A quick tour of the place ensued...
Private dining room at Kha.
The interiors were designed by award winning, Melbourne based designer Hecker Guthrie. It gives a elegant yet classy, mysterious feel. Love the dark hues and subtle lighting arrangement.
Each table had their own serving stations (white tops) next to them. The whole place is just about bright enough, which gave me a private feel as the serving staff (and other diners) seemingly fade in the the background. Very clever indeed.
We were also shown the adjacent dining place, Graze which offers a totally different outlook!
It seems as if you are transformed into another world altogether! What stark contrast. They do serve brunch and again they do have their private rooms for a small get together.
And in the same establishment, there is Provisons, which is a unique gourmet food retail shop.
Enough of the touring, off to the food!
Kha serves a selection of mocktails and we were given the chance to taste two of them.
Ruby Starlet ($12)
Essentially a mixture of lime juice, lychee juice served with promegranate and mint leaves over a slushie! Refreshing and a good palate cleanser as you dig into the food. Wait for it to melt a little, the slushie doesn't go up the straw too willingly. And as much as I love promegranate, they get stuck in the straw!
Dragon Eye ($12)
Lychee, fresh mint leaves with lychee juice and fresh lime juice. Even though the core ingredients is very similar (same!) as the ruby starlet above, the taste is worlds apart. The taste of mint is more definitive here and I can't really taste the lychee juice in this one. Freshness this drink brings!
Tod Man Poo ($17)
Thai crab and prawn cakes with green mango salad. I always have a soft spot for crab and prawn cakes ever since I tasted my first one in Bangkok as a kid. This crab and prawn cake is really a clever idea. The fluffiness of the crab meat with the crunch and taste that the prawns provide is really a match made in heaven. The tanginess of the green mango salad tingles and teases the taste buds while you devour the sweet cakes. Excellent!
Wagyu Beef with Papaya Salad ($29)
This is one of the dishes from the Chef's selections. I have a confession to make. I don't take beef for various reasons and I was so super tempted to taste this. But I didn't. Only tasted the papaya salad in the end. The full name of this dish is Rare grilled red curry rubbed wagyu beef papaya salad. The red curry and yogurt actually neutralised the otherwise expected tanginess of the papaya salad. A nice combination. I am sure the wagyu tasted awesome. It's wagyu, right? How can it not taste awesome?
Crispy whole chilli filled with pork and herbs ($14)
The chillis come served with malibu chilli soy, tom yum and honey mustard dipping sauces. The chillis were crunchy and the filling of pork was moist. A delight, but it didn't blow me away. You can smell the malibu in the dipping sauce but unable to taste it as the green chilli and herbed pork overpowers it. It goes best with the tom yam dipping sauce in my opinion. Interesting eat, though average overall.
Tom Yum Goong ($18)
How can you have thai food and not have the tom yum goong? The hot and sour soup version served here is outstanding. Not too extremes on tastes and delicately balanced. I finished every drop! The fresh straw mushrooms that came in the soup was superb. Apparently they are the high coveted thai version, this I cannot (and don't know how to ) verify. The king prawn I felt was a little overcooked though. Nevertheless I thought it was one of the better versions I ever had.
Gaeng Phed Ped Yang ($28)
The red roast duck curry, pineapple and lotus seed. (the green things are not peas. a form of egg plant i was told.) The curry gravy was wonderfully flavoured, a tad too salty to be eaten on its own, but simply fantastic with a serving of rice. The duck meat was tender and wonderfully seasoned, paired with the slight sourness of pineapple and subtle sweetness of the lotus seeds, this makes a nice delightful dish. And it is served with vined cherry tomatoes!
Talking about their rice, just a quick side note. The rice is perfectly cooked with a bite still present and each grain is whole and separated from each other. Takes skill to do that and Kha did it wonderfully well.
Papa Adun's Phad Tow Hu ($14)
Wok fried tofu with crispy basil and three flavoured sauce. It didn't really leave an impression with me. The tofu was fried nicely with a crispy skin but hollow inside. Nice tasting but average.
Pha Yang Bai Tong ($28)
Char grilled seabass with lemongrass in banana leaf and dill chilli sauce. Nicely grilled and moist on the inside when served. The dill chilli sauce adds another dimension to the fish. Other than that, another average dish.
You can tell by now that we are filled to the brink. While waiting for desserts, our host suggested that we order some coffee.
Graze de Mocha ($5.50)
From the sister stall Graze, this is a MUST try. Absolutely love it. The creaminess and sweetness is well balanced. But be warned, it comes in a HUGE serving portion. Absolutely fantastic. Not your connoisseur coffee, but a great one indeed.
Caramel Ma Muang Suk ($12)
Basically grilled mango cheeks served with lime lychee fruit sorbet and mango sauce. The lime lychee combination strikes again! The sorbet was normal, although I didn't think the sorbet and the grilled mango really went well together. It just tasted like a super ripe (and super sweet) mango. Nice, but ordinary.
Thap Thim Krwap ($13)
Simply red rubies with a slight twist. The famous thai dessert was served in coconut jasmine syrup, rose petals and shaved ice. Nice and not too overly sweet and the very subtle fragrance of the jasmine flowers did lift the whole taste of this traditional dessert. Just don't eat the jasmine flower, it's bitter. The rose petals are fine though.
Khao Neaw Ma Muang ($14)
And the dessert of the day have to go to the mango sticky rice. The green sauce in the background is the coconut pandan sauce that tasted fantabulous with the mango and sticky rice. The black specks of sesame seeds was awesome to bite into. The right chewiness of the slightly warm glutinous rice went absolutely well with the slighly chilled sweet mango, and coupled with the robust richness of the coconut pandan sauce, I thought it was the arguably best dish of the day.
Kha also offers a wide selection of wine and beer.
Overall a good dining experience and none of the dishes on offer disappointed. Although a few of them tasted ordinary (still good) but the rest either surprised me or just tasted fantastic. It may look a tad expensive but the huge servings more than made up for it.
A definite must go if you are looking for some delicately preparead Thai food or a modern interpretation of Thai cuisine!
Kha
Martin No. 38
S(239509)
+65 6476 9000
info@kha.sg
www.kha.sg
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