We have always enjoyed good food but now that our family has been blessed with the addition of 3 rambunctious grands, eating out can be a hassle if any popular restaurant is not children-friendly. What do I mean by not toddler-friendly? Hole-in-the-wall type of eateries where seats are placed so closely together you could/would be rubbing shoulders with other patrons, proclaimed “family” restaurant but do not have proper (high) chairs, untrained staff that are careless when serving hot foods, etc… etc… you get my drift. So after my recent food tasting session at Sino-Thai Gin Khao, I asked Royston, “Is there any high chairs at your restaurant?” (Answer below).
Sino-Thai cuisine offered by Gin Khao at Tampines Safra.
Newly minted on 17th April 2019, this 3,500 sq. ft. restaurant can accommodate up to 168 seats, making it a perfect venue for family gatherings and corporate events.
One of the three cosy private dining rooms available. The restaurant is also conspicuously located facing the communal lap pool.
The following are the dishes served per my food tasting’s customised menu:
1) Smoked Duck / Salted Egg Salmon Skin.
2) Pumpkin Fish Maw Soup with Crab Meat.
3) Broccoli with Shimeiji Mushroom.
4) Pork Ribs with Special Sauce.
5) Braised Bitter Gourd with Garoupa.
6) Prawn with Pumpkin Sauce.
7) Green Curry Fried Rice with Prawn in Coconut Husk.
8) Black Bean Ice Cream with Sticky Rice.
Steven had the Thai Tea Cha-yen while I had the Yuzu drink to go with our meal.
Smoked Duck and Salted Egg Salmon Skin: These are actually two separate dishes on menu but for variety’s sake has been combined into a single platter for our tasting. The smoked duck is pretty standard and the fish skin was crispy enough with subtle salted egg yoke taste.
Pumpkin Fish Maw Soup with Crab Meat: Steven does not like fried fish maw (a.k.a. bladder) as he finds them “fishy” but this one was quite well prepared so a thumbs up from him. That said, he also does not like pumpkin so he did not enjoy the soup as much as I did as I do like fish maw and enjoy pumpkin soup. I also find the viscosity of the soup to be just the right touch, neither too gooey nor runny.
Broccoli with Shimeiji Mushroom: Although this is quite a common fare that can be found in most cze char stalls and Cantonese restaurants, we like it here because the vegetables and mushrooms were not overcooked and the crisp and crunch made me feel extra healthy and less guilty for abandoning the HFLC diet I was supposedly on.
Pork Ribs with Special Sauce: The special sauce is a combination of Thai oyster sauce, Thai soy sauce and Thai fish sauce sweetened with a bit of palm sugar. The Thai oyster sauce has a sharper taste than the Hong Kong version and surprisingly we like it better than the latter. However, this dish did not wow us as we found the ribs and sauce to be “separated”. Perhaps, a longer marination is called for.
Braised Bitter Gourd with Garoupa: Steven is not a fan of fish so when he said he was on the same page as me, I was astounded. Although we did find this dish to be on the salty side, we loved it because we could taste the bitter in the bittergourd and the fish was really succulent. We had the same notion of coming back just to order this very “Cantonese” dish with a steaming bowl of Jasmine rice!
Prawn with Pumpkin Sauce: Maybe it’s my fault for delaying the attack on these prawns since my camera always eats first but the batter was no longer as crisp as we liked it to be, probably corrupted by humidity. We also found the limp coat to be too thick. Other than that, the prawns remained luscious inside. The pumpkin sauce was rich and delicious.
Green Curry Fried Rice with Prawn in Coconut Husk: This was such a pretty sight! Using whole fruits as container for fried rice has become Gin Khao’s signature, first the watermelon fried rice I had from Gin Khao almost 4 years ago and now this green curry fried rice served in coconut.
Green Curry Fried Rice with Prawn in Coconut Husk: The white piece in the front of the bowl is not fish fillet but scraped tender flesh from the insides of the coconut. This version of fried rice is not the “liap liap” dry type but clumped lightly with moist from the paste. I felt they could be bolder and make the green curry more edgy, to the extent of venomous even, hahaha! Then I’ll have an excuse to order the young coconut drink.
Black Bean Ice Cream with Sticky Rice: We were supposed to be served the mango and sticky rice for dessert but the mango had aged past the point of ripeness so this was the alternative.
Black Bean Ice Cream with Sticky Rice: This is like eating pulut hitam with vanilla ice cream. I truly enjoyed both the black bean ice cream as well as the al dente textured black sticky rice with coconut cream. Be forewarned that this is very sweet and you probably need ice water on the side unless the restaurant tone down their sweetness a notch.
The Kinnari: A beautiful carving of the mythical creature in Thai folklore.
So what’s Sino-Thai cuisine?
Sino-Thai is a marriage of Thai and Chinese cuisine over at Gin Khao Tampines Safra (TS). Helmed by Head Chef, Chang Wing Fai, a seasoned veteran in the culinary scene with more than 40 years of experience in Chinese and Sino-Thai undertakings, HK Chef Chang pledges to reinterpret the flavours of Sino-Thai cuisine for the novelty-chasing local market. The rest of the culinary team are aptly pooled with chefs trained in Sino-Thai cuisine. Newly minted on 17th April 2019, this 3,500 sq. ft. restaurant could accommodate up to 168 seaters and comes complete with hygge private dining areas and 10-seaters round tables, making it a perfect venue for gatherings and the likes.
Their Offerings
Taste the best of both worlds over at Gin Khao Tampines Safra, besides Sino-Thai cuisine, we also offer contemporary Chinese cuisine. For those with more polished gustatory yearnings, Chef Chang is open to customisation of menu other than our standard offerings, on the premises that there is at least one to two weeks’ prior notice.Sino Thai Food has a strong Teochew heritage and is well known for its seafood and vegetable dishes, not relying heavily on flavouring but instead emphasizes on the freshness and quality of the ingredients (Our ingredients are sourced daily from Jurong Fishery Port) and of course on the chef’s culinary skills (i.e. the wok’s breath) to achieve its mesmerising taste. For the health conscious, it is all the more appealing that Sino Thai cuisine uses oil sparingly and instead rely on cooking methods such as steaming, braising, stir-frying and poaching to bring out the intended taste.
Chef Chang stresses that the key to Sino Thai cuisine is achieving the delicate balance of sweet, spicy, sour and salty. Besides the usual soy sauce, Thai herbs and spices, unique condiments for Sino Thai cuisine, includes the fervent use of Superior broth, reminiscence of a stock that always remains on the stove and is continuously replenished and Fish sauce. The latter served as a flavouring agent in soups, a component of dipping sauces as well as seasonings for dishes.
Thai staples include our Green Curry Prawn Fried Rice served in Coconut Husk, Salted Egg Squid as well as our Tom Yum Hotpot. Complete the meal in delicate renditions with Sino-Thai desserts such as Red Ruby with Golden Tapioca or Thai Chendol with Coconut Gelato. For our Chinese offerings, which revolve around braised meat, steamed fishes, soups and vegetables, perennial specialities include our Steamed Black Cod With Superior Sauce, Braised Thai Fish Maw with Crab Meat and Wok Fried Chinese cabbage with Thai Fish Sauce. There is simply something for everyone at the table with healthier choice variants (usually vegetables) and even Chinese dishes with no MSG added. ~ excerpts from Sino-Thai Gin Khao’s website.
Starter Sets
Mother’s Day Menu
Looking for a cosy, spacious, “toddler-friendly” restaurant in the eastern region of Singapore to celebrate Mother’s Day? Drop by at Sino-Thai by Gin Khao at Tampines Safra this Sunday because “Yes, they have high chairs!” And you’ll have choices of Chinese, Thai and Sino-Thai dishes to choose from (see full menu here).
By the way, the staff are friendly and efficient. Also, find out if they are going to serve mookata outside the restaurant overlooking the lap pool in the near future.
Sino-Thai Gin Khao Tampines Safra
Address:
Tampines Safra
1/A Tampines Street 92, #01-K2, Singapore 528882.
Opening Hours:
Mon – Thurs: 12:00pm to 3:00pm and 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Fri – Sun: 12:00pm to 11:00pm
Last Order: 30 mins before closing
Tel: (65) 6226 0959
See Sino-Thai Gin Khao’s Full Menu, click here.
See my post and review on Gin Khao here:
GIN KHAO – THAI STREET DELIGHTS AND MORE!
