Address: 57 South Bridge Rd, #01-02, Singapore 058688

Cuisine: Thai

Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay (Northeast line)

Singapore’s food scene just heated up a notch with the addition of Isaan restaurant Un-Yang-Kor-Dai (Isaan for “anything goes”, UYKD), serving up fiery northeastern Thai fare with a twist of philanthropy. This is their first branch that opened in Singapore, after a highly successful branch that opened in Thailand. This has put Isaan cuisine on the world map, something that taste different from the Thai food that you would normally find in Bangkok.

Mondays are the rest days for UYKD, but it is open for the rest of the week, for both lunch and dinner. There is a break in between each meal, from 3pm to 6pm, for the staff to take a rest. Fridays and Saturdays have longer operating hours till 11pm.

While waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive, we ordered the drinks first. Iced milk tea ($5) which is a staple drink for us going to Thailand. Surprisingly the carnation milk was not too sweet, as the staff has modified the drink to suit Singaporeans’ taste. The iced sala soda ($5.50) is a fizzy drink with some lime syrup added to soda water, giving it a red hue. The prices of drinks here are more expensive compared to other Thai restaurants. They can make a huge profit as these drinks are quite easy to prepare.

The hot Thai milk tea ($5) was served in a traditional tin container, with the carnation milk in a separate dish, so the person can in the milk according to his/ her taste.

Intrepid diners are advised to start with the som tum with fresh prawns – a rite of passage for every Isaan food newbie. However, we decided to go for the papaya salad with salted egg ($10.50). It came with four slices of salted egg. Either mango or papaya salads are common in Isaan, but be warned that the small chilli in the dish can pack a punch even though the dish looks harmless at first sight. You can tell the waitress to make the salad less spicy.

Another dish with egg that we ordered was the Scotch eggs with tamarind sauce ($12.50). The tamarind sauce has a sweet and sour taste, and the scotch eggs were cooked with a semi-solid egg yolk.

Next, we had the PenLaos platter ($23.90), which consist of crispy spicy minced pork sticks, crispy prawn pancakes and pork neck with herbs. It came with a sweet chilli dip by the side. The pork neck slices were quite thin and fried, making it a delicious snack. This platter is suitable for sharing but the portion could have been bigger.

The PenLaos Signature Grilled Chicken or gai yaang ($21 for whole chicken, $12 for half) – an essential Isaan fixture – is also a must-order, made from spring chickens marinated in peppercorn and coriander for up to three days before meticulously grilled to perfection and served with a homemade spicy dip. The whole chicken was just nice for the six of us. My friends really enjoyed the stir-fried morning glory with chilli and garlic. Even though it is such a simple dish, but the crunchy vegetables and the flavourful sauce left a lasting impression on us, turning even the meat-eaters into vegetarians.

The stuffed whole squid with tom yum fried rice ($23) took a slightly longer time to prepare. The squid was grilled but not much of a taste. The chilli dip had to be used generously to give it some taste. It was interesting to have the fried rice inside, but the tom yum taste was barely there too. It could have been more spicy.

Lastly, we all have some extra space in our stomachs for dessert. Thai mango sticky rice is quite common, so we decided to go for two desserts that were more unique. We tried the red ruby in coconut milk ($5.50). As you can see from the picture, the ice shavings were too rough and too chunky. The red ruby was also not that sweet with the water chestnut inside. So the dish was a miss for us.

The other dessert that we tried was the tri-coloured yam in coconut milk with egg ($6.50). It was my first time trying such a dish and the egg was runny, just like what you would find in a ramen. The dessert was served hot and we enjoyed biting on the yam balls which is like chewing on tapioca pearls in the bubble tea.

Overall, UYKD is a decent Thai restaurant in the Central Business District, with a Michelin guide recommendation. Do check out this place to try the authentic northeastern Thailand Isaan cuisine. However, one thing to note is that the prices here are steeper than normal Thai restaurants. The restaurant is spacious and has a bright sunflower themed decoration, bringing some sunshine to the place. We were told to lower our volume by the staff as we had received complaints from other diners for laughing too loudly. Anyway, the service staff were polite and even provided plates for us to eat the birthday cake that we brought to the restaurant.