Editor's Rating
Still about Thai cuisine, this time we went to Kelapa Gading area to try Sip Ha, a 6 months old Thai restaurant which specialized in Thai BBQ as well as other common Thai food.
Sip Ha is located at the busy Boulevard Raya street, where line of restaurants, cafes, and food stalls exist. It’s easy to find the place, thanks to the huge signage with Thai-style font says “Sip Ha”.
This place got me curious since I heard many good reviews about their Thai BBQ, which is cooked together with the suki on one hat-shaped pan.
The restaurant has 2 functioning floors: the first one is the casual dining area with yellow gold wallpaper and rattan chairs.
My first impression, I wish it was decorated with more Thai ambiance because it looks like a typical random restaurant to me. The photos on the wall are the only things that kind of showing you that it serves something related to Thailand.
My first impression, I wish it was decorated with more Thai ambiance because it looks like a typical random restaurant to me. The photos on the wall are the only things that kind of showing you that it serves something related to Thailand.
Sip Ha itself actually comes from Thai language that means “15”, which explains their 15 signature dishes. We managed to try some of them and without further ado, let’s check what we had there!
Thai Iced Tea IDR 14,000
I love Thai tea, with or without milk. This one is the more famous one (with milk), and I consider it nice attempt of creating good Thai iced tea. I sometimes make myself too and it is not as easy as it looks to bring out the flavor of the tea, not mentioning to get the massive sweetness like we find in the original country. Thumbs up!
Royal Thai Juice IDR 18,000
This exotic-looking green drink is actually a mix of fruits and vegetables. The taste is sweet and refreshing, (surprisingly) no bitterness at all. Is it too early to say that it was my favorite drink amongst all that were served? 😉
Lemon Grass Drink IDR 18,000
Although the drink looks bland, I can assure you that the taste is fabulous! Love the distinctive taste of the lemon grass.
Green Thai Tea with Milk IDR 18,000
This milky drink tasted like.. milk, with faint hint of green tea. It almost tasted like a green-tea flavored milk and certainly is not my favorite.
Thai Fish Cake IDR 27,000
Nice resemblance to original Thai fish cakes, good texture without being too chewy.
Neah Yang IDR 57,000
I actually like the pork version of this. These grilled beef was tasty, but a bit hard and dry.
Thai Chicken Rice IDR 37,000
This is one of my (and Mr. K’s) favorite Thai street food, so we tried quite a lot of versions in Thailand. The chicken seemed like they were cut first then deep-fried, while the actual ones are deep-fried first before they are cut. The chicken was a little bit too crispy for my liking, and had lots some of its juice.
Tom Sap IDR 52,000
This pork tom yam is a great addition to the menu. The tom yam itself was perfect: more sour and less sweet. The pork was okay, some were quite hard to chew. But that didn’t change the fact that it was my second favorite dish that day!
Crispy Fish with Mango Salad IDR 85,000
They use deep-fried gourami fish then topped it with refreshing mango salad, and with extra coriander leaves, it’s all good for me. The fish was crispy and (thank God) not smelly at all. <– you know, gourami can be real smelly if not washed and cooked well, right? The mango salad was a good company to the fish, nicely seasoned and tasted sweet like how I prefer it to be!
This is my ultimate favorite dish that day, need I say more? XD
Tom Kha Gai IDR 38,000
Another version of tom yam with additional coconut milk to the soup. The soup was a bit too runny compared to real one, and also a bit too oily. Taste wise, it was alright, although the flavors didn’t really come out too strong.
Tom Yam Goong IDR 47,000
A highly anticipated dish that brought us to disappointment because it didn’t taste anything like tom yam goong. 🙁 The taste is overpowered by sweetness, like failed “sayur asam” with no character. According to the owner, it wasn’t like that in the past, but many customers complained about how sour it was, so the taste now is modified version, which for me, is the biggest failure EVER.
Hot & Spicy Fried Kang Kong IDR 19,000
This new menu is simply but very addictive. I hope they can make this in jar and let us take some home, LOL!
Curry Prawn IDR 78,000
A prawn version of usually-crab (or soft shell crab) curry, this one was actually quite good. They put more salted eggs inside, and somehow it kinds of dominated the taste, while the original one usually has stronger curry taste.
Papaya Salad IDR 23,000
I requested for this papaya salad and wasn’t disappointed. Wish that the papaya was sliced/grated more thinly, though. I love when the papaya is still crunchy but absorbs the sauce well. Adding some cherry tomatoes wouldn’t hurt! If you like dried shrimps, good news, because they put lots of them inside it!
Mango with Sticky Rice IDR 28,000
Another great attempt by Sip Ha, the sticky rice was soft, warm, and sweet. The mango was sweet and sour, perfect with the sticky rice and ice cream.
Although what attracted me the most to Sip Ha is their BBQ, too bad we didn’t get to try it during this visit. In conclusion, Sip Ha offers good selections of Thai cuisine, which fortunately, are not mediocre and considerably delicious. I am looking forward to come back and explore other food they offer, and next time I am gonna sit on the second floor!
Sip Ha is also a perfect place to hang out and just have fun while enjoying your beer. The second floor is available for “nobar” (watching sports together) and smoking some shisha/hookah. We wish Sip Ha best of luck and hope to be back someday!
Visited on: 29 January 2015
** The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.
SIP HA THAI BBQ & BISTRO
Jl. Boulevard Raya Blok PD 9 No. 1
Kelapa Gading
North Jakarta 14430
Ph. +62 21 4584 6893
Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun 10AM – 10PM
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