Little Elephant Thai Bistro

I don't really look for Chinese food overseas, not even during a long haul trip or when we're out for a few months. I tend to crave for Thai food because I want them spices and fiery chillies. In London, NYC or Seattle/Bellevue, we will always have that dependable neighborhood Thai joint for everything. Takeouts, casual meals, before-gig dinners and such. 

In Singapore, I'm hard-pressed to find one that I really like. My 'local Thai', isn't that local. Anything decent isn't within what is generally defined as an easy walking distance of...15 minutes. I might have to drive out to get to one instead of settling for a sub-par eatery near home. The one we find ourselves eating at often or getting a takeout from is Little Elephant Thai Bistro in Tiong Bahru estate. 

The restaurant serves up decent food. I've got nothing to complain about. It does a pretty good krapow pork and a great stir-fried morning glory in spicy shrimp paste. The stir-fried seafood glass noodles (phad woon sen) aren't overly-salty and is rather delicious. I like its som tam too. The restaurant doesn't offer brown rice. It charges S$1 for a small bowl of steamed white jasmine rice. Thank goodness. Some restaurants, Thai or otherwise, annoyingly charge S$3.50 or S$4 for the same portion of white steamed rice. 

We've done plenty of takeouts of course. But it's nice to eat in too. However when we dine here, we never made reservations if it's just a table for two. It's our local, right, so we simply pop in. We don't mind waiting; a table outdoors is usually available within 20 minutes. The restaurant's online queue system runs efficiently, and the ordering via the app is easy. Food arrives fast. The non-airconditioned restaurant has cleverly installed awning outdoors so we could sit even in the rain. The floor nearest to the walkway and the indoor tables tends to be kept dry. During cool and wet December and January nights, it's really comfortable to be sitting out and enjoying the breeze.