Home to a great hawker center, hipster bakeries and edgy fashion shops, Tiong Bahru has quite an authentic feel to it, with its beautifully maintained late Art Deco buildings developed between 1936-1941 by architect Alfred G. Church.
The neighborhood is the perfect setting for Little Elephant Thai Bistro, designed to resemble a typical Thai eating house, developing as an indoor/outdoor al fresco concept. With its rustic, mismatched wooden tables, colorful tiles and quirky design elements, the venue is cute and cozy, perfect for large groups of friends, laidback dates and anything in between.
I love Thai classics so we ordered a zingy but not too spicy Som Tam, the typical Thai green papaya salad.
The Phad Makua Yao, eggplant with minced pork, is one of the tastiest dishes – I like eating it mixed with white rice.
Of course we couldn’t miss ordering a nice portion of Prawn Phad Thai. I was a bit disappointed to see only three prawn for four of us, but the flavor and ratio between the other ingredients are ideal.
The Gaeng Kheow Wan, green curry chicken, while being a lot less spicy then the ones I’ve had in Thailand, bursted with the authentic flavors of its native land. The chicken is left on the bone and the sauce is runny, with generous amounts of lemongrass and galangal but not too coconutty, which is how Thai green curry should be.
Another great dish was the Gai Hor Bai Toey, pandan fried chicken accompanied with sweet and sour sauce. The meat was tender with a crispy exterior, aromatized with herbs and the pandan leaf wrapper.
I never miss ordering mango sticky rice when I eat at Thai restaurants – it’s indeed one of my all-time favorite desserts! Little Elephant’s version is gorgeously presented with butterfly pea coloring on the rice. I also enjoyed the refreshing Tub Tim Krob, another typical Thai dessert. People think the red pieces to be jelly, but actually it’s tapioca coated water chestnuts.
We spent a reasonable S$30 per person for way too much food and a drink each.
Overall Little Elephant Thai Bistro offers a really cool, homey and delicious experience that delivers under all aspects: great service and environment, yummy food and decent pricing. The kind of neighborhood spot I won’t get tired of going back to over and over again!
Address: 57 Eng Hoon St #01-72, Singapore
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