Bugis Area - Thai Express

Last Tuesday I went exploring a new area (to me) in Singapore. I had driven past the Bugis area a few times on the bus and thought it looked interesting. There are a few malls in here as well as some markets where you can buy touristy items. I had a good wander around the whole area and think this is one of my new favourite places to visit. It is a great mix of modern and traditional - there's even a beautiful and busy temple near Bugis Street called Kwan Im Temple. This area is near Arab Street which is another area I love.

I love the mural on this building near Bugis

To get to the Bugis area you can either take East West line MRT to Bugis station (EW12) or the Down Town line MRT to Bugis station (DT14).


After a couple of hours of wandering it was lunchtime and I needed food so I could carry on my exploring. I noticed quite a few of the restaurants in the Bugis Junction mall had special lunchtime deals for set menus. I decided on Thai Expess, somewhere that I hadn't been before.

The Thai Express set lunch menu choices

The restaurant wasn't that busy at 1pm when I arrived. I was seated right away and given my menu. I decided on Set Menu 2 - Sanook Honey Chicken with Rice. The set menu comes with a starter, main and dessert. There is an option to 'Top Up' for an extra $2.00, this gives you a choice or beverage or an additional starter.

Set Menu 2 - Sanook Honey Chicken with Rice

When I ordered I asked for the Set Menu 2 and was asked if I wanted to 'Top Up'. I don't like iced tea - the only two options for a beverage and didn't need an extra starter, so declined. I asked if I could just have a tap water, but was told I couldn't have that, so had to order a mineral water - this was less than $2.00, so wasn't too bad.

Set Menu 2 - Sanook Honey Chicken with Rice consists of:
Honey chicken served with jasmine rice
Tom kha mushroom soup
Sweet potato with ginger slice dessert

The food arrived fairly quickly and I must say it was all delicious!

The soup was a little spicy and had loads of lemon grass floating in it as well as some big pieces of mushrooms. I think the broth for the soup was coconut milk based, yummy!
The main course didn't look that large, but was filling. There wasn't much sauce, but it was still full of flavor. I had to leave some rice as I was getting pretty full and wanted to try the sweet potato dessert. I've never had sweet potato as a dessert and didn't know what to expect. It was ok, although I think I would have preferred the coconut rice and mango dessert I saw advertised on the table.

When I came to pay I was given a water squirt gun to help celebrate the Thai festival of water - Songkran. I'm not too sure what all the business men and women I saw in there were going to do with their squirt guns, but I've given mine to my son.

The set menu I chose was $9.90, the water was $1.80 and then there was a 10% service charge and the usual tax on top of that. In total I think I spent just under $14.00 which for a filling meal in a good atmosphere was well worth it for me.

Have you been to Thai Express? What was your favorite dish?