Neighbour Kitchen

Delicious Thai Coconut Soup with chicken from Neighbour Kitchen!
The lunch set with fried egg and fragrant rice is satisfying, paired perfectly with iced Thai milk tea.
Not bad indeed.

There has still been quite a number of Thai establishments that had been opening in the past couple of months even despite the initial wave created by the closure of Golden Mile Complex after the successful en-bloc sale that saw many of the former tenants in the building moving out to locations nearby such as Aperia Mall and City Gate Mall; that being said, there are still quite a number of fresh Thai eateries opening on a monthly basis. 9 Opal Crescent had been previously home to Penguin’s Kitchen; an establishment which used to house one of our favourite Thai eatery at one point of time named Thai Jing Jing (these folks moved from Berseh Food Centre to Hougang Central before settling here), as well as a Nanyuan Noodle — Penguin’s Kitchen had however moved out of the space. In its place now is a Neighbour Kitchen; the establishment can be said as a spiritual successor to Penguin’s Kitchen for the face that they also do serve Thai fare as well. Despite being establishments serving up similar fare, Neighbour Kitchen seem to have done some works to the interior space to give the establishment a character of their own; the use of natural elements such as the flowers hanging from a frame atop the dining tables does help to spruce up the space from its otherwise monotonous grey and black colour scheme. Being more of a gastrobar, Neighbour Kitchen’s menu is split into categories such as Bar Bites, Vegetables, Fried Rice and Rice, Fried Noodles, Egg, Grilled and Hotpot, Deep Fried, Steamed, Meat, Soups & Curries, Salads and Drinks. For the curious, the menu at Neighbour Kitchen does veer towards individually-portioned meat and rice dishes during lunch hours; the dinner menu would have a larger emphasis on sharing dishes as well as hotpot and Mookata offerings.

It can be said as a rather coincidental happening that we ended up going for the Crispy Omelette (Minced Pork) during our visit to Neighbour Kitchen made on a weekday dinner service; it was actually Thai Jing Jing that had introduced us to the Crispy Omelette on an occasion that we were dining at the same exact location, and making the recommendation on the basis that it will go well with the clear Tom Yum seafood soup — a dish that we also had during this visit to Neighbour Kitchen. Neighbour Kitchen actually offers three different variations of the Crispy Omelette here; whilst one may also order it plain, there is a choice of going for one with onions or minced pork at no extra costs — the Crispy Omelette itself being priced at $12. There is also one version that sees the crispy omelette coming with prawns; that rendition being named Prawns Crispy Omelette and is priced at $15. All orders are made via the online POS system that is scanned through a QR code etched on a wooden block, and orders would be served to the table by the wait staff once ready. For our order of the Crispy Omelette, we went for the minced pork option.

Arriving the table without too much of a waiting time, the Crispy Omelette (Minced Pork) already looked the part; the crispy omelette itself sitting above shredded carrots and cabbage, while the entire dish looks all fluffed up and perfectly browned having been flash-fried. Digging into the Crispy Omelette, we really loved the texture here; it is all light, fluffy and crispy — certainly airy, though it did definitely soak up quite a fair bit of oil considering it does feel slightly of it; not that we weren’t expecting it given the nature of the item, and was something which we also found to be at a level that is rather acceptable. That being said, the omelette didn’t feel too greasy; serving it atop a bed of shredded cabbage and carrot also ensured that there was something to soak the oil up instead of the omelette doing the same as the oil gets purged out over time on the plate. There are bits of minced pork around that despite being a little dry, does provide a meaty note that compliments the rice nicely. We would really recommend for one not to take too long to get to the item; as it the Crispy Omelette sits on the table for longer, the more oilier it will feel — this also means that it does get progressively more jelat if left out on the plate for far too long.

At a certain point, it does get a little better when one dunks the Crispy Omelette into Tom Yum soup; doing so washes away the greasiness trapped in the omelette, while the Crispy Omeltte also soaks up the soup like a sponge as well. Also managed to try the Tom Yum Seafood Soup (Clear); theirs came with a chock full of the herbs and spices used for the clean and tangy note. It does also certainly come slightly spicy in a way that catches one off guard, though should eventually be pretty manageable for those tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness; the mix of seafood includes prawn, sotong, and mussels, though admittedly some of the seafood could have been a little fresher. The Pad Thai (Chicken) comes sweet and zippy; not too wet and certainly flavoursome — interestingly comes with Sakura Ebi to be mixed in aside from crushed peanuts for an umami note and a crunch factor, while also coming with an omelette that blankets the noodles over the top when served for an aesthetic touch. Overall, Neighbour Kitchen’s Thai fare certainly isn’t the best in town that is most certainly a must try; that being said, the Thai fare that we have had during our visit to Neighbour Kitchen is surely a tasty experience that is worthy for the trip made, though can also considered to be priced a little steep for some considering the myriad of Thai establishments around the island these days.