Cheap & Good

Bowled over by yummy Thai soup noodles

The menu at Thai eatery Soi Aroy can be loosely classified into three (not mutually exclusive) categories: dramatic, whimsical and delicious.

First, the drama. Order its signature grilled pork cheeks ($4.20/ $6.80 for large) and a server will come to your table with a small blow torch and flame the sliced pork until you see the fat bubble and the edges curl up.

There is also Mu Ping ($5.80), a sweet-savoury Thai street snack of skewered grilled pork, served with skewers intersecting like the Three Musketeers' swords.

For the whimsical, there is the Aurora Cooler ($3.50), a tall icy drink of butterfly pea flower tea topped with a layer of lime juice.

As you may know, when you mix an acidic substance with butterfly pea flower tea, its brilliant blue turns a vibrant purple. And so it is with this drink when you stir it.

Then, there is the Candy Floss Wrap ($4), a frivolously fun snack of caramelised sugar spun into crisp threads and wrapped in a crepe skin. Lovely to crunch on.

  • SOI AROY

  • 02-08 Sim Lim Square, 1 Rochor Canal Road; open: 11am to 8pm (Mondays to Saturdays), 11am to 4pm (Sundays); go to: www.facebook.com/SoiAroySingapore or call 9641-8988

    Rating: 4 stars

But I'm saving a mention of the best for the last: the range of delicious soup noodles, which is served in a rich collagen soup base.

My favourite is the Northern Thai Pork Rib Noodles ($5.50/$6.80 for large), which comes in a pork collagen soup intensely flavoured with tomatoes.

This dish has been adapted from a northern Thai soup, Nam Ngiaw, to suit Singaporeans' palates and here, the soup is meaty, rich and tart, and so thick it clings onto every strand of noodles.

The generous serving of pork ribs, halved tomatoes and leafy greens add a bite to the dish.

Also worth highlighting is the Premium Tom Yum Noodles ($10.80) in a chicken collagen soup.

Again, another satisfyingly intense course of sour, spicy and overall yummy.

It is served with Thai freshwater prawns whose spiny lobster-like legs stick out of the bowl formidably.

As tasty as it is, this dish could well fall under the dramatic category as well.

So, get your camera ready for some make-your-friends-drool shots.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on February 03, 2019, with the headline Bowled over by yummy Thai soup noodles. Subscribe