My last visit to P&P on a weekend some 10 months back ended in disappointment. Given the crowd, had to settle for a table on the pavement outside the restaurant, contend with numerous mosquito bites and an uneventful meal.

Fast forward 10 months later. The crowd on a weekend seemed to have eased considerably, but ironically, the quality of the meal has gone up by several notches.

As my family wanted a fuss free meal, settled for the usual suspects - thai prawn cakes, thai fish cake, fried kangkong, stir fried pork with basil, green curry chicken and thai steamed tapioca.

The thai prawn cakes and fish cakes were competently done, and each came with its own unique dips. Special mention must be made of the prawn cakes, shaped like an obese little doughnut,with a crispy bread crumb coated exterior. It was one of those "more-rish" items, you just can't get enough of it.

The fried kangkong may looked somewhat different from the sambal kangkong we are accustomed to at tze char stalls, but let not its bland appearance fool you. The humble vegetable dish featured intense wok-hei and packed a spicy punch.

P & P's fried pork and basil has always been a favourite of mine, very spicy and an excellent accompaniment to white fluffy rice. Green curry was good, though those who prefer their curry thick may find this version a mite insipid.

The satisfying meal was rounded up with a very good rendition of the traditional thai steamed tapioca. The tapioca, which had been cooked through in sugar syrup, was served with a generously-salted coconut cream, which provided a nice contrast of flavours.

As P&P charges for water, we had the refreshing lime juice and the comforting hot lemongrass tea instead to sooth the stomach after a satisfying spicy meal.

Most thai places in Singapore are pretty expensive, unlike the good and cheap fare we experience in Thailand itself. If they happen to be cheap, it will be because the standard is pretty low.

At P&P, prices are not fantastic but the food certainly is. I haven't had thai for a while and I was suitably satisfied by their Tom Yum Soup ($10) which was sour and just spicy enough, their Seafood Vermicelli Salad ($10) which was sour-shiok and with succulent seafood, and the Kangkong ($6) which had the most incredible wok taste ever - each bite will send you into wok heaven!

I also had the pad thai ($6) - spelt part thai, very funny! - which was al dente and tasty, but might be too hard for some diners; the green curry ($9) just a tad bit bland; and the pork with basil ($10) which in my opinion was too expensive for the tiny plate we were served.

All in all a great place to dine. We finished our meal with lemongrass tea ($1.50) which was excellent, and the thai rubies dessert ($3).

Must try!!

Had another bout of Thai food craving and didn't fancy braving the terrible parking(and exorbitant drink prices) at First Thai so decided to try out P&P Thai Food, which is just a 15 min drive from my house. Formerly located at a coffeeshop along Veerasamy Road in Little India, P&P's claim to fame is its authentic Thai food and the various newspaper writeups are a testament to that.

Located under a block of HDBs at Geylang Bahru, P&P occupies a rather small and inconspicuous unit which faces the main road. The place is done up simply with white washed wall and limited tables, probably at about 10 tops, including those placed along the pavement. Air conditioning here is at a premium, with barely cool air whispering out of 2 air conditioning units.

Mango Salad - A nice appetiser would have started the meal just right, but the mango salad, though spicy, didn't taste out of the ordinary. Everything was overwhelmed by the spiciness. Also, 6 bucks does seem a tad pricey for just some shredded vegetables and fruit.

Tom Yam Soup - Served up in a small claypot, the tom yam soup was actually quite good. Clear spicy broth with an overhanging heavy dosage of zest that didn't weigh down too much on the palate. One thing I found odd about the soup was the inclusion of slices of hotdog - a sign of cost cutting?

Phad Thai - I found P&P's Phad Thai comparable to the one I had at First Thai just a couple of weeks back except that the glass noodles used in the former were slightly finer than usual. Both were of the wet variant but the prawns in P&P's offering weren't exactly fresh and that marred the experience for me. I still stand by the Phad Thai from Sweet Salty Spicy.

Olive Fried Rice - The undisputed star of our meal, the humble olive fried rice. Served with sides of egg, cashew nuts and a mixture of what seemed like dried shrimp and pork, the rice was fragrant and very well fried sans the oil with a lingering tinge of olive. I would have gone for seconds if not for the rather steep pricing ($7 for 1 scoop).

Fried Kang Kong - What looked like an ordinary dish turned out to be something rather top notch. The Kang Kong had a wok hei taste to it and was rather spicy although it didn't look the part. Only gripe I had was the excessive salt content, which can be a little overwhelming.

P&P Crispy Pork - I would have expected more from a dish bearing the name of the restaurant but sadly it came across as rather normal, if not on the salty side. The flour was crispy without being too oily but the meat did seem a little too fatty at certain parts, which made me a tad nervous about my health.

Durian Sticky Rice - I was looking forward to this delectable dessert and all hopes for a humongous portion were dashed when it came served in a small leaf shaped plate. The glutinous rice was a tad savoury with lots of bite while the durian flesh was sweet but rather runny. Drizzled with coconut milk, the entire dish made for a very nice ending. However $10 for such a small portion is a rip off in my humble opinion.

$57 for 3 pax isn't exactly expensive but I wouldn't deem it cheap either. Food quality is actually quite decent and personally I prefer it to First Thai. Price wise, both are comparable but service and ambience at P&P is definitely better. When we finished my dinner at about 7pm on a Sunday evening, there were still a few tables empty so I guess having no queues is a plus point too. One thing to note though, P&P doesn't serve free ice water. Its 50 cents for a refillable cup.

See all my pictures here.

Thanks to contrarian and SC for co-organising the dinner. It was a great evening pigging out on sedap thai food with fellow foodies from HGW.

A number of dishes were ordered and the table was literally covered with food. Hee. (Paiseh. I dun rem the thai names of the dishes.)
1) Seafood Tom Yam Soup
2) Kang kong
3) Green chix curry
4) Fried tofu
5) Stuffed chix wings
6) Stir fried pork with basil
7) Thai Otah
8) Steamed Soon Hock
9) Mango with sticky rice
10) Durian with sticky rice and strips of jackfruit

I loved all the dishes and I sure enjoyed the green curry best. 'Cos it sure din gimme the jelak feeling when I eat green curry elsewhere where its OD with coconut milk or too sweet. Stuffed chix wings were special, still cant figure out what goes into the stuffing altho i detected tang hoon. Personally I would prefer my tom yam soup to be more spicy altho I understand from contrarian that its not supposed to be. The steamed fish was very fresh and I dissected the head as well. muahahaha.

One special mention, I LOVE the lime juice with mint!! Its really refreshing and nice. mmmm.

Overall, the food was delicious and I will return for more. Although I will request to up the spice factor the next visit. :)

Update (visits with family in Nov 2008 [parents only] and another on 31 Dec 2008 [dad and bro])
Just had to bring my family here to check out the thai food and they were all not disappointed. Save for the slight grouse from mom on the price point. Both meals had a total damage of approx $60 plus/minus each.

Items ordered on both occasions:

the highly anticipated outing to this once lost, but now found thai food haven (which i used to patronize many yrs back, when located in veerasamy). deliciously delightful, especially in the company of new found foody frens from hgw.

* kudos to contrarian & sc for their joint effort in organizing the communion~!

as anticipated, i made my grand entrance (late to be exact), and was warmly welcomed & greeted by all in attendance, namely; DG, BA, CG, contrarian (& fren), HC (& fren), last but not least SC... in sitting order clockwise.... still bothered with a lil cough, i ordered myself a cuppa hot tea, and the thai lady served it with sugar & milk on the side. few sips & some ice breakers soon filled the air.

maybe my arrival was quite timely, since the food was served 1 after another shortly after. foodies do what foodies do best, we pay homage in taking pics of the food laid b4 us, b4 we dig in. the sumptious spread consisted of; pad ketiam paakboom (kangkong), gaeng kheaw wahn (sweet green curry), taufu tort (deepd fried tofu), tomyum talay (seafood tomyum soup), pad krapao moo (basil pork), tai hor mok (thai otah), stuffed chicken wing... and bpla manaw (lemon fish) served in grandure.

the chitter chatter amongst the lot was soon simmered, all deeply engrossed in the food. needless to say, those among us with bigger capacity had 2nd helping with rice.

the kind lady was nice enough to be checking on us, on how much we enjoyed it, in response; thumbs up! AROY DEE MAK MAK~!

dinner was soon over & done with, and i had the honors to chat up with the lady serving; apparently they dont serve look-juup, and was given the choice of sticky rice, or red ruby. thinking the session to be an introductory to thai food, i felt sticky rice would've been a better option.

in a jiffy, khao niaw mamuang + khao niaw turian+moong was served b4 us. sweet & tasty i must confess. something to sooth & pacify our "never-to-be" content palettes.