Food Picks: Thai comfort food at Im Jai by Pun Im
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The Im Jai Bento Set is available at casual Thai restaurant Im Jai.
PHOTO: IM JAI BY PUN IM
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SINGAPORE – Looking at the queues for food in the Central Business District at lunchtime, it is clear that fish soup and protein bowls fuel many an office worker. For the cubicle serf wanting to break out of his routine, there is Im Jai by Pun Im.
This new casual restaurant at Icon Village offers set meals built around classic Thai dishes. They are given a bit of a spin by Cordon Bleu-trained chef Vincent Pang, 38, who runs a private dining business called Pun Im.
He has kept the menu concise, with five set meals priced at $16.80 each.
Of the five, the Im Jai Bento Set offers, in my opinion, the best bang for the buck and taste buds. I don’t know how chef Pang manages to stick to the price, given that the set comes with green curry chicken, braised pork belly, pomelo salad with prawns, coconut kaffir lime rice, and green peppercorn chilli relish with raw vegetables for dipping.
The aromatic rice is the perfect landing pad for the green curry, which is milder than I expect. Punch comes from the pomelo salad, bracing in its heat and tanginess. Mellow that out with the braised pork, fragrant with ground coriander.
Im Jai by Pun Im’s Claypot Vermicelli With Black Tiger Prawns.
PHOTO: IM JAI BY PUN IM
Another excellent choice is Claypot Vermicelli With Black Tiger Prawns, because it delivers two large prawns and supremely aromatic tang hoon. The vermicelli gets oomph from coriander root, ginger and white peppercorns.
After all that heat, I cool off with dessert – Red Ruby ($9.80), with smoked coconut sorbet, strips of jackfruit and springy jelly noodles. I would buy tubs of the sorbet if I could.
Where: 01-78/81 Icon Village, 12 Gopeng Street @imjai.punim
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
Open: 11am to 8pm (weekdays), 11am to 2pm (Saturdays), closed on Sundays
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