Ah Loy Thai

Ah Loy Thai is a small eatery nestled in a fairly quiet corner at Shaw Towers but come lunch or dinner it's bustling with activity. Not surprising though, good food at good prices will certainly draw a crowd, don't you think? And oh, Ah Loy should not be confused with Ah Roy at Funan IT Mall as the latter also serves Thai food, albeit in a finer (and therein, more expensive) setting.

Seafood Tom Yum Soup: 4/5


One of the better tom yum soups here in Singapore. My friend prefers the clearer, spicier rendition of this soup though, but I think that's only because most Singaporeans prefer spicy dishes at their spiciest, they don't really like to settle for mildness haha. I meanwhile would think this soup had a good balance of spicy and sour. Good portion of seafood ingredients given the fairly low $5.50 price tag. We also ordered the chicken tom yum soup because Huixiang wanted "variety".

Tom Yum Fried Rice: 4.25/5


I couldn't exactly taste the tom yum, but perhaps that's because I was happily drinking the soup at the same time that I couldn't tell the distinctive flavour in the fried rice. Very tasty fried rice with the right amount of moisture and oil. Pretty generous with the seafood ingredients too.

Phad Thai: 3.75/5


Looks can be deceiving. The phad thai looked whitish and bland-tasting when it arrived (yes, it did look like it would be bland) but it turned out to be much more flavourful. I would prefer it to be a tad spicier with a little more grated peanuts for the extra crunch.

Pineapple Fried Rice


Kimberly and Huixiang both ordered this, it looked alright but I didn't get to taste it. Doubt it was as good as my fried rice! Hahaha. It was a healthy portion and well worth the price.

Service
Very good. I actually tried to reserve a table for five fifteen minutes before our arranged dinnertime, and the ladyboss (so she seemed to be) was nice enough to make sure we could have the table in time. She even apologised that we had to sit outside of the restaurant, but I thought it was actually cooler outside since there was the air-conditioning from the building itself.

Price
$5.50 for the seafood tom yum soup
$6.50 for the chicken tom yum soup
$5.00 for the tom yum fried rice
$4.50 for the phad thai
$4.50 for the pineapple fried rice
$1.30 for the thai iced tea (yums!)
$1.30 for the "kumquat" (lime juice)


Place
Shaw Towers (Beach Road), #01-39/40.
Opposite Tom's Palette.