JING THAI RESTAURANT – right in the heartlands of Seri Kembangan!

Deep within the heartlands of Seri Kembangan is this rare find: a restaurant serving Thai food. There’s no shortage of eateries in Seri Kembangan, mostly Chinese-Hakka hearty food, so Thai food here is really unusual. Seri Kembangan is also not a place I’d usually go to and locating Jing Thai amidst the factories in this part of town required a bit of patience. Nevertheless, Waze would help – you just have to look out for the signage when you are in the vicinity! Once you turn off the main road of Jalan PSK 1, go up a little slope and you will see this:

Stepping inside, the restaurant has a definite rustic feel to it – tables set up al-fresco in the open courtyard-like space while the side terraces have zinc roofs over them. If this seems a bit warm, given our humid weather, there’s also an air-conditioned segment of the restaurant.

Chicken Feet Salad

Settling ourselves down, our dinner started off with several salads, all done Thai-style, of course. We had the Chicken Feet Salad (RM16/22), Abalone Salad (RM26) and the Glass Noodles Seafood Salad (RM20). The boneless chicken feet were crunchy and had totally absorbed the spicy tangy dressing made from lime juice, fish sauce, lemongrass and lots of chillies. The abalone and glass noodles salads tasted similar as the same dressing was used.

We had to quickly get the plain rice on our table once the hot dishes came. First came the Pucuk Paku Sambal (RM13/18) and the Thai-style Chicken (RM18/28). While I couldn’t quite discern much sambal in the puck paku, the ferns were well tossed in high heat so the leaves had that nice sheen and were still crunchy.

The Thai-style chicken got the thumbs-up all round as we all enjoyed the crispily-fried chicken cutlets topped with fine shreds of aromatic herbs like torch ginger flower, onions and lemongrass.

We were recommended the Thai Curry Chicken (RM18/28) and found that it was a real rice booster. The boneless chicken pieces were very well-marinated with curry spices; the addition of shredded lemongrass and curry leaves enhanced the aromas to a yummier level!

Another dish that made us pile on more rice was the Special Thai Home-style Prawns (RM35/48). The spicy tangy and sweetish sauce was a killer as there were lots of aromatics in it. The bouncy prawns were smothered by the thick creamy sauce laced with Thai spices, curry leaves and shredded turmeric leaves.

The star of the meal was surely the Thai-style Curry Crabs (seasonal price), which not many Thai restaurants here offer.  The fresh mud crabs were crazy delicious, smothered with a thick fragrant curry paste. We mopped up every single bit of the sauce leaving none to waste. Yes, this signature dish is a must-order here.

No Thai meal is complete without Tomyum and the ever-popular Thai-style of steaming seafood. So we had their Seafood Tomyum (RM20/26/34) which really packed a lot of heat. Remember to tell them to lower the chilli heat if you are less chilli-tolerant.

We had fresh tilapia and a huge squid steamed Thai-style, which was a bit of a mistake as both dishes tasted the same. The tastes were good though, very well-balanced and kickass.

For me personally, the highlight of the meal was the BBQ. They have my favourite cockles and I ordered that in a jiffy. The cockles were huge and fresh; the BBQ chef did a good job grilling them to perfection. Now what was lacking was a good kicks table-thumping chilli dip. The sauce served was… sad.

The BBQ Lamb Chops were excellent, perfectly marinated and grilled to just the right done-ness. No dip was required as the succulent meat was tasty with its natural flavours aided by the marination. Definitely a must-have and we’d go back for this.

 

JING THAI RESTAURANT
Lot 1397 Jalan PSK 1
Taman Bukit Serdang
43300 Seri Kembangan
Selangor
Open: 11.00am – 2.30pm; 5.30pm-12.00am
Tel: 011-1088-9666