Bali Thai (Tampines Mall)

A long belated post which has lain dormant in my list for some time. However, the memory remains fresh nonetheless, fresh enough to provide a review and an accurate impression of the experience i've had here.

To be honest, i've been past this place so many times, its amazing how i've never felt the urge to actually step in for a meal. The exterior looks rather dull and dark but the interior is bright and cheery with clean wooden tables and nice black chairs for a zen-like feel.Service was brisk, attentive and rather pleasant as well, which makes me wonder why the place was so quiet. It was peak lunch period when we patronized it and somehow, space was aplenty with a rather abysmal clientele.

The usual compulsory crackers ($3 each) - This was rather pushing the envelope for the rip-off department at $3 per basket of crackers but i must say, i actually liked it. The crackers were good, fragrant, strong vegetable taste but add in the chili and its a whole new game. Spicy, sweet and just good. $3 is still too much for it though.

Tahu Telur ($8.50) - A rather hearty portion if i say so myself. The tahu telur was overly hard at places but managed to remain acceptable mostly due to yet another excellently fragrant sauce. Its just the normal peanut sweet sauce with a little chili but it really makes this average dish taste better then it really is.However, paying $8.50 for it is something i won't soon repeat however.

Garlic Stir Fried Kailan ($14) - Kailan stands as one of my favorite greens and its a relief that they managed to at least preserve its good tastes with this dish.Nothing outstanding, its the casual garlic stir fried version but its fragrant and very appetising.

BBQ Platter ($48) - Fried whole fish, 2 grilled prawns, generous bbq calamari and squid, chicken and satay rounds up this huge platter of food. This is good. I mean its really pretty good in terms of overal quality. The prawns are grilled till there's a little char on the bottom but manages to make the shell so brittle, you can simply eat the entire thing without much fuss. The fish is huge and deep fried on the outside with the inside still thankfully moist and soft with sweet spices. This went really well with the balachan-like chili. The chicken was overdone which resulted in tough and dry meat but the overal was still nicely fragrant and sweet. The calamari was also done just right and like the rest of the package, is sweet and fragrant. The satay is acceptable and rather bigger portioned then regular satays. Overal, this is a rather good buy to me.

Asam Fish Head ($22) - This was something i touched very little of because i didn't want to sweat like a pig before returning to work. However, i couldn't resist eating the tender and sweet fish meat that was left over by my colleagues. The asam was actually slightly spicy but not overwhelming. The curry taste was rather strong but the fish head was definitely worthwhile at the meaty portions. Fishy taste is apparent but minimal as well.

Tom Yum Seafood ($24) - Their version of the oh-so-famous tom yum seafood soup. This is the clear version and it came packed with seafood. I mean it was literally bursting with ingredients like squid, fish, mussels, prawns and scallop. Its definitely strong in terms of taste and moderately spicy but if i'm not mistaken, still milder then the actual tom yum soup in Thailand. A pretty good rendition and value for money however.

Finally, a pleasing meal for 7 came up to a total of $141.95. I'd say this is rather worthwhile given the food we had.

Last Word: A pretty decent setting and decent serving of food. The pluses are the fact it came with good service and that the price of entry is rather low. For improvement, i'd suggest having more set meal options and tie ups with companies for catering and such to boost visibility.