Kinnaree Thai Restaurant, Jaya One

My obsession with Thai food continues with our dinner at Kinnaree Thai Restaurant at Jaya One recently. Kinnaree at Jaya One is apparently a branch of the original restaurant in Bangkok so I was expecting good food.

The restaurant looks very posh and classy. I love the exquisite statues of the Kinnaree and the very beautiful frames of lotus leaves.

Now, about the food. We ordered the Yam Som O (Spicy pomelo salad with shrimps & chicken) and Som Tum Gung Sod (Spicy green papaya salad with fresh shrimps). The pomelo salad served here is an acquired taste due to the addition of thick coconut milk and toasted coconut flakes. The coconut milk made the salad very rich. It's very unlike the pomelo salads we've tried in other Thai or even Vietnamese restaurants. Needless to say, I don't like this salad at all.

The Spicy green papaya salad is served the way I like it. The lime juice gave it the tartness and sweetness from the palm sugar balanced it well. This is one dish any decent Thai restaurant can't go wrong with.

The waiter recommended we try the clear soup for our Tom Yum Kung as apparently it's better. It was a recommendation that we eventually came to regret because it sure didn't taste like how Tom Yum should taste to me. I have to note here that my mom makes a meaner Tom Yum.

For a less spicy dish, we ordered Kai Ho Bai Toey (marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves served with ginger and sesame sauce). The chicken was "over-fried" (is there even such a word?) which made it hard. It would have tasted better if it was not over done.

The Poo Nim Sam Rod (stir-fred soft shell crab in sweet and spicy tamarind sauce) fared much better. I requested for the sauce to be served separately to accommodate our daughter who didn't like spicy food. The spicy tamarind sauce was a good accompaniment to the simply fried crab.

We were recommended the two version fish (I don't know the name of the dish) by the waiter coz we cannot make up our minds whether we wanted our fish fried or steamed. I liked the steamed fish in lime juice and fried fish with a sweetish sauce is not bad either. This is actually the best dish so far!

The Stir-fried Kailan with salted fish was not too bad either, but then this is an easy dish for ANY restaurant.

For dessert we had the Thab Thim Krob which is served with slivers of sweet jackfruit.

I am a little disappointed with the food here but perhaps I expected too much. The dinner cost us close to RM300.00 which is very expensive for a meal that did nothing to quell my cravings.

Kinnaree Thai Restaurant12-1 Palm Square, Jaya One, 72A Jalan University, 46200 Petaling Jaya Tel: 03-7957 3910

Restoran Thai Khuntai

This review has been sitting in my blog post for months awaiting editing. We stumbled on Khuntai on a whim. I read about Khuntai in the morning papers and decided we should try it out for lunch.

We had a hard time looking for Khuntai. It's located in a very quiet part of town, hidden from view near Jalan Gasing. Coincidentally, it's located just across the road from my elder daughter's former kindergarten although hidden from view.

Khuntai isn't fancy. In fact, the restaurant is bare save for the tables and chairs and is not air-conditioned either.

A pre-requisite for all our meals in Thai restaurants are the salads. I love my Thai salads so we ordered the Chicken feet salad and Som tam. The chicken feet salad is simple with deboned chicken feet tossed in lime juice. It's quite standard fare in Thai restaurants here, but unfortunately Khuntai's version don't quite live up to the mark.

The somtam (young papaya salad) fared better although it was too spicy even for me. The spiciness practically burned my tongue and you know how it is when that happens, the tongue gets numbed and I can't taste anything. If you must order the salads at Khuntai, be sure to tell them to go easy on the chillies!

We ordered the Fried Squid to counter the spiciness from the salads. The squid was coated in a crispy batter and was quite good on its own.

We also ordered soft-shelled crabs that came coated in a sweet sauce. I would have preferred the crabs plain because that would bring out its naturally sweet taste better.

The last dish is a vegetable that's simply called Thai Vegetable which came highly recommended by the waiter. Apparently this vegetable is imported from Thailand. We've never had this vegetable before but it has quickly become my daughter's favourite. This from a girl who doesn't eat her greens! The vegetable is stir-fried with scrambled egg. Again, the combination didn't quite work for me. I liked the vegetable for its sweetness and would have liked it even more if it's stir-fried plain. The egg just sort of added a richness to the vegetable.

We didn't manage to try their Tom Yam soup that day. However the other diners did and it does smell heavenly whenever the waiters pass our table with pots of tomyam. We would have to try that on our next visit. I like my Thai food intense and Khuntai don't exactly deliver. That doesn't mean I won't visit again though. I would for the tomyam.

Khuntai Restaurant is at 6 Jalan 5/44, Petaling Garden, Off Jalan Gasing, 46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel : 012-470 8872 & 012-470 7136.