THERE are no pretty girls in elaborate Thai costumes to greet you with “sawasdee”. But at Baan Aa-Haan Thai (translated as Thai Food House), Baht for short, you do get Raymond Ling with his wide, infectious smile of welcome.

Billed as a “casual Thai dining” outlet, Baht, tucked in a short row of shophouses behind the New Straits Times, opened only two months ago.

But its popularity is spreading by word of mouth. Not surprising, as the prices are in line with the casual dining theme. “We keep our prices low as our customers are mainly families who come in for a casual meal,” says restaurateur Julia Cheong.

A short curtain of wooden spoons and ladles hang over the doorway. Inside, photographs of Thailand decorate the walls, courtesy of Julia’s dentist son, who shot the pictures on a recent holiday trip there.

But the main focus at Baht is the food counter, where bowls of colourful condiments for ice kacang dominate one corner and the sight of chickens hanging behind glass will freeze you in your steps.

Is that chicken rice you see? In a Thai restaurant?

Julia laughs and rattles off an explanation in her bullet train manner.

“Yes, it’s chicken rice,” she says. “But it’s Thai-style chicken rice. Try it and you’ll immediately taste the difference.”

The chicken is poached or fried (often inexplicably, and incorrectly called roasted chicken). “Thais think our Hainanese chicken, poached in plain water, too bland. So they add all kinds of herbs to the stock like coriander, ginger and Chinese parsley. The stock is also used to cook the rice. See, the rice has a darker colour,” says Ling, inviting us to take a closer look.

Not only is the colour darker but the rice has a lovely aroma and is so tasty you can just eat it on its own. In fact, you’d have to fight the temptation to call for “more rice”.

As for the fried chicken, Julia says the bird is marinated with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, ginger and bunga kantan.

“We remove the herbs after frying,” she adds. She admits to having tweaked the original Thai recipe. “Thais dip the chicken in batter for frying. But locals here don’t like that.”

Chicken rice (RM6) is served with cucumber, soup, ginger-galanggal paste and chili padi-sesame oil sauce.

You can also get fried noodles, tom yam noodles, green curry noodles and red curry noodles. The fried rice (RM6) is fragrant with the addition of kaffir lime leaves.

“Families come in for rice with dishes,” says Julia. For appetisers (RM5), there are choices of pucuk paku salad, four-angle bean salad, kerabu mango and kerabu papaya.

The pucuk paku is delicious. The tender fern shoots are blanched and tossed with pickled shallots and dried prawns with a dash of santan.

Those with tastes that lean towards sour flavours will enjoy the kerabu mango but I prefer the kerabu papaya which is less piquant but just as enjoyable, tossed with shallots, dried prawns and chili padi.

The tom yam soup (RM6) is a fiery red in colour but deceptively so as it’s rather mild in taste. But there are lots of ingredients like prawns, squid, chicken and mushrooms.

I love the fish cake (RM6 for 4pcs). Baht’s version has lots of sliced long beans, making it crunchier than what we’re used to.

The fried spring rolls (RM6 for 2pcs) are big and fat with a stuffing of shredded yambean, carrots and omelette. Eat this with lots of sweet chili sauce.

I find the green chicken curry a little too mild but the red curry is much more intense in flavour.

The menu is kept simple, with the kitchen run by the cheerful Chang Moy Moy who underwent intensive training for 20 days in Bangkok.

Julia warned us to keep some space for dessert. “Some customers come in just for dessert,” she says happily. At the ice kacang counter, you can pick your favourite items from about 15 types of toppings — from fresh jackfruit and softly-stewed beans to tab thim krob (red rubies of waterchestnut), there’s sticky rice (RM5) topped with fresh mango or custard. The soft, sticky rice is coloured light green with pandan extract. While fresh mango topping is common, I enjoy the one with a custard topping. There’s also tapioca (RM4) served with coconut cream.

Baht is open daily from 11am to 9pm except Mondays.

RESTAURANT BAHT
15 Lorong Kurau
Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2282 0991