Aroy Mak Mak 🇹🇭

I was so excited to see this colourful Thai snack available in Singapore. This always brings me back to my childhood vacations in Bangkok, where I would eagerly choose which ‘fruits’ I wanted from the stall at MBK. Unfortunately, the variant here didn’t match up to my expectations. The skin was too thin, translucent and film-like whereas the green bean filling was coarse. I felt the skin to filling ratio was too little, and I didn’t get much satisfaction overall. Guess it’s time for another trip back to Thailand.

The Thai version of Kang Kong, stir fried with chilli and garlic. One of the handful of vegetable dishes available on their menu and although it’s nothing outstanding, it’s a solid dish. There’s no muddy smell or taste to the vegetables even without belachan used, and the dish isn’t too salty.

Perhaps one of the dishes Kra Pow is best known for and also one that we have ordered each time we’ve visited. It’s like the Thai version of fried hor fun. While we did enjoy this dish as usual, the Devil’s Fried Rice overshadowed this completely and overtook this as our favourite dish at Kra Pow. Still a good option though, especially for days you just don’t want something too spicy.

This steamed fish dish takes approx 20 mins to prepare and serve, but at least you can be assured it’s prepared fresh when you order it and you’ll receive it hot.

The sea bass is really well prepared so the meat is tender and separates from the bone easily. We did find that there were quite a lot of scales, which was a little annoying, but not a deal breaker. The chilli, lime and cilantro create an addictive spicy and sour flavour profile that is so so so good. We even drank the broth on its own as it was so refreshing and delicious. For $48, you get a whole fish which is quite affordable considering this eatery is in Orchard. Would order again!

A plate of deep fried crispy squid tentacles served with chilli lime aioli which is an appetiser that you’ll spot on most of the tables at Kra Pow. The squid is super crispy and delicious. If it’s too dry, just dip in some aioli and you’re good to go. Makes a great appetiser for sharing, just make sure you actually share!

Third visit to Kra Pow and we changed up our rice order this time. As amazing as all the dishes we’ve had at Kra Pow so far, this is officially MY FAVOURITE and it’s an opinion shared among my whole family. It is legitimately spicy but shouldn’t be a problem if you do like eating spicy foods! This fried rice is packed with different flavours - spicy, salty, a little tomato sweetness, but it’s oh so good and addictive. You have to taste it yourself and you’ll understand. We’re definitely going to order this on our next visit!

I was underwhelmed when this dish arrived as it looked so different from the picture in the iPad ordering system. I was expecting whole prawns and crispy golden brown garlic, but we were served chopped prawns and the garlic didn’t look as crispy as I thought it would’ve been.

However, my first bite turned my first impression of this dish upside down. This dish was super delicious! The garlic is extremely fragrant, with some crispy pieces in the mix. The prawns weren’t the freshest, but they weren’t too bad as the star of this dish was actually the garlic. There’re also many tiny green chillies in the dish which weren’t super spicy, but enough to provide some shock value for those not used to spice. This was actually my favourite dish of the night and one I would love to order again.

As one of their ‘Must try’ dishes on the menu, I needed the advice on their iPad ordering system and had high hopes for this appetiser. We were quickly served five freshly fried meatballs with some chilli sauce.

The exterior of the meatballs were crispy, and the pork mince was nicely seasoned and bouncy. There’s also onions in the mixture which add some crunchiness. I really liked drizzling the chilli sauce over the meatballs for extra flavour. Although these weren’t bad, I don’t think they warranted a ‘must try’. In fact, if it weren’t for the chilli sauce, I would have gotten bored of the taste of the meatballs.

I wouldn’t order this again as there’re other more deserving dishes on the menu.

There’s two versions of baby kai lan available on the menu - one with pork belly, and another with salted fish. You can also request for no meat options if you prefer.

This dish was fragrant and well-seasoned. The kai lan wasn’t bitter, and still retained its crisp bright green colours. Though there’re some chillies in the dish, it’s not spicy. The pork belly is nicely cooked as well. Overall a simple vegetable dish that isn’t extraordinary, but one that you can’t go wrong with.

Baan Ying has lots of rice and noodle options available but this time we tried something more traditionally Thai rather than their signature green chilli fried rice. Note that you can actually choose how spicy you want the dishes to be. Since we do eat spicy food regularly, we just went with the normal spice level.

The tom yum fried rice was served last among all the dishes we ordered, but it came piping hot. The seafood option comes with fish, squid and prawn which are all quite fresh. The fried rice is on the soft side, perhaps cooked with a little too much water, and doesn’t give much bite, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. I prefer fried rice which is harder, and am a fan of using day-old rice, but I appreciate this version too. At the normal spice level, I couldn’t taste any spiciness in the tom yum. In fact, the dish was mostly just sweet and sour. It was an addictive taste, but if you like spicy food, choose the more spicy option when placing your order.

Another regular order here for me, I love how the chefs at A-Roy Thai make such a simple dish so flavourful. Though the cabbage might look plain, the level of saltiness is just right, and complements the natural sweetness of the vegetables. The cabbage leaves retain their crunchiness, and I especially love spoonfuls with fried garlic which are super aromatic.

One of my regular orders but this is the first time I’ve had this since A-Roy Thai’s expansion. I did find that the stuffing was more bland than usual, but perhaps that could be due to the strong flavours in the spicy and sour wing bean salad. The batter was as crisp and enjoyable as always though. Would still order this to go along with my meal!