After a great relaxing session of massage done at Asia Herb Association, when your body is done and happy the next thing that you got to do would be treating your stomach well. Kalpapruek is a great modern thai restaurant at Central World, one of the largest shopping mall in Bangkok. It is the place to be, with many shops of brands that you can and cannot think of. Food wise, restaurants are plentiful, from the usual BBQ Plaza to Macs and MK Steamboat. Even the great popular cheese tart from Japan has a stall here. P.S There is no queue here at all. Although prices are quite similar to the Singapore one. If you are in the vicinity or shopping at Central World, the place to be to fill your stomach or to rest your legs, Kalpapruek is the place to be. There is 3 branches in town, with the Central World one located on the 7th Floor.
They serves up authentic thai dishes and prices are super affordable. The menu also varies, having a ton of items to choose from. Actually you get a little confused by the menu because of the number of items that you will be tempted to order and some of them are actually quite similar also. That is their bad point actually. I went in for a late lunch, slightly after 2pm. There was no crowd and we would immediately shown to a table. As said, I actually took some time to decide before ordering. We might have even over order as well!
First dish was a nobrainer, of course, when in thailand you can’t go without some Tom Yum! We ordered the Red Tom Yum which came in a mini stove of its own. Personally I love the version with chilli paste as it packs a bigger punch and the spicy sour soup is always the best. I got mine with prawns and they came with large thai fresh river prawns. They themself were flavourful and succulent, but I love mine with a little dip into the fish sauce and then it is awesome. The soup was great packed full of flavourful. I like the way that they serve it in a mini hotpot as usually when it gets cold the soup get really fishy. The Prawn Tom Yum cost 250 THB, sightly about 9SGD. Worth!
Then next is another norm that all of us have to order and absolutely love in Thai food. MANGO SALAD!!! Thinly sliced green tart mango that comes with a dressing of peanuts, fish sauce, bird eye chilli!!! Tart, spicy, sour, salty all the combination together. This is absolute bae, I could have it all day just that it isn’t too healthy with all the salt in it! I have seen version with pomelo or even with some dried shrimp. Kalpapruek one was absolutely divine and I was a little shock when I first had a bite of it. But it is simply so delicious. Many other food bloggers have say that their work is hard because how many adjectives can you use to describe the food? This is simply the situation that I’m facing right now. The little fried stuff that you can spot on the right of the picture is actually deep fried squid, they were so tasty and add in a little crunch and extra layer of flavour in the dish. It cost 195 THB or about 7.50SGD. A little more than the usual price for a salad in Bangkok but for their uniqueness and creativity. I find it the must order and also my favourite dish of this whole meal.
The Stir Fried Rice Sticks with pork was my second favourite dish after the Mango Salad. This dish was really unique as in the shape of the Rice Sticks. It actually made it look like some kind of clams or bamboo. The cooking was simple, just the rice sticks with some thin stripes of pork and the bamboo like rice sticks. Together with some black sauce it was delightful and tasty. It came at a modest price of 120THB or 4.80SGD too. They added a little chilli to give it some kick too. My kind of dish!
Then we ordered the Pandan Chicken too. As per how the locals do it. You can’t be disappointed on this when in any thai restaurant. They were well marinated and tender. They dish came with 6 pieces of pandan chicken. It cost 200THB or 8 SGD. I find it a little pricey given that one piece cost about 1.50SGD. There was nothing special about it also. I shall not describe the last dish that we order too! Which was the Red Curry Pork. That was disappointing. The curry isn’t tasty since the spices that they used were too powerful and the whole dish just had that taste which I hate. Perhaps it is just me who don’t like that particular spice. However it was cheap and cost only 130THB, about 5SGD.
As you can see, I way over ordered for 3 person and together with white rice that goes with the dishes, we left here with bloated tummies! If you are ever here you definitely got to come, after all, food is the reason you are in Bangkok. The restaurant had comfortable seating and the environment was good. The whole meal came to a modest 1105THB or 44SGD. Cheap good and tasty! Let me know about your experience if you are ever here!
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