Decent Thai food in an accessible venue with a sheltered al fresco area that takes dogs? I'm there. I suppose Warm Up Cafe got their inspiration from the original party joint in Chiang Mai. I don't know about the owners or chefs or whatever. But I do know that their original outlet at Mackenzie Road went through a renovation and rebranding; this one doesn’t take dogs. Then they opened up a second outlet at The Star Vista that’s pet-friendly. I decided to pop by the cafe at Star Vista.
The food was good! I look for a certain flavour when it comes to Thai food. 'Good' is always relative, and to me, Warm Up Cafe's current chef/kitchen/recipes at The Star Vista hit a spot with my tastebuds. I don't know about the restaurant's kitchen at Mackenzie Road's, but they take dogs too, so I'll toddle there soon to have a bite and compare. There was a live band that night. They were Thai, and it was quite a clever marketing decision to have them banter in Thai. They were so young and cute, singing pop songs for well.... teenagers and young adults. But yeah, for a brief 30 minutes, I felt almost transported to a bistro in Hua Hin or Rayong.
As this was our first visit, we ordered the standard items that we usually order — stir-fried cabbage in fish sauce, omelette with prawns, grilled pork jowl, and beer. Heh. The man couldn't resist it and threw in a bowl of spicy boat noodles with beef tendon. You could tweak the spice level of the boat noodles, which really don't have to be spicy. You could just sprinkle more chilli powder.
The server asked if my som tam would be 'Thai style', so I asked for Thai-style som tam with salted egg (som tam kai kem ส้มตำไข่เค็ม). Actually I don't know what's the difference between 'Thai style som tam' or 'Singapore style'. I suppose it's the level of spice in there. Of course I wanted it Thai style! It was piquant and tangy and pretty decent, but nowhere near real Thai style spicy. Heh.
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