PUBLISHED August 14th, 2015 08:38 am | UPDATED May 16th, 2017 06:07 pm
Reaching Tamarind Hill on foot is… tricky. Getting to the restaurant will involve sweatily trudging up a winding knoll in the heat, as cars whizz by with a heinous lack of concern. Upon reaching, however, you’re greeted by the sight of a beautiful colonial bungalow, a gorgeous, sprawling restaurant interior, and, of course, the blessing of air-conditioning.
Tamarind Hill’s Interior
There’s no real doubt of getting a good meal at Tamarind Hill; our only quibble would be the rather steep prices. So when we heard that Tamarind Hill will be featuring specially-created set lunch and dinner menus, at lower-than-usual prices during the Samadhi Food Festival (17-23 August 2015), we hotfooted over to check out both menus:
Lunch (3 Courses, $35++)
Lunch kicked off with the Chicken Skewer Served With Green Papaya Salad. The chicken was decent and pleasantly charred just a fraction. The strips of chewy green papaya provided a refreshing accompaniment, but on the whole it wasn’t an attention-grabbing beginning. However, things picked up with the main course: Shrimp Paste Rice With Prawn, served with a myriad of accompaniments: Sweet Pork, Fried Egg, and Crispy Dried Shrimp among them. Everthing comes together sensationally. The delicate prawn flavour of the rice was sublime when paired with the exceptionally tender sweet pork, and the crispy dried shrimp was no mere sideshow, its chewy, aromatic presence perfect with the more subtle rice.
Lunch closed with a splendid Pandan Chendol. The soft, smooth pandan noodles arrived concealed under a mound of vanilla ice cream, slowly melting into rich coconut milk. Small pieces of dyed-red water chestnut provided colour and crunch to cut the dessert’s richness, briefly, before it gloriously reasserted itself with each new spoonful. Divine.
Pandan Chendol
Dinner (4 Courses for $75++)
Expect a more varied platter of appetizers during dinner! Sadly, the pork skewer fared as underwhelmingly as its chicken variant, although the Dried Tom Yam Chicken In Crispy Cup was simply excellent: green papaya nestled perfectly with juicy chicken chunks, everything coming together in one perfect mouthful within the chewy, crispy ‘cup’. The Salmon Roll was also good, the crunch of leaves and lettuce playing textural foil to the smooth salmon.
Assorted Set Dinner Starters
The Prawn In Red Tom Yam Soup that followed, however, was the real show-stopper. Tangy, tart, packed with an array of assorted juicy mushrooms, chunks of lemongrass, and succulent prawns, it quite simply bowled me over. The main course of Roasted Duck in Garlic, served with Red Curry, Tempura Eggplant, Sautéed Asparagus and Kaffir Lime Rice made an impression with exceptional rice – the incredible aroma of kaffir lime suffuses with every mouthful. The red curry paired perfectly with the duck, the slightly dry meat taking on the gravy’s richness and sublime flavour. I didn’t care much for the tempura eggplant, which was certainly delicate and crisp on the outside but a smidgen too squishy and bland on the inside. The asparagus was much better, simply prepared and letting the quality of the vegetable shine through.
Roasted Duck With Red Curry
The dessert of Crispy Coconut Crepes with Sweet Egg Yolk was marvellous. Lighter than air, the coconut-riddled crisp of the weightless crepe melted perfectly into the sweet richness of the yolk. A wonderful finish.
Verdict
While $75++ for a set dinner is still far from ideal in terms of price, it’s as affordable as four courses at Tamarind Hill are likely to get. Lunch is better value-for-money, but the dinner menu undeniably has more highlights. Your call, but if you’re willing to spend a little, and you want exceptional Thai cuisine in a beautiful, romantic setting, it really, really doesn’t get much better than Tamarind Hill.
Check out more Thai food reviews at Talad Thai: Comforting Thai Street Food in Bedok and The Best Restaurants for Cheap Thai Food in Singapore