Sara Thai is a restaurant renowned for serving authentic Thai food in Kuantan and I have heard for more than once that it’s the best Thai restaurant in town. A Thai food lover like us couldn’t let go of the chance of testing the theory ‘is it really good’?
Just as we thought it will be a hassle to keep driving from Balok Beach to town center to test the good food – Satay Zul, Ikan Bakar Tanjung Lumpur, Sata Pak Soh, we’re quick to spot a new branch by Sara Thai which is only about 1 km away from Swiss Garden Resort.
It’s hard to miss this place as it’s probably the restaurant ala warung with the best interior and landscaping, albeit small, in this area. The ordering process was no difference from normal warungs and we get to pick our seafood from the counter.
I got hooked with teh halia (ginger milk tea) when we were at Awang Ikan Bakar the previous evening and without hesitation, I started the meal with teh halia again.
Tom Kha Seafood (Seafood Coconut Soup). Unbeknownst to some people, Tomyam is not the only signature soup for Thai. Tom Kha soup is the less potent cousin of Tomyam for lacking the chilies but derive its unique taste from the combination of galangals and coconut milk.
Back to this particular bowl of Tom Kha Seafood, they had used too much coconut milk that it was overly creamy to our taste. It wasn’t helping either with the little amount of seafood given.
Kerapu Masak Tiga Rasa (sweet and sour garoupa) @ RM47. Despite being frozen when I was choosing it, the fish still taste fresh and sweet. Doused with the fruity sour sauce, there’s nothing I could nitpick about.
 |
| The entrance to Sara Thai Kitchen Pantai Balok. |
Now, this wouldn’t be a tale of two cities Sara Thai without a closeup of the main branch of Sara Thai, right? In less than 48 hours, we visited the main branch of Sara Thai on our way back to KL. This place is bustling during lunch hour and luckily we arrived just before the lunch army arrived.
The sotong goreng tepung (deep fried squid in batter). It was disappointing that they looked and taste more like squid ring rather than the thai or malay style fried squid we’re looking for.
The squid rings were bland, barely saved by this chili sauce.
Tomyam Seafood. The amount of seafood given were satisfying although the overall taste was not too impressing.
Stir fry shrimp with petai. This is probably just as disappointing as the squid ring because I was expecting a dish drenched with super spicy sambal but it turned out like an ordinary udang masak kicap.
Sara Thai seemed like a decent restaurant but we have more miss than hit and with the plentiful competitors around, we doubt that we will visit again for their not so authentic thai food.
Sara Thai Kitchen
B42, Jalan Gambut,
Kuantan, Pahang
N3 48.730 E103 19.779
Sara Thai Kitchen
Pantai Balok,
Kuantan, Pahang
(coming from Kuantan to Pantai Balok, continue driving after passing Swiss Garden Resort on your right. You’ll see it on your right side soon after)
Related
