parathai, onekm

I am being a bad blogger – work is catching up and I’m flying off to the US on friday (!!) – but I bring you a good one, and I hope you forgive me.

this is the paradise group’s venture into thai food, and it is a laudable effort. modern interpretations of dishes that still retain a distinctly thai feel (although you might detect a fusion of other cultures in some of the dishes), this is weekday dining at its best. located in the relatively new onekm mall, the restaurant enjoys bustling business without too much queue, and is currently one of my favorite new places.

especially this dish here, of vegetable fritters and a delicious sauce that I can’t identify. utterly delicious.

.

if you think about what the paradise group has been doing for chinese food – using paradise dynasty as your reference – you’ll easily grasp what they’re doing here. modern dishes, served in a cosy, done-up place at prices you wouldn’t have issues paying.

it’s a mix of typical dishes like chicken satay, served properly grilled, tender, and meaty along a lightly-dressed salad and a thick peanut sauce;

and of course, this plate of golden-fried vegetable fritters. just the barest greasiness, and this sweet-savory, rich but not greasy or cloying, salmon-orange colored sauce served with chopped young coconut flesh.

it almost feels wrong, to have sweet and oily together – but it works, and you’re almost definitely going to need more sauce.

and of course, there are fresh, crispy vegetable pieces on the side to keep things perky.

we’ve had a couple of their salads now, and I’m a fan. generous mounds (it’s a legitly surprising amount) of sliced/ julienned – or in this case, deconstructed – fruit and vegetables mixed with contrasting textures and seasoned with a sure hand.

it’s all sweet, sour, crunchy, salty and spicy, and very moreish. this does bring me to a point about this restaurant, which is that their quite unique appetisers make such alluring choices that I seldom have space for what are traditional mains, such as

this plate of decently sautéed, mixed vegetables in a gravy redolent of fish sauce and garlic.

even their meat dishes have been better than average accompaniments to rice – but aren’t nearly as striking as the lovely pre-mains.

this is a mall, so I can’t say it’s entirely a date place, so much as a dinner-when-you’re-attached place. it’s cosy enough for couples but open enough for families, and food cones at a brisk pace – even if you might struggle to get a server’s attention when they’re full up.

so come, but try not to bring the queues with you (much thanks).

ParaThai
#02-23 One KM
11 Tanjong Katong Road
Singapore 437157
tel +65 6702 2541
$$.5: 20-40 per person (how gluttonous are you?)