Gin Khao is an underrated Sino-Thai restaurant at Raffles Place. But what makes it stand out from other Thai restaurants in Singapore is its vegetarian menu.
I’m sure it’s quite common in Thailand. But for foreigners like us who are more used to the classics like Pad Thai, Green Curry and Tomyam, would we really enjoy vegetarian Sino-Thai dishes?
Curious to see how it tastes like, we tried it for ourselves.
How was the vegetarian food at Gin Khao?
Don’t expect super authentic Thai food, as it is Sino-Thai cuisine, after all. So if you don’t think of it as Thai food, it’s actually very flavourful and interesting.
There was a mishmash of various cuisines, such as the Yum Wakame ($9.8). Wakame is a Japanese seaweed with a sweeter taste, and black fungus that was blessed with an intense spice and tartness that kick started our appetites for the feast.
Next, the Thai Spicy Crispy Noodles ($8.8) were doused in a sweet and spicy sauce. We were literally salivating at how flavourful this dish was. But do note that this dish was extremely decadent and is recommended for sharing.
Probably one of our favourite dishes on the Gin Khao’s vegetarian menu, the Taro Fritters ($8.8) were hot and crispy with a creamy taro paste.
The taro had just the right amount of sweetness too, so we could easily eat a few in one sitting. Even towards the end of the meal, I forced a few more fritters down my throat, which surprisingly still tasted good after sitting out for a long time.
This was the one dish that was “more Thai” than the rest. The Thai Glass Noodles with Mushroom Pot ($12.8) had a strong kick of pepper, with a meaty aroma that originated from the mushroom. If you’re familiar with vegetarian cuisine, you’ll know that mushroom is a popular meat alternative.
But do eat it while it’s hot because the the noodles clump up and dry out easily.
Meanwhile, the Mapo Tofu ($10.8) wasn’t too spicy and numbing but it had a good variety and intensity of spices in the dish. I’d honestly love to eat this with some rice man.
The Cault Marmite ($12.8) was honestly the highlight of the whole meal. Maybe it was because I was so preoccupied with the photos which made me forget momentarily that it wasn’t actually meat, but it didn’t occur to me that it was in fact a piece of cauliflower until a few bites later.
But, every family has a black sheep and the Phad Thai Veggies ($10.8) was Gin Khao’s. It was bland compared to regular phad thais. But if it’s any consolation, it did have a sweet, floral note to it.
Location: 1 Raffles Place, #04-29, Singapore 048616
Opening hours:
Mon-Fri: 11:30am-3pm, 5-9pm
Sat-Sun: Closed
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