Saturday, September 13, 2008

Rak Thai @ The Gardens

Perhaps it's our geographical location, or perhaps it's our multi-racial culture which inspired most Malaysians somehow to take a fancy towards spicy food.
Moreover, our strategic location next to the exotic neighboring country full of spices has played its role in cultivating the craving for hot and spicy food.

Just like Japanese food, there is no end to the Thai restaurants popping up in our country and even The Gardens had welcomed the Thai culture.

Rak Thai, located on the ground floor of The Gardens and is accessible from MidValley is a popular food joint for most shoppers.
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Its unique setting and decoration made it more a reason for people to try their specialties.
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The unique combination of a typical wooden hut with the bamboo concept exuded an ancient and close to the nature feeling.
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At the same time, the furniture added the modern touch to it; to create that time factor (cross between culture preservation with a twist of modernization).
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It was especially busy on weekends.

Moving on to the food and drinks; which is what this place is all about anyway.
The mango smoothie (RM6.90) was a concoction of heavy mango puree with real chunks of green mango blended with it.
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It was really mangoo-ey and the smooth blend was both cooling and frosty to the taste buds.
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This is a rather unique drink which combined cool cucumber with the fresh mint leaves
(RM7.90)
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Looking greenish (and a little gross too:p), it was not too bad when you taste it.
However, a warning for those who do not like the smell of mint except on toothpaste, it will give you that "I-am-eating/drinking-my-own-toothpaste" kind of feeling.
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Thai fish cakes are always the favorite appetizers or meal openers.
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However, the criterion of a good fish cake should be the springy and fishy taste of the fish.
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These fish cakes were too oily and it felt like it was soaking up too much oil that it didn't really taste so good to me (or perhaps I didn't like the oily taste on the tongue)
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Stir-fried squids with chilli (RM8.90) was another major letdown as it was also kind of oily
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Nothing to shout about but the plate used to serve this was rather huge
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Plain ol' tomyam - I always believe that Tomyam is the most important factor in determining a good Thai restaurant.
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The Seafood tomyam (RM13-16 range) was also pretty bland and at the same time, should I mention I found more leaves and oyster mushrooms rather than seafood?
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Too bad that Rak Thai doesn't suit my taste bud; although I like Thai Food.
I am not sure about the rest of you - perhaps you can share your views if you have tried this place before?

5 comments:

  1. Hie Jackson, agree agree!~ :)
    Shows that it's not only me...hehe:p

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  2. the food looks sad...the squid dish..seems like the chillies were more than the squids..

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  3. Anonymous11:05 PM

    Wah, it's packed. I actually like the cucumber and mint drink. Very refreshing.

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  4. Hie sc, sad...I felt sad as well...taste was bad and the price...I didn't feel it was worthy at all! And I am so with you on the squids...think it's more like fried chillies with oil!

    Hi jason, dunno why it's so packed...the food's so-so only. But the cucumber+mint drink was the whole interesting factor...but don't try unless you like mint...I couldn't stand it after a few sips tooo...felt like toothpaste!~

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  5. It is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to find a good Thai in Malaysia, and I guess I will stay away from this one too!

    My tastebuds have been spoilt rotten from staying near Pattaya for nearly 2 years ... ah, superb som tam, pad thai kung, and pad kaprao ... I miss Thailand!

    ReplyDelete