Street Food Warms Your Heart: Charcoal Thai at 7 Simon Road - Thai Chef Pinon The Menu The Signatures Part I

Friday, August 1, 2014

Charcoal Thai at 7 Simon Road - Thai Chef Pinon The Menu The Signatures Part I

The Native Thai Chef

Chef Sitthinon Charoenphirapamom

(Chef Pinon)

Chef Pinon is a native Thai and brings with him close to more than 25 years' culinary experience in Thai Cuisine. He loves using fresh, quality, good grade, authentic Thai ingredients, herbs & spices & is very talented in coming up with new recipes for new dishes to the delight of the many loyal patrons to Charcoal Thai. Some of his Signature Specialties include: Century Egg with Minced Pork, Thai Prawn Cakes, Thai Green Curry Chicken, Thai Olive Fried Rice, Thai Green Mango Salad.

Chef Pinon was the Resident Chef when Charcoal Thai first started 3 years ago. Previous owner Mr Lee Wei Thye was touring Thailand & he fell in love with Thai Cuisine so much that he invited Chef Pinon to come to Singapore. With so many businesses on his hands, he could not find time to manage Charcoal Thai full time so Lee Wei Thye handed over Charcoal Thai to Angus Ang in 2014 who become the current owner together with his lovely wife Ms Zelene Yong.

Currently, menu planning is done by Angus Ang & Chef Pinon, with menu changes twice a year. Chef Pinon attended many Thai cooking school. He worked 25 years as a chef, started about 27 years. He is well-versed in Thai, Western Cuisine. Inventory management is handled by Chef Pinon, who works mainly with a good network of reliable suppliers. Chef Pinon shared that Mookata or Thai Steamboat is uniquely special as you can drink the soup as you cook the food.

Charcoal Thai Full Menu 2014

There are total 18 Categories in Charcoal Thai Menu namely :-

Steamboat
Thai Salad
Appetizer
Soup
Curry
Chicken
Pork
Fish
Prawn
Squid
Mussels & Clams
Soft Shell Crab
Eggs & Beancurd
Vegetables
Noodle
Rice
Dessert
Beverage

For the Complete Menu, go to http://www.charcoalthai.com.sg/menu.html

The Signatures

Stir Fried Pork with Thai Basil & Century Egg (Pad Ka Pao Mu Kai-Yeawma) at S$10.90 - Chef Pinon uses core ingredients such as Century eggs, frozen minced pork, Thai basil leaves, chili padi, Thai fish sauce, Oyster sauce, onion, garlic, sugar.

How it is done - Chef Pinon rolled the Century egg in powder & deep fried for less than 5 minutes at high heat when the oil is boiling, then the century egg is set aside for use. This is done ala minute. Chef Pinon uses frozen minced pork from his supplier and saves up time in the preparation process.The minced pork needs no marination & is stir fry with onion, garlic, chili padi till well done. Oyster sauce, fish sauce, a tinge of sugar are added to the pork to flavor. To serve Chef Pinon stir lightly the minced pork with Century Egg & garnish it with chili padi & fried Thai Basil.

Tasting Notes - the fried basil adds a fragrant aroma to the pork stirred fried in light Thai fish sauce whilst the chili padi gives a spritely spicy flavor to this savory dish that balances the unique uric flavor from the century egg. This is an acquired taste as Century eggs are commonly used in Asian cuisine.

Thai Green Curry With Tender Juicy Chicken (Keaw Wan Kai) at S$10.90 - Chef Pinon used chicken thigh, chicken leg diced, tumeric, Thai baby brinjal, Thai Basil, Curry paste in this dish.

How it is prepared - Chef Pinon gets the green chili paste from his supplier. To the green chili paste, Chef Pinon adds additional ingredients: lemongrass, onion, garlic, tumeric, candle nuts & blend these together to form a Thai green curry paste.

Chef Pinon prepares the diced chicken leg daily for use in the Thai green curry by first boiling the chicken in water for 20 minutes with herbs lemongrass, basil leaves, galangal (lengkuas). Once cooked they are set aside for use in curry later when the order is placed.

To serve, Chef Pinon uses coconut, green curry paste, adds the chicken to cook for a good 2-3 minutes, then add baby brinjal, fish sauce to flavor, for added aroma he adds sweet Basil. Chef Pinon uses frozen chicken & marinate meats overnight with lemongrass, galangal, basil leaves.

Tasting Notes - This dish tastes sweet savory, the curry gravy is lemak thick, meat is cooked just nice & tender, I can taste a lot of spices such as lemongrass, a strong distinct coconut flavor, tumeric, curry powder, altogether lending a very flavorful dish. Basil adds a tinge of fragrant flavor to the dish.