Chon Thong - Part 2

I had been to Chon Thong previously for a work lunch. This time, despite Kin's insistance that he didn't want a birthday dinner and that we should buy him a Nintendo DS instead, we still had an impromptu birthday dinner for him. Chon Thong was chosen because there was a discount in the Entertainment Book.

Since it was fairly late on a Sunday night, there were no other patrons in the restaurant. Hence there wasn't any atmosphere to speak of. But we didn't really mind. In fact, we felt like really rich people who had booked out the whole restaurant just so that we could dine by ourselves. The wait staff (two of them) almost outnumbered the guests. We were served immediately and waited on throughout the night.

We ordered some curry puffs for entrees. The curry puffs were quite good, with the pasty not being too dough-y. We then got a duck salad as well. The roasted duck meat was tossed in a sharp tangy sauce with various vegetables. It was refreshingly good, just a bit salty.


For mains, we got a Pad Thai, Grilled Chicken and a Green Curry Beef. The Pad Thai was ok, with a slight wok flavour and the usual pad thai ingredients. I'm not sure what differs in Pad Thai's from restaurant to restaurant as they seem to contain the same ingredients, but some just taste amazing while others fall rather flat. This one sat somewhere in the middle.


The Grilled Chicken was very delicous, with a soy type sauce on it. It could have done with a bit more of a tang to it and was a bit salty, but otherwise was moist and juicy. The Green Curry Beef was creamy with the beef a little tough. It was good without anything really leaping out at me.


For dessert, Jo ordered the best dessert in the Black Sticky Rice and Ice Cream. This is always a classic Thai dessert when done well. This one was quite good. They even paired it with coconut ice cream, that had real coconut chunks in it rather than just coconut flavouring. Kin had ice cream while I had a banana split. Nothing too special with both our desserts.


Service was obviously good, seeing as we were the only customers. We got our wine poured immediately without asking and orders taken promptly. Food was served at a good pace, water refilled and plates clear efficiently. I can't really judge how good service would have been with a full restaurant. The atmosphere was as I said early, non-existent. However, we all rather enjoyed the empty restaurant and just chatted away without worrying about offending anyone.

The food was quite good, although I think the prices are a bit too expensive for the food they do. If we didn't have the Entertainment Book discount, the prices they charge is a bit too much and I could get much better Thai food for that price. If you do have the voucher, the price is just bearable.

Overall Rating: 13/20, Food is ok but a bit too expensive.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20:Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.