Eats Payao adds Singaporean dishes into its repertoire at a new location.
THE SETTING
Eats Payao Home-Bar & Kitchen has recently relocated into a townhouse on Yen Akat Road. If you’ve been following them since the beginning, you know that they’ve come far since the K-Village Farmer’s Market and this is their fourth reincarnation. It’s also much more than a mere change of address.
This time they’ve added Singaporean cuisine to the Thai northern cuisine that Eats Payao is known for. This is an obvious reflection of Khae and Gav, the Thai-Singaporean couple who are co-owners and chefs of Eats Payao. They combine their respective family recipes into the menu.
The townhouse stands out in bright orange with an outdoor area where you can dine under a ceiling covered in upside down umbrellas. The doors open to an air-conditioned dining room with random choices of seats, including old-school rattan armchairs. A bar stands out in bright pink. It’s clear some effort has been put into creating an ambience but the overall feel, unfortunately, comes across a tad gaudy. The beautification process isn’t complete, so I guess this is an in-between look.
They may miss the mark on decoration but are on point when it comes to food.
THE MENU
I’ve previously given some l ove to Eats Payao’s signature northern dishes — e.g. Sai
aue burger, Khao soi and Nam ngiao — so I decided to start with Singaporean side. The Devil’s curry (B250) tasted like mas
saman sans coconut milk. The chicken was tender while chunks of potato and carrot were deliciously pulpy. A so-so surprise came in the form of chicken sausage. It was pleasant but nothing to write home about probably because I’m so used to that touch of sweetness from kati.
The Bak kut teh (B280) is definitely a musttry lah. It took them six hours to do Gav’s family recipe justice. And the result was well worth it. Bits of various herbs floating in an aromatic broth makes for many savoury slurps. An entire clove of garlic was pulpy and slices of Chinese yam were soft. The delicious pork rib had just the right amount of fat and the meat fell off the soft bone.
If you want something along the lines of “no two spoonfuls are quite the same”, opt for the Nasi lemak (B220). You can mix your own jumble of textures and flavours from different elements on the same plate. Cooked with coconut juice for an aromatic touch, the rice went well with pretty much anything from the chilli paste to tiny crispy fish. The fried chicken thigh was the most impressive part, having moist meat and crispy surface.
Prawn noodle (B250) may be the least impressive especially if you want to try something truly different. It looked grand, being topped with prawns of considerable size and pork ribs, but flavour-wise it didn’t blow me away. The overall flavour was too weak for my liking and the pork ribs could have been more tender.
I’ve already praised khao soi varieties of Eats Payao so decided to dive into the lesser known Northern delicacies. And I wasn’t disappointed. Gaeng kluay dib or Unripe banana curry (B220) announced its arrival with a unique aroma hinting at shrimp paste. Don’t be discouraged by its somewhat murky look, though, as it’s one big delicious bowl. Unripe banana slices had firm texture in a pleasant way and zero trace of bitterness. The tiny pieces of pork belly packed a lot of flavour, too.
Larb moo kua (B180) or Stir-fried pork spicy salad is more subtle and fragrant than Isanstyle larb. The pork is stir-fried before being mixed (duh) with a bunch of herbs and fried shallots. Each mouthful is a delicious mix of flavours and textures but the side of crunchy pork rind, butterfly pea flowers and Vietnamese coriander enhanced it even further.
INSIDER’S TIP
Like I’ve said, Khae and Gav aren’t 100% done with sprucing up the place. They have big plans down the pipeline, including a custom-made outdoor daybed, a playroom for children, Sunday BBQ grill and bed & breakfast on the fourth floor.
VALUE & VERDICT
Eats Payao is a delicious result of obviously hands-on effort by both Khae and Gav. I’m more impressed by the Northern side of its menu than the S’pore side. That being said, that Bak kut teh bowl was pretty damn good. You pay little more than B200 per main dish but that’s justified by the generous portions. No VAT and service charge too, baby!