Set Lunch at Nara Thai Restaurant @ Westgate, Singapore (this outlet closed)

Given the large number of shopping malls and restaurants in the Jurong East area, the mall managers as well as individual restaurants have to come up with creative ways to entice ordinary patrons through their doors, especially on weekdays when the crowds are thin. The Westgate mall for example has waived parking charges from noon to 2 pm on weekdays. This has led to a noticeable increase in lunchtime consumer traffic in the mall. Within the mall itself, there is also a healthy level of competition among individual restaurants. One good result for us is that some of them are offering interesting lunchtime set lunches which provide good value for money. One such restaurant is Nara Thai restaurant. We had tried their set lunch some months back and were quite impressed with their food (read our review here). We recently visited them again and tried their revised set lunch menu.

There are three set lunch options available. You can also make a small additional payment to complete your meal with a drink and/or a side dish. We decided on the basil chicken rice set ($10.90) and an Ayuthaya boat noodles set ($12.90) plus a lemongrass cooler drink ($1.50). We had tried the basil chicken rice set previously and was curious to know how the standards have been maintained. It seems, upon checking our previous post that the price had been reduced. That was a good start!

We are happy to report that the taste of Thai food here remains at a high level. The basil chicken was as good as we remembered it to be. The rice is served with a side dish of crispy fish (it was previously served with tom yam soup for $13.90). Personally, we would have preferred tom yam soup but the fish was not bad either. At $10.90 this is good Thai food at a reasonable price. What really stole the show was the Ayuthaya noodles. We believe this type of noodles came to be so named because they were served on small boats in or near the ancient Thai capital of Ayuthaya. Served in a thick, robust broth, the noodles tasted really delicious. Add to that generous helpings of pork slices and meat balls and you have a really hearty dish. Accompanied by a side dish of deep-fried chicken wings, this was a very satisfying meal. We also ordered the lemongrass cooler as we were curious to find out how it tasted. The verdict? It was light and refreshing. We recommend it. At an additional $1.50, this will perk you up on a hot Singapore afternoon. It was beautifully presented.

With so many choices at Westgate and so little time, it is always difficult to choose between a tried and tested lunch place or experiment with something new. Today we did a bit of both. We must say that the boat noodles was something new to us and was a great discovery. Even as I am writing this post, I am thinking of trying it again soon. In case you are thinking of visiting them, here are some random pages from their regular menu. You can see the full menu on their website.