It’s no secret that Singaporeans love their food. But do we love food enough to supersize it? Across the world, we have seen food lovers take this love for eating to the next level, some going all out with extravagant feasts in their mukbang videos, while others preferring to challenge themselves with exorbitantly-sized dishes. Now that this trend has finally reached our shores, it’s our turn to get on the supersized train.
When we think of cuisines with disproportionately exaggerated sizes, we tend to look towards American and Korean fare. However, there is a new entrant to the giant food scene: Thai cuisine. Traditionally conservative in portion sizes, the easily scalable nature of many of its food items has made it one of the best contenders for supersizing. Moreover, the growing global palate for Thai fare has only perpetuated this trend.
Thai food lovers, this one is for you! Bring along your friends with the most robust appetites and iron-clad palates to embark on an unforgettable Thai XXL journey. From addictively slurpable pork spines to red, hot tom yum bound to set your tongues alight, here is a list of 5 mouth-watering Thai XXL dishes to binge on, and challenge your friends to!
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/flyingwok/
FLYING WOK [HALAL]
Opening this list is a dish quintessential to Thai cuisine: tom yum soup. If you’ve ever felt that the modest pots of tom yum soup outside aren’t enough to satiate your cravings, order Flying Wok’s Jumbo Mama Wok (S$13++ for 1-2 pax; S$22++ for 3-4 pax; S$79.90 for 8-10 pax) to never again experience the lingering want of an unfulfilled tom yum craving.
Requiring three litres of soup to fill, each pot includes a heap of assorted seafood – clams, crab meat, scallops, shrimps, and squid – amongst more routine ingredients like eggs, chicken, and meatballs atop a very sizable nest of instant noodles.
Good news for folks with a more moderate spice tolerance, due to the size of the wok, the soup ends up with a milder spicy tang than it would with your typical tom yum soup. Instead, spend your time indulging in the abundance of ingredients – all that for under S$10 per person! – and watching the clock lest your noodles steep past their original springiness.
105 Canberra Street
Singapore 752106
Tel: +65 8776 1795
Daily: 12pm – 10.30pm
Nearest Station: Sembawang
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/ImThaiKitchen/
IM THAI KITCHEN
A Thai street food classic, Phad Kra Pao (Thai holy basil chicken) is beloved by locals and foreigners alike for its all-encompassing nature that features all essential food groups in a simple, portable dish. Capitalising on the familiar flavours and scalable modular nature of the dish, Im Thai Kitchen offers two sizes of Giant Thai Basil Chicken Rice at the economical prices of S$11.50++ (regular) and S$15.90++ (large).
Keeping in line with traditional iterations, Im Thai’s version includes a respectably-sized, mildly crisp, and delightfully fluffy omelette draped over rice. Unlike other places that subsist on carbs, this variant arrives with a generous mountain of minced chicken and beans alongside traditional garnishes of choice.
Deceptive in appearance, the challenge of this dish lies in the heartiness of all its components. While the egg is airy, it is especially adept at soaking up sauces, and even though the meat is minced, the rich wok hei aftertaste saturates your palate quickly, with the inclusion of beans only serving to more effectively fill up your stomach.
658 Punggol East
#01-10 Stall 6
Singapore 820658
Tel: +65 9224 5992
Daily: 11.30am – 9pm
Nearest Station: Kadaloor
** Multiple outlets islandwide.
For the uninitiated, Leng Saap can be thought of as the Thai version of bak kut teh. More specifically, it refers to a spicy pork spine soup that is prepared by boiling pork bones for multiple hours until the meat is fork-pulling tender and has been infused with the accompanying herbs and fish sauce.
Instead of drinking the broth as with bak kut teh, the highlight here is instead the pork bones – stacked as you would a firewood pile, they are then flourished with a heavy-handed serving of sliced chilli padi and cilantro for added zest.
Named after its main offering, Leng Saap is housed inside Singapore’s equivalent of little Thailand, Golden Mile Complex. Available in four sizes, M (S$19.26) serves 2, L (S$26.75) serves 3, XL (S$42.80) serves 4 to 5, while the eye-popping XXL (S$58.85) number is meant for 6 to 7 people. Advertising its dish as being comparable to Bangkok’s rot fai (railway) markets’, this is one of the best places locally to get an authentic taste of the more unique side of Bangkok’s food offerings.
6001 Beach Road
Golden Mile Tower, #B1-65
Singapore 199589
Tel: +65 8119 6664
Daily: 12pm – 12am
Nearest Station: Nicoll Highway
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/thaigoldminekitchen/
THAI GOLDMINE KITCHENER
Another contender for supersized tom yum dishes, Thai Goldmine Kitchener’s traditional offering is the Jumbo Goldmine, which features a mix of seafood and pork-based protein items for S$38. Alternatively, you can choose to supplement your hotpot with just pork (S$38) or a more luxurious mix of seafood (S$48). For the undecided, Thai Goldmine offers á la carte additions to suit the exact preferences of each table as well.
Regardless of your preferred ingredients, all patrons have a choice of four spice levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and the supposedly infamously hot Level 10. Take note that even for the lower levels, a prominent bite of spice is present in every mouthful.
While its hotpots may pale in comparison size-wise to its counterparts, Thai Goldmine’s claim to fame originates not from gimmicks, but from serving quality Thai fare. With multiple awards over the recent years for excellence in its food offerings, be prepared to join the near-permanent queue if you wish to partake in its voluminous hotpots.
147 Kitchener Road
Singapore 208524
Tel: +65 6909 2020
Daily: 11am – 10pm
Nearest Station: Farrer Park
** Multiple outlets islandwide.
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/timeforthaisg/
TIME FOR THAI [HALAL]
Rounding off the list is a place that does not just one, but two colossal dishes at their Cheong Chin Nam and Simpang Bedok outlets – XXL Leng Saap (Mutton) (S$45++) and XXL Seafood Bucket (S$50++).
Offering what is probably the only Halal-friendly Leng Saap dish in Singapore, the kitchen substitutes pork spines for mutton. Seemingly threadbare, add up the individual sticks and you’ll have a platter suitable for sharing between a table of four or so. Instead of just eating the meat straight from the bone, don’t forget to sample it with the 15-herbs-infused broth as well to get a full taste experience of the dish.
For those who prefer seafood, try the XXL Seafood Bucket instead. Filled to the brim with a potpourri of succulent seafood like crabs, prawns, mussels and more, each bowl contains enough for a hungry table of 3 to 4. Unlike the typical tom yum broth, this one isn’t as sour, with the infusion of seafood rendering its profile smoother and sweeter.
15 Cheong Chin Nam Road
Singapore 599739
Tel: +65 6909 3903
Daily: 11am – 3am
Nearest Station: Beauty World
** Multiple outlets islandwide.