Suanthai Restaurant is located at a convenient spot along Killiney Road, which is only a few minutes’ walk from Somerset MRT station if you are taking public transport. Upon entering the restaurant, I can’t help to feel quite at home with the cozy ambience. To enjoy Suanthai’s buffet spread, there must be a minimum of 2 diners and it is a must to make prior reservation because the restaurant gets really pack during peak hours and you would not want to be waiting for a seat by the space at the tiny entrance. 

When one speaks of ‘All-you-can-eat’ buffet, naturally it meant free flow of food. It was undeniable that Suanthai provided me with a wide range of Thailand cuisine, 28 choices to be exact. But the shocking truth was that, not everything on the menu was ‘All-you-can-eat’. When I took a look at the dishes that were restricted to one time order only, I came to a realization that those were the popular Thai dishes (E.g. Green Curry w/ Mixed Seafood, Boneless Stuffed Chicken Wing & Chicken Wrapped in Pandan Leaf). Adding on to the disappointment, the buffet does not include any basic form of beverages. You either purchase a bottle of mineral water or pay an additional fee of $2.99++ for free flow iced lemon tea which comes in a jug.

 As the service crews were mainly foreigners, there was a slight language barrier when orders were taken. A lot of hand gestures were made before the message got carried across, however their speed of serving up the food really earned them a pat on the back. As my partner and I were settled down at a small single table, the table was quickly filled up with dishes from their prompt service but it did not left us any comfortable space to dine as we need to keep a lookout, ensuring that the dishes placed at the edge would not fall off. I would be more appreciative if the crews could be more watchful by serving up new dishes only when we have finished our current ones or clearing off empty plates to create more dining space for us.

Personally I love their boneless stuffed chicken but sadly, it belongs to the ONE-time order category, so I really had to take my time to savor that dish. Another down side of the restaurant is that, all their dish comes in really small portion and so you need to keep calling for the waiter to order more. Strangely, some of the dishes served that day were kind of cold, but because the dishes still tasted good, I didn’t really kick up a fuss about it. Beside the Thai Spring Roll which was pretty normal and tasted like those sold in Old Chang Kee, the rest of the dishes were satisfying.

Their Green Curry with Mixed Seafood and Deep Fried Whole Fish with Sweet, Sour & Spicy Sauce are worthy for recommendation. Their dessert corner was not very surprising; there were only 3 choices to pick from: Mixed fruits, Red Ruby and Steamed Tapioca. Being a red ruby fan, it was definitely a happy moment to find out that the dish was available there. As the dessert corner requires customers to ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY), I was able to determine the level of sweetness for my dessert. The only reason that is preventing the dessert from scoring a full point was that - the ice shavings were not fine enough. Some of the ices were still in tiny cube shapes and so I had to bite and crew my way through the dessert.

It was a wonder how a restaurant which received so many culinary awards can be so careless with tiny details such as customer’s dining comfort level and the standard of their food (being served cold). If you are not a big eater or do not have a big appetite, this is the right restaurant for you. The multiple plates of tiny portion food would surely fill up your tummy and prevent wastage of food, which can be charged at $2 per person. Although the deal brought excludes the GST and service tax, but when you do a little calculation after paying for these charges, the overall price for the meal is valuable. I would make a repeat purchase for the deal because the ambience really appeal to me, the price is reasonable and some of the dishes are worth a second chance. 

Rating: 3.5/5

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