Mao Mao, Pooh Bear and I met One Red for lunch at E-Sarn Thai Corner, a small restaurant along Pasir Panjang Road. The restaurant had a laid-back, casual atmosphere found in family restaurants. We assumed that the two waitresses are family members but maybe they are not.
E-Sarn Thai Corner
130 Pasir Panjang Road
Tel: 64733716
Sayang introduced this Thai iced tea ($3.50) to me, so now I introduced it to Pooh Bear and One Red. Thai tea is made from black tea leaves and food colouring is often used to give it the distinctive orange colour. Star anise powder is usually added to the tea. Some variations added tamarind or orange blossoms. Since the menu did not say, I don’t know what made up the thai iced tea served at E-Sarn. Pooh Bear said it tasted like Jia Jia Liang Teh with condensed milk while Mao Mao said it tasted earthy. I liked it because it is sweet.
Mao Mao ordered a tom yum soup ($7.50) which is more sour than spicy. There is a slight spiciness which you don’t initially taste but kicks in after you swallowed the soup. Beside the sour and spicy taste, the soup also has a nice prawn flavour.
Mao Mao also had the glass noodle salad ($10.50) which contained vermicelli, minced chicken, prawns, cuttlefish, dried shrimps, tomatoes, onions and cucumber. The restaurant was generous with the serving and there were a lot of prawns and cuttlefish. The dressing was made of chilli and lime so it was spicy and sour at the same time.
After a while, One Red decided to add an extra prawn to the salad. He took the prawn hanging off Mao Mao’s purse and put in the salad dish too.
The green fish curry ($13.50) was quite nice. The fish was cooked very tender. There was also those round eggplants found in Thailand.
The pandan chicken wings ($10.50) were crispy and tasty even though none of us could taste the pandan flavour. The wings were cut into half so it was easy to eat. It came with a sweet chilli dipping sauce but the wings were good on their own too.
The onion omelette ($6.50) was a simple dish of eggs and onions. Although simple, it was nice and goes well with the rice. The omelette is fried until the sides were a little crispy, just the way I like it.
One Red, Pooh Bear and I shared the olive rice ($8.50). The rice was covered in a layer of minced pork and olives. The waitress advised that we mixed them up before serving. Mao Mao commented that there were more pork than olives and it certainty seemed that way. But even if the proportions were wrong, it still tasted nice.
We had two Thai desserts. First was the red rubies ($3) which Pooh Bear liked. Mao Mao commented that it might be better if it was shaved ice so you won’t get pieces of ice in the spoon.
Mango with sticky rice is Thailand’s most famous dessert. When I first encounter this dish, I could not understand eating rice as a dessert. Isn’t it super filling? Once I got used to the idea, it was actually quite tasty dish. For this dessert ($5.50) at E-Sarn, the sticky rice was served warm and drizzled with coconut milk. It really goes well with the mango and you should eat both mango and rice in one bite.
The lunch cost around $28 each. We did order quite a few dishes but overall it felt a little expensive. Probably good for a treat but not everyday.
