AnyThai (18 Circular Road)

Note to readers: If you are wondering why there are 2 shops - namely Chiang Mai Palace and AnyThai - under the address "18 Circular Road", it is because they have changed management, but the shop still sells Thai food.

This whole lane in Circular Road is rather amazing. If not for the fact that I work around the area, I doubt I'd ever know the existence of this place!

AnyThai is, among many others, a decent and cheap restaurant to go eat at. I would think they have even better deals during lunch hour so as to attract the lunch crowd.

I was eating at the restaurant with a Thai, and the comment made was that the food is rather authentic!

I had for myself a real good $6.90 deal. It came with rice (choice of white rice or pineapple rice), a small dish of oyster sauce vegetable, 2 spring rolls (not the tiny tiny one! It could have been 10cm long!), a bowl of tom yam soup and a lime juice. Yes, all that for only $6.90, believe it or not!

I thought everything in the set meal was really good, albeit a little too small a portion of soup. The soup came in a regular sized bowl (similar to rice bowls at chinese restaurants) with a nominal amount of fish and prawns. Not much ingredients so to speak. But apart from that, the other dishes came in a sizeable portion that was not too harmful to your stomach. I like it because it allows you a variety of dishes even if you are eating alone!

Apart from that, there are a few other variations of the $6.90 meal, as well as a $4.90 rice set that's basically just rice and a side dish (perhaps meat).

A friend ordered the Pineapple Rice, and to my (pleasant) surprise, the rice actually did come in a Pineapple! I understand that it is common practice, but look at it this way: a small shop that's not very eye-catching, serving food that's relatively cheap, actually serves pineapple rice in a pineapple! It is pleasant all right, that people still do care about the authenticity of Thai food in Singapore.

Of course, there were many other things available, such as Black Pepper beef rice that was apparently very good, as the Thai who was having lunch with me said. I do not doubt those words even though I did not try it!

If you go there at lunch, bear with them sometimes if service is bad. The waiters there are very hospitable, thus making your dining experience much more enjoyable. But during lunch they do get rather busy and so are a little slow in bringing up your food.

I would go back there for lunch again, I think it's a really good deal. But I do wonder if they have such good dinner deals too or not. Anybody..?