Kin Kao Mai is a Thai restaurant at 3 Pickering Street, #01-34/35 Nankin Row, in Chinatown, Singapore, with a strong 4.7 Google rating.
Thai cooking lives or dies on balance, so a good kitchen tunes the sweet, sour, salty and fiery notes of every dish and builds curries from fresh paste — lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime — rather than shortcuts. Regulars know to state their spice preference plainly: authentic Thai heat runs well past most palates, and a decent kitchen will adjust without dulling the other flavours. Meals are usually shared, so a soup or salad, a curry and a stir-fry with rice beats one plate each. Around the CBD edge of Chinatown the weekday lunch rush is brisk, so a slightly off-peak arrival usually means an easier table.
Set among the shophouses of Nankin Row, Kin Kao Mai gives Chinatown's CBD fringe a well-rated spot for a proper Thai meal.