Chanced upon Haha Thai, on the 5th floor of Takashimaya where Korean restaurant Nolboo Hangari Galbi used to be, on a weekend night. Actually, it was the bicycles that caught our attention. The layout remained largely the same though yellow chairs now contrasted with grey upholstery, just like yellow cutlery holders in the shape of elephants on wooden tables. Black exposed ceiling, old-school "pipes" and naked bulbs stood out against exposed brick walls that had been given a white coat of paint. Having moved from Changi Village to Foch Road in Jalan Besar, this family-owned Thai restaurant used to be known as Hahaha Seafood Restaurant. Since the business branched out from a seafood supplier, seafood is a star on the menu. Upon placing our orders, a complimentary drink reminiscent of tom yum soup was served. This was followed by appetisers of otah, mango salad and clear tom yum soup (which we requested with chicken instead of the seafood options on the menu).
Loved the chucky pieces of mackerel in the homemade mildly spiced paste though would have preferred a more subtle coconut aroma and taste. Both the mango salad and tom yum soup were refreshing but stopped short of being impressive whereas the pineapple fried rice was too sweet for my liking (by the way, am not a fan of pineapple rice) and lacked the wok hei of fried rice, rendering the dish flat. As there was a 1-for-1 promotion for lobster, we decided to try that. While both lobsters were supposed to be cooked the same way, staff kindly agreed to let us choose two different ones. And we chose Thai chilli and salted egg over red curry and buttercorn. My dining companion did not like that the succulent crustaceans were deep-fried before being tossed in "sauce". I thought Salted Egg was the better of the two despite being, err…a tad salty. Also had drinks – Haha Thai iced milk tea and mocha, which we could neither rave about nor fault.
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