PAI PAI PAI! FINALLY! I’ve heard so many good things about Pai, a Thai restaurant located near the financial district.  I took my mom here on Saturday around 3pm and it was quite busy. We both didn’t have a proper lunch, so it was lunch and dinner combined (we had a shopping date planned for later on), it was dunch or linner for us.

We hardly have fancy meals together, so I kinda treated myself to a lemongrass tea. The lemongrass flavour was subtle and definitely too much simple syrup.

We couldn’t decide what to order and I didn’t do research before arriving, so we asked our waiter what the popular dishes were. We got Grabong (fried strips of squash), Pad Thai (stir fried noodles) and Khao Soi (curry noodles).

Grabong: it was too much for two people. Lots of squash fritters with a sweet tamarind dipping sauce…I was bored of eating it when we devoured half.

The Khao Soi was the most disappointing. There were lots of beef in the curry and little noodles and they anything special. It was just wide wonton (egg) noodles and very salty. The curry did have coconut flavour, but I don’t remember any other flavours that stood out.

The Pad Thai was ok. The presentation was nice, everything seems to be served on a banana (?) leaf.  The lime helped bring out the flavour and cut some of the spiciness (we got medium).  The Pad Thai was salty.

The atmosphere here is lit. The restaurant is located downstairs,  having minimum natural light from windows, it was a low lit restaurant, with lots of banners and flags hanging in the dining area. Along the wallk, at the bar, it reminds me of my dad’s workshelf in the garage, just filled with bottles and whatnot. Friendly vibe and surprisingly, many young families too. 

Looking in to the restaurant…

You can opt to sit on the floor.  I wish I’d seen that when we walked in.

So what’s the big deal? I don’t even know myself, but I’m guessing that people like the vibe and of course the food. What a perfect match!
Click here for Pai’s website.