ThaiPan (Changi Village)

Thaipan impressed me with their excellent cuisine featuring outstanding sauces. It's moved right up to top spot on my list of favourite Chinese eateries - quite an achievement because I don't get impressed easily!

Down by the sea at the Civil Service Club at Changi Village, Thaipan has a large window area facing the sea. It's set in pleasant and tranquil surroundings, in a free standing building with high ceilings and a wide dining hall. There is a seminar room area with 4 tables.

Service staff were helpful and polite, with many Filipinos. Here is one Chinese restaurant where you can order in English comfortably. Tea was poured automatically after we were seated, which suggests that you don't have a choice of type of tea.

The menu is mainly Chinese cuisine, with some Thai dishes such as green mango salad, tom yum, green curry.

3 of us ordered:
Butter squid
Broccoli with crab meat
Stir fried french beans with dried shrimps
Prawn paste chicken
Jing du pork chop
Olive fried rice

The quantity of this lot was just slightly beyond the capacity of 3. All for $56 all in - excellent value, especially with such outstanding food!

Throughout the lunch, I kept hearing superlatives from around the table, including from myself. I must commend the sauces used - every sauce poured over the dishes were excellent in texture, mix and flavour.

The two most outstanding and particularly impressive dishes were the butter squid and the broccoli with crab meat.

The butter squid, which has been so well loved by many other reviewers before me, was exactly as they described. A mix of egg, spices and butter resulted in a truly impressive sauce with wonderful flavours. I felt the squid could have been cooked better for it was chewy. Given that others before me had better squids, I might just have got a difficult squid. Notwithstanding, it was indeed one of the best items!

The broccoli with crab meat was equally, if not more, impressive. The broccoli was cooked nicely without destroying it by cooking too long, and the sauce, oh the sauce! Wow! Every bit as good as the squid, and even more so, I felt.

French beans came cooked to the right level. It looked a little undercooked but wasn't. It had a nice heap of dried shrimp and what I think could have been lard. Well executed, and again good flavours!

The chef seems to have very good control of the temperature and the timing - both the vegetable dishes came out exactly as I would have liked. Excellent skill worth commending.

Olive fried rice was another good find. Overall, I preferred the sea-based dishes to the land-based dishes. To me, they were simply excellent, outstanding, surpassing most of what I've had in so many other places elsewhere. Coupled with the ability to impress me at first taste, this gets a rare 9 rating from me. Which of my reviews has such a high count of impressive, outstanding and excellent? Having experienced such an unexpected great find, I'm already making plans to return! (update: I found the food quality less stellar on subsequent visits)

Went for a family dinner at this restaurant over the weekend. We were rather early and the place became more crowded around 7pm.We ordered Sharks' fins soup, Butter crayfish, Jingdu pork chop, Seafood claypot tofu, Steamed garoupa. 

Foodwise, I found the butter crayfish and jingdu pork chop surpassed my expectations. Apparently, the 'butter' ingredient for crayfish is the same as their signature butter squids (which I saw were highly recommended by most reviewers). Jingdu pork chop is very tender and sauce not too salty. Steamed garoupa is fresh and seafood claypot tofu is a safe bet. Only slight disappointment was the Sharks' fins soup as the stock tasted more of seasonings rather than from the freshness of ingredients.

After reading some reviews of poor service, I must say I was quite surprised (& happy, of course) to receive fairly prompt service that day... maybe cos we were early.

Ambience-wise, definitely a family place. Personally liked the high ceiling... gives a spacious feel.

During my first visit to Thaipan, it was fantastic!!! We almost missed the opening hours as we visited during a Sun around 2+. The staff were very nice to allow us to dine.

We ordered broccoli with crab meat, honey chicken, phad thai, mee goreng, toufu with meat floss and butter sotong.

ALL the dishes were very nice.

During my second visit today, I ordered phad thai and honey chicken. I REALLY LOVE the honey chicken, however, I do not know why the honey chicken today was very soggy and not nice at all! It was not even SWEET and did not taste of honey. The meat was soggy and not as crispy as the 1st time. The phad thai was soggy as well and not as nice as the first time.

I do not know if there were 2 chefs on duty. I REALLY LIKED THE FIRST CHEF.

I personally feel that Thaipan will do well in that area as the price is really reasonable and the service there is not bad. I feel that if there is such discrepancies within the chefs, it really will affect the place's reviews. I dunno what went wrong though.

Will probably go back to try one last time to see if the standard has dropped again.
Will probably upload pics some visit.

When my friend Boon Tiong was raving so much after a meal at this restaurant called ThaiPan, I can’t help but had the thought “Ah! At least we’re seeing something new”. Good Thai food sold at affordable prices, now that really got me excited for a while.

But the thing is after looking at his food photos, I came to the realisation that the food isn’t really authentically Thai. I mean I know that Thais eat Kang Kong but I’m not sure they stir fry it in sambal style like that. I know for a fact that beancurd with meat floss on top is Chinese dish. And I have never in my life heard of Thai Curry Fish Head.

So I then went on to do some research about this restaurant and good reviews always seem to pop up. So I had a brief read through and true to my thoughts, they are indeed serving Chinese food in a confusing signboard that reads ThaiPan in disguise of a Thai restaurant.

Of course they do have common Thai dishes here like Pad Thai and Mango Salad. However the reviews of those food are ok only and not exactly impressive. At least it’s clear that those things are not what people go there for. Instead dishes like Butter Squid, Tofu with Crabmeat and Olive Fried Rice are given thumbs up. I then drew my conclusion that this is a restaurant where you can eat Chinese Cze Char food at coffeeshop prices.

I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the front of the restaurant at Netheranvon Road at Changi Village. As I walked in, I was further impressed by the decor. It isn’t exactly the classiest but it is elegant. I quickly took my seat and keenly flip through menu and realised the prices on the menu are a little off from those I’ve read in reviews. I asked the waitress and she explained that they have different pricing for both branches. Ah ha! So you know which one to go now if you’re not looking to spend that extra more unnecessarily. I must also mention that you have to pay to park at the Civil Service Club at Changi but it is free at Mandarin Gardens.

Now been a keen Cze Char eater, I have patronised many many places. I’m not going to bore you with my credentials but as far I’m concern, no where can match eating Cze Char at Chinatown Complex Food Centre in value and price. That place has many stalls that can dish out terrific food at terrific prices. I learnt this when they were housed temporarily near the Outram MRT station due to upgrading of that complex.

Now I’m going to put Boon Tiong’s neck on the chopping block by telling you that he convinced me to go and eat at ThaiPan because, in his words, “The Pai Kwat Wong is da best I have ever eaten!”. I know for a fact that Boon Tiong is a real food master and so this place climbed to the top of my to-do list in a speck of time.

I ordered the Pai kwat Wong as Boon had recommended, the Butter Squid as what many positive things had been said about it and a Sambal Kangkong a dish that is so safe that I think a lot is needed for it to go wrong.

The first dish that came is the Sambal Kangkong. It is not bad except that I find it a little too sweet, my partner agrees too. And although it looked pretty red, the spiciness level is really what I would call level 1.

The next dish came is the Butter Squid and it took me by complete surprise because it is indeed squid in butter – literally. Now I had seen photos of it in blogs and forums and it looked deep fried and completely dry, I mean even if you were to order a Butter Crab from any Cze Char place, you wouldn’t expect the crabs to be dosed in buttery liquid right? Ok anyway it tasted ok and it actually was something that looked like half cooked scrambled eggs that is mixed with butter and then pan tossed with the deep fried squid(or at least that’s what I think). It is quite unique indeed but again I found it to be a little too sweet, I would give it more points if the chef had put in a little more salt(or maybe he forgot).

The dish that I’m coming here for has arrived. I took a piece, close my eyes, took the first bite to taste the ‘pork chop texture’ of the Pai Kwat Wong that I’m so familiar with. But alas, it was different. I found myself chewing on a piece of meat highly tenderised by bicarbonate soda – so tender that even if you were to tell me it’s beef I would had believed. Perhaps more noteworthy is that the flavour is quite good but that’s about it. The texture was quite disappointing. Tenderiser should only be used on beef as far I liked and the taste of it had confused my taste bud with other things and it felt like eating anything but pork.

Now isn’t that very very strange that so many good reviews had been written and yet I find this restaurant dishing out food that had got it wrong at the very basics?

Perhaps the chef had a really bad day or maybe my expectation had shot up too high after reading and hearing all the good things? Or maybe the one at Mandarin Gardens have better chefs? Which leads me to the next question, would I come back again? Well the food isn’t exactly awful and although it’s not the best but it’s far from the worst so of course I will come back again but this time at Mandarin Gardens.

Photos at http://alfredeats.com/thaipan-is-it-thai-or-chinese

Tried Thai Pan out twice , with different dishes .

For the first time , it was for my birthday . My boyfriend & I ordered a small portion of every item we picked and it ended up too much for 2 pax! We ordered like 6 dishes or so ... The small portion could easily cater to 3-4 pax in my opinion , the serving is rather huge i would say .

1. Olive Rice - One of the most tasty rice I have ever tasted especially with the mango salad and meat sauce to mix it with , it is very filling and delicious ! You can just eat it plain , it would just be as tasty on its own !

2. Jade Tofu with golden mushrooms - The jade tofu , one of their recommendations there , is another winning dish of theirs . It is delicate and soft , they should have added some egg to this tofu to make it rather crunchy and appetizing!

3. Cereal Prawns - Delicious !!! I would say it could be compared to Jumbo's cereal prawns , the cereal taste is strong within the prawn itself and mixing the cereal with the rice is a fantastic combination !

4. Butter Squid - Absolutely buttery and tasty too! But too much of this would make you sick . I would say that this is a must try dish if you head there because despite it being very buttery , it blends in very well with the olive rice .

5. Honey Chicken - Disappointing . Hard and non chewy at all , probably one of the worst dish over at Thai Pan .

6. Broccoli with egg & crabmeat - Must try too ! Healthy and refreshing after all the heavy food items . Crabmeat is significant in the dish and , the broccoli is really fresh .

Second visit to Thai Pan ,

Additional items we ordered :

1. Tom Yum Soup - Nothing very fantastic . Just any other normal tom yum soup ...

2. Almond Longan - It was on the house .. very nice of them . It tasted normal though , wouldn't order it the next time I'm back .

This is my second visit here after about a month ago. Brought here today my wife and parents-in-laws to try out the dishes.

When we reached here, my father-in-law exclaimed that he is a member of civil service club and thus should be entitled to 15% discount off thaipan expenses. however, he did not bring the card with him for verification. We had a talk with the staff but to no avail since they were not decision makers. It was only until one staff called Paul for advice and then we were given the green light in the discount. Thank you again Paul for this!

My father-in law basically loved seafood thus most dishes ordered are seafood (chilli crab, steamed fish & butter lobster)

Me personally do not fancy seafood thus unable to comment, general feedback are:

Chilli crab = chilli sauce can be better
Steamed fish = fresh but sauce slightly salty
Lobster = the butter sauce is fantastic!
sambal kangkong = i felt the spiciness level can be improved
Kailan with oyster = fresh crisp taste but me too felt the sauce can stronger.

Overall my parents in laws love the ambiance which is good for me also since I was the one who gave the recommendation.

Missed the tom yom soup I had on my first visit though.

Oh ya! we were given complimentary dessert also at the end of the meal! really felt good dining in here.

Have been to Thai Pan 3 times. Our first 2 visits were ok. We were there on a weekend, after 8 pm.

Decided that the location & food was ok, so we proposed to host a big group there for dinner on a weekday.

We read reviews of bad staff service standard & called to enquire if Thaipan could handle a bigger group & the staff said it definitely wouldnt be a problem. SO we went ahead to make the reservation.

The service was really2 bad. We had to keep coming out of the function room to get the waitress attention. When we told them that 2 waitress serving our group was a little under staff, she said it was all that they could afford as they had only 4 staff for the day. It was a weekday & there were hardly 3 tables of guests with 4 or less pax per table. The food was a total letdown! The waitresses face were so black! Perhaps the chefs for weekday & weekend were different becoz all except 2 dishes maintained the same consistency!

We ordered the THAIPAN speciality dishes as follows:

1 Hor Fan (Only saving grace for the day)
2 Yangchou fried rice (Only saving grace for the day)
3 Fish Maw soup - should named it as chicken soup as there were
hardly any fish maw, plenty of chicken @$30/large serving!
4 cereral prawn - prawns were tiny & not much taste @$25 per plate
5 butter squid - extremely oily
6 yam basket - yurky!
7 braised chicken - chicken taste stale, oily & no taste
8 Pepper Pork Chop - too peppery
9 Jade Tofu with Floss - overfried & floss spread were so miserable
@$12 each
10 Brocolli w crab meat - Too starchy n hardly can taste any crab
meat.
11 Prawn Paste chicken - not much taste

The portions were huge, but what matters more is the quality, not quantity! We would have prefered to eat a smaller amt but tastier food. The amt payable was after citibank card discount.

Our guests were very disappointed with our food recommendation & that did embarassed us badly ....

been to thaipan for a couple of times already, food wise... the standard is still not bad, but service wise, standard have been dropping.

during my first visit early april, celebrated a friend's birthday there. the service was prompt and the food was great. paul came to speak to us, asked us about the food and all... we were really pleased and all of us had a great time, we were so pleased with our experience that we introduced the place to others and brought our families and friends back often to eat.

my second visit there was with my family, the service was really slow and we ended up having to help ourselves... for the waitresses were too busy to attend to our requests.

my third visit there, we went in at about 9pm and i suppose it was near the closing time. the waitresses were noticeably unhappy about our entrance and i suppose, it did not help that we ordered many different dishes. it wasn't too pleasant and experience as we were there to celebrate another friend's birthday.

my fourth visit was earlier on today, at around 8plus pm. the restaurant was totally desserted, save for another table of gentlemen near the entrance. we ordered hotplate beancurd, and was served thaipan specialty beancurd instead. when we asked the waitress over, she insisted that the thaipan specialty beancurd is indeed their hotplate beancurd! when she realised her mistake, she actually just told us in chinese "this time you guys just eat this la, next time then order hotplate beancurd lo". we were dumbfounded and rendered totally incredulous by her response. not wanting to spoil our dinner, we just let the matter rest and argued no further.

we had actually wanted to order their specialty crab, but given the unpleasant experience with the waitress, we crushed that idea and went to another neighbouring restaurant for crabs instead... lest we are served another dish and asked to just eat whatever that was served to us again.

the service standard definitely dropped from my first visit, and we were speculating that perhaps it could be because during our first visit, paul their manager was around... subsequently, he wasnt area and thus, the drastic drop in service standard.

paul, i hope that you are reading this. you have a great restaurant that serves great food at reasonable prices... we definitely enjoyed ourselves during our first visit when you were around. but subsequently it was just really disappointing... hope the situation would improve!

their olive fried rice is still superb though!

i have been to thaipan for umpteen times, all visits have been fantastic till yesterday. due to this public holiday, the restaurant was fully packed and understaffed. we supposed to be seated inside, but my bf felt it was too cold, so we shifted downstairs to the alfresco area. i guess it was a wrong move, as service was not attentive at all. after sitting down for 40mins, our first dish, brocoli w crabmeat was finally served. our 2nd dish, butter squid was served after another 6mins. our olive rice was served to a couple that sat down only 10mins ago. im more than sure that the order was ours as the staff gave a very 'blur' look finding the 'correct table'. when my bf approached the staff upstairs, they claimed the olive rice wasnt ready, so eventually we switched to plain rice. it was very upsetting to have suggested the place, and i wanted my bf's mom to have a good meal. overall, the food still tasted good. i hope the restaurant can get in more staff on weekends/public holidays. Even if the chefs were shorthanded, there were still staff to appease the customers. More eloquent staff to give analysis than to simply say 'sorry sir/mdm, its not ready.'

Based on the numerous good reviews we saw prior to dining at Thaipan (Changi Village), our family decided to dine there.

The food was generally okay, we ordered the following dishes:
1. Yam Basket - $20
2. Baby kailan with Garlic - $12
3.Fried Bun - $3
4.Thaipan Olive Fried Rice - $6
5.Butter Crab - $43.70
6. steamed BLACK Garoupa

The service, however, was terribly atrocious.

Firstly - We requested for the Olive Fried Rice to be served first. However, the rice never came. We had to constantly chase the waiters/ waitresses to serve our rice, which was only finally served to us when we were nearing the last dish. Being Chinese, we would prefer to have our rice with dishes. Being Filippinos, my guess is that the waiters/ waitresses do not understand where we were coming from, in spite being chased. Never mind about that.

Secondly, and more importantly -
Our order was for steamed BLACK garoupa, which would have cost $5/100g. When the garoupa was served, it was black as night. When it was time to foot the bill, however, we were charged for steamed RED garoupa, which cost $8.80/100g. The total cost of the fish added up to $74.80. We approcahed the waitresses and informed them of our order, and what was served to us but wrongly charged. However, the waitress insisted that, upon taking our orders, we had ordered for RED garoupa instead of BLACK. Strange, shouldn't we be more in the know of what we had intended to order, instead of you?

Waitress #1 referred us to Waitress #2, whom, I presume, was her supervisor. Waitress #2 told us that she would check with the chef as to what was actually cooked, and served. Few minutes later, she returned from the kitchen, informing us that the chef had confirmed that he/she had used a red garoupa. However, we were skeptcial about her 'confirmation'. First of all, the restaurant was packed, and there might have been someone else who ordered red garoupa, so how could the chef and the waitress be so certain that red garoupa = our table? second of all, for all we know, they might have been in cahoots, for they are working in the same restaurant afterall. Alright, fine. We were willing to let it go.

However, the incredulous thing happened. Waitress #2 volunteered to show us to the fish tank to see how a red garoupa looks like. Sure enough, the red garoupa looked, well, red. We requested for a live 'sample' of a black garoupa, which coincidentally happened to be 'out of stock', or so claimed (perhaps we ate the last black garoupa). BUT, we informed her that the fish that was served to us was BLACK, not RED. Waitress #2 then told us, as a matter of factly, that once cooked, a red garoupa would turn black, hence what we saw and ate, at our table, was actually a red-garoupa-turned-black. Incredulous, wasn't it?!!!??

Unfortunately, as we were not professionals in the kitchen, we did not retaliate, as we weren't too sure if what Waitress #2 said was true. It was not until now, after surfing the internet and confirming with people who are familiar with cooking, that after steaming, a black garoupa will remain black, while a red garoupa will retain its redness!! After much thought, it was indeed quite silly of us to believe that a red garoupa would turn black upon steaming.

What irked us wasn't so much about the price, but the attitude and insistence of the waitresses. It is this lack of integrity which will be preventing me from making a return trip to this place - ever. We regretted not taking photos of the blakc garoupa as evidence before eating it up.
To all hungry people out there who wish to make a trip to this particular restaurant, I urge you to pay attention to what the waiters/ waitresses are saying while taking your orders, and to check your bill/food before paying.

Attached are two photos - one of a steamed red garoupa, and one of a steamed black garoupa, for your reference of how it would actually look like.

i went to thaipan with my bf n his family for lunch on sat, as part of his bd celebration. we enjoyed the meal tremendously n the service was much pleasing, especially for his parents who delighted in the spaciousness of the restaurant and the simple yet classy design.

we ordered quite a number of dishes to try, given that i had read much about it through the HGW website.

1) olive rice - fantastically delicious. i can't wait to go back for another round of the rice. sadly, the $1 promotion was over but the usual price of $6 was sufficient to feed 3-4 people and it was truly enjoyable with praises all round the table. (wish i could learn how to cook the rice, so i can please my future in-laws' taste buds. hee)
2) pineapple rice - the rice here is cooked with a slight indian flavour, given the use of the tamarind sauce to enhance the yellowish look of the rice. it wasn't enjoyable though. we all felt that it was quite lacking, although the ingredients were generous to be fair to the chef. no-one wanted 2nd helpings and we didn't manage to finish the rice.
3) pad thai - i think my bf's mother was quite excited about this dish because she's quite a fan of thai food. sadly, it failed to delight or even meet expectations. the noodle was too bland and not smooth enough, very lacking in taste so we didn't finish it.
4) broccoli with crab meat - this dish was very delightful and got praises all round the table as well. the gravy with crab meat is most delicious and flavourful, but i think it could be better if the sauce was slightly thicker and the broccoli can be cut into smaller pieces so that it is easier to eat. but it was a great dish and very generous with the portion.
5) butter squid - fantastic dish and immensely fragrant, the squid feels like it can almost melt in the mouth save for a bit of chewing. the curry leaves added on a fragrance that was most enjoyable.
6) honey chicken - the chicken was alright, but nothing special or spectacular. a tad oily though.
7) sambal fish head - this dish was a very bad order. worse than the pad thai in my sad opinion. the fish did not taste very fresh and the sambal sauce was neither spicy nor appetizing. my bf's brother commented that fish heads usually come as a whole head, rather than just half a head which is what we got. we gave up on the dish after a sample mouth each.
8) venison with ginger scallion - i felt that this dish was average. no insult meant, but i think the coffeeshop across the road serves a nicer version of this dish. the gravy was not fragrant nor appetizing and the venison could have been a bit thicker so that it was more chewy with more meat.

overall, we honestly enjoyed the meal because it was very relaxing for the family and the service staff are very polite and attentive, despite the observation that they were all non-singaporeans. the service staff may not have been very clear in their articulation but we delighted in the friendliness of their service, as compared to many other restaurants where the service staff would all be chatting among themselves instead of paying attention to the diners.

we were slightly surprised however, that we were not asked what kind of tea we preferred. it seems that most restaurants would ask diners to choose between chinese tea, chrysanthemum tea and pu er tea, but we were not given any choice on that. slightly weird, but we didn't mind to make do with chinese tea.

my bf's father tried the codeword 'hungrygowhere' and we were promptly rewarded with a bowl of iced almond longan each. the pricing is reasonable and we had a very good time. i'm certain that we will be back again soon. keep up the good work. =>