Ah Loy Thai

For full review and photos, please visit http://shirlynnyang.blogspot.com/2012/05/ah-loy-thai.html

I've been to this thai eatery at Shaw Towers for 3 times now, and each time I leave with a full and satisfied tummy! Food is priced reasonably and very authentic. Highly recommend Tom yum soup, pandan chicken and butter calamari.

This must be one of the best Thai restaurants in Singapore. There are many of them - ranging to the coffeeshop version to the Thai Express chains, and Bangkok is merely 2 hours away. Ah Loy Thai at Shaw Towers had been consistently good though, each time I went!

Full post: http://takeko.blogspot.com/2012/03/food-review-ah-loy-thai-at-shaw-towers.html

Visited it this afternoon for lunch with my colleagues. We had to take a taxi to and fro but it was worth it. We reached at around 1 and it was quite busy, though we managed to get a seat within minutes. Over here, an middle-aged man will seat you instead of you choosing your own. They also take reservations, which comes in handy for weekends.

We ordered quite a fair bit because everything looked so good! Note that they don't serve water for free there, boo.

First to arrive was the fragrant and juicy pandan chicken ($9). The meat was marinated just nicely and not dry at all, which is something a lot of places cannot do well.

Then the best dish ever that I discovered today - butter calamari ($7.50)! Anything with butter is always a good choice. This dish is exceptional. Love the lightly fried and non-rubbery calamari, drenched in butter chilli sauce with shreds of green pineapple. Writing this is making me salivate.

Next the Pad Thai ($5.90)! I really liked the version here too. It is not too wet and rather sweet - just like the ones in Thailand. Very good for people who cannot take spice as well.

Then we had the pineapple fried rice ($5.90). It wasn't bright yellow like others. Instead it tasted more like Chinese fried rice with cubes of pineapple. I really liked it though because the rice had that slight bit of "wok Hei" (charred) taste from a very high heat wok.

Lastly the green curry ($6.50). should not have ordered this, to be honest, because we were so stuffed by then! the curry was average. a little too watery for my liking, and quite spicy too (I can't take chili well). They used fishballs in there, which is rather odd, but it works. The chicken chunks were quite generous. We finished everything but this, mostly to weiyi's credit!

Overall, it only costs us 11.60 each for the meal of 5 dishes between the 3 of us. Really worth it to share and try more things. And after all my raving, just go try it already ok or bookmark this page and go soon! Do note their very strange opening hours though and check if they are open before heading down to avoid disappointment!

We first noticed this Thai restaurant when we intended a visit to Tom's Palette, for 'Ah Loy' was located opposite, along a corridor at Shaw Leisure Gallery (within Shaw Tower). We were drawn particularly to the long queue of diners waiting patiently for their tables.

Making a point to try it before we leave Singapore for UK, we rang up 'Ah Loy' at approximately 6pm to make a reservation, only to be told that they were no longer accepting any but walk-in customers would be welcomed. 

Thankfully the restaurant was only half-filled when we arrived at about 6.40pm. After being shown to our table, we were handed a 'tear-off menu' for us to tick off our orders. We were then supposed to make our way to the counter to make payment before food gets prepared and sent to us. Personally I always preferred self-service more than having a waitress hovering around our table, giving us that 'pressured' feel. The prices listed were what you pay for, no hidden costs nor service charge were levied.

There were 2 parts to the restaurant, separated by a partition in the middle, effectively taking up 2 shop lots. The interior decoration was simple and pleasing to the eyes but nothing too fanciful to shout at.

While waiting for the food to come (which did not take as long as some reviewers on HGW experienced, approximately 10-15mins), we were served our drinks. The pink guava drink was too sweet for my liking and what repelled me most was the 'artificial' taste and colouring to the drink. I was expecting some fresh guava juice (or at least similar to Marigold's quality) only to be severely disappointed.

What it failed to deliver for the beverages was more than made up by the first dish served, Tom Yum soup. It would be a crime probably to visit a Thai restaurant and not try the Tom Yum soup, considering that it is ranked No. 4 last year on CNN GO - 'World's 50 Most Delicious Food'. The balance in flavours was certainly worth flattering, not to mention the generosity in ingredients, namely prawns, squid and abundance of herbs and spices to give the soup a solid punch of sour tinge and lingering spicy aftertaste. It was so good that I could not help but emptied the entire bowl! What was worth commenting too was that it was not MSG loaded, i.e. would not leave you sorely thirsty after the meal.

Another praise-worthy dish was the butter calamari rings. It was not overly cooked so the young calamari retained the firmness and chewiness. Texture was smooth and good, complimented by the crispy layer of batter. The best part was definitely the savoury flavoursome sauce that enhanced the fragrance of this dish. Coupled with some fresh coriander and the spice-rich marinade, this would certainly be a must try.

Next up was the mango crispy chicken. The accompanying sauce underlying the crispy fried chicken certainly made the meal very appetizing, tasting mildly sweet and sour at the same time. The sliced green mangoes were firm and offered a varied mouth feel to the very crispy chicken pieces. However, it seemed slightly overcooked for the meat was too 'stiff' and tasted dry. Otherwise it would have been perfect.

Sadly the starchy portions to our Thai meal were not as flattering as we had hoped it to be. The Pad Thai noodles were slightly too 'soft' (i.e. overcooked) for my liking, for personally I preferred a slightly firmer texture to my noodles. Despite the generosity with ingredients, especially with the prawns, the inherited flavours from tamarind and lime failed to deliver. It was not spicy at all and I would have preferred it better if the serving of crushed peanuts were more to offer that good crunch to complement the noodles. The Pineapple Fried Rice was not what I had expected, i.e. the traditional way of serving it in a carved out pineapple. This was a simple dish of fried rice, rich with ingredients but sorely lacking the taste and fragrance expected that of a traditional Thai-style pineapple fried rice. The 'wok-fire' of the rice was good though, which went well with the dishes, sufficing perhaps a good plate of fried rice.

As we were seated close to the front of the restaurant, we got pressured by the amounting queue of hungry diners to finish our meal fast. Nonetheless, it was a very pleasant Thai dining experience. Some hits and misses, but it was certainly value for money for the quantity and quality of food served. We would certainly revisit when we next return to Singapore, for the allure of tom yum and butter calamari rings beckons. 

For more pictures, please visit us at http://makeyourcaloriescount.blogspot.com/2012/03/sg-ah-loy-thai-at-shaw-towers.html

Every time I'm at Ah Loy Thai, the restaurant is filled with long queues and I usually give it a miss. Finally this time, we were there slightly earlier at about 7pm and only waited for 10 minutes to get our seats!

I've heard many ravings and reviews from friends about the Thai food they served. Not only it's a must-try, it's also affordable. We didn't ordered pineapple rice nor Pad Thai but decided to do it the Zi char style this time. We had fried tofu (which was really yummy and awesome in my opinion), basil red chicken and tom-yum chicken soup!

One mistake we made was to order 2 chicken we ended eating so much haha. The soup is really good but a little too spicy for me! The Thai milk tea was also very fragrant.

Worth giving it a try! ;)

Was there was a group of 10. Was not exactly prepared to wait 1 full hour between our first and last dish during lunch hour. Food was pretty good. But the service was terrible. One staff in particular had very bad attitude which totally spoiled our experience there. We were served the wrong drinks and there was no reply at all from this staff when asked what drink is being served. Not only did she not reply, she totally ignored us when we asked her anything and just say "you ordered wrong lah". Only after she looked at our receipt did she take some of the drinks away (without a word) and changed to our correct drinks. We ordered 9 Lemon grass drinks and 1 Lime, we ended up with 3 Lime and 7 Lemon grass without any explanation or apology from this staff. Not wanting too spoil our meal, we let is slide. By the end of the meal, we were already full from all the eating and waiting. Thus, we decided to take away the last dish 'Pandan Chicken' which has yet to be served. When we asked for it to be packed, the waitress reply with a "wat liao ah". This really totally spoiled the nice food experience we had there.

I would recommend this place if you have no need at all for any sort of service as you are not going to get any from this place if that staff is still working there. I can get better service from a neighborhood coffeeshop than from this cafe. Or maybe, get take away. Kindly send the person with the most patience as it will be a long wait.

My Boyfriend and I are here from Canada. We where looking for good authentic Thai food and did we ever find it! This place is just like everybody says...a queue waiting and about 30 mins wait for food once you are seated. Although, well worth the way! We will be back as they were out of " Butter Calamari" they said you have to be there early for that

Thai food got to be one of my fav. food. If you enjoy thai food is a must try. Don't miss out their garlic pork! tom yam soup, fried glass noodle. I go there at least once a week but the last time i went there the pork doesn't taste as good as before. Maybe the chef is gone or maybe just not there. 

I went with 2 friends on a Saturday night. We arrived at 6pm. And there was a queue already. Luckily, i made a reservation beforehand, if not we would have to wait as well. The ambience setting was alright but the setting of the tables was abit weird. 3 of us had to squeeze in one table. But apparently, they didn't have enough tables to go around as the crowd was coming in. 

The selection of food is rather small. They can come up with more selections in order for customers to have a variety of food too. We ordered one pineapple thai rice, one fried squid fritters, one tom yam soup, one kang kong, one basil pork and with 2 plates of rice. The service was rather slow (perhaps they were really busy) but they could have paid more attention to the existing customers who were really seated. This is because we tried to ask for their attention thrice but the staff either ignored us or told us to wait. The food was quite nice but we didn't quite like the tom yam soup cos it tasted powdery. The price was quite okie too because we paid about $36+ for 3 people. 

Everyone seems to love this place so I thought I would try it out. The 1st time I went there was a week ago but was told I had to wait for 40 mins for the food whilst a table would be available in 10mins. Obviously, I didn't go for it.

Today, I went for lunch and it was just before the mad rush. There is an old guy who will shuffle people around, where to sit etc. I only ordered a Pad Thai and was told that it would take 20 mins - the restaurant wasn't even half full yet! Anyhow, I thought why not. The food came in just over 10 mins but it wasn't a pretty looking plate and the taste was alright. I wouldn't say it was tasty. There were other tables ordering lots of various dishes and they all looked yummy. However, being there on my own was difficult to order a lot. 

If you want a quick lunch, i.e. you get there before the mad rush, and you are in the nearby area, it's a ok choice. Otherwise, I can't think of returning just because of its food. 

It's been a long wait since I bookmarked Ah Loy maybe a year ago, and perhaps I've come at least 2 or 3 times to try for lunch, but retreated upon hearing the 30+ minutes wait time for food. Today was a late lunch so I thought it might be improved at around 1.30pm, but alas still told to expect a 30 minute wait, and I finally decided to concede.

Pandan chicken ($9) is tasty and nicely presented in the leaf with 4 pieces per serve. It goes well with the sweet chilli sauce. The prawn tom yum soup was flavoursome and a decent size portion to share between 2 or 3 people. The level of spiciness seems to slowly build up. Finally the pineapple fried rice was great, as per the previous reviewer, it defies it's appearance and the chef does well to make it moist but not oily.

Service: Actually the tom yum soup came only 12 mins after ordering, so maybe they are doing themselves a dis-service by overestimating the wait, but at least it sets the right expectation. However I found the service staff a bit slow in providing plates, bowls, and a serving spoon for the soup (which they said had run out, only to see the adjacent table get one a few minutes later). Service can be improved.

Overall: It's quite good food for the price, recommended especially for patient eaters!