

Grand Park Orchard
278 Orchard Road
Singapore 238857
Tel: +65 6603 8855

Park Hotel Clarke Quay
1 Unity Street
Singapore 237983
Tel: +65 6593 8855

For Mooncake Orders, 
Please Call 6432 5555 or Email mooncake@parkhotelgroup.com

Promotion for the4moose readers, quote "the4moose" when booking:

Early Bird : (7 August to 21 August)

Buy 1 box of 4 pieces and get the second box at 50% off + 1 Signature Whole Roast Duck voucher with min. spend of $120 (before applicable taxes) at Park Palace (per box).

*2nd box must be of equal or lower value.

Normal (22 August to 19 Sept 2013)

20% (1 - 20boxes) + 1 Signature Whole Roast Duck voucher with min. spend of $120 (before applicable taxes) at Park Palace (per box) 20% + 5% off (21 - 50 boxes) + 1 Signature Whole Roast Duck voucher with min. spend of $120 (before applicable taxes) at Park Palace (per box)