thai-la

July 2012

It’s a simple set up, at CapSquare, and so it’s primarily a lunch joint for the surrounding office crowd. And it’s doing good in that respect. We arrived at 12.30pm on a Wednesday and by 1pm, it’s running on full capacity. The waiters, though looking as if they’re just going through the motions, are capable, which is more than we can say for many of the establishments in KL. So far so good.

The menu features many Thai staples, ranging from single-serve meals like pineapple fried rice (RM12/14) and pad thai (RM12/14) to sharing dishes such as spicy, sour and lime steamed fish (RM37), stir fried chicken with basil and chilli (RM14), and som tam (RM8; young papaya salad). The prices are very reasonable too.

The belacan fried rice was a very generous portion. The firm, whole grain rice was flavourful (albeit slightly sweet), filled with kangkung, eggs, chicken and lots of chilli. It came with two small side dishes: stir-fried four-angled beans, and an appetising salty limey salsa-like salad of diced tomatoes tossed with onions, peanuts and parsley. However, the taste of belacan in the rice was so faint that I almost forgot it was belacan fried rice in the first place.

The clear tom yam soup fared much better, with three big prawns and lots of oyster mushrooms. The soup had that biting sensation we have come to expect of tom yam – strong taste of lime and lemongrass, but I could also detect the sweetness of the prawns, which was a pleasant surprise. When hot, the flavours all worked very well together, the slight sweetness of the soup working to diffuse the spiciness, but when the soup cooled, that sweetness became less palatable.

It’s certainly not the best Thai food around but if you want an easy meal to temporarily satisfy your craving, Thai-la is worth considering. Lim Chee Wah