165 Bukit Merah Central, #01-3683 · Mon–Sat 11am–8pm · Muslim-Owned Halal Score: 8/10
OVERVIEW
Mawar Thai is the younger sibling of Mawar Merah, a well-established nasi padang stall in Bukit Merah. The same owner has expanded into Thai cuisine, bringing in a Thai-trained chef to helm the wok. The result is something increasingly rare in Singapore’s halal dining scene: Thai food that does not compromise on heat, aromatics, or structural authenticity.
The stall occupies a modest counter within an ageing coffeeshop — the kind with fluorescent lighting, overhead fans, and plastic chairs. There is no theatrical presentation, no artisanal branding. The food must carry all the weight, and largely, it does.
AMBIENCE
There is little to say about the setting that would constitute a recommendation in its own right. The coffeeshop is old, worn, and communal. Noise levels at peak hours are considerable. The environment communicates nothing about Thailand beyond the aromas drifting from the wok.
This is not a shortcoming so much as a category clarification. The modest surroundings directly explain the pricing — there are no overheads being passed to the customer in the form of mood lighting or table service. For diners who are there for the food, none of the above matters. For those seeking a restaurant occasion, a different venue is warranted.
Getting there requires a 16-minute walk from Redhill MRT, which places it firmly in the category of a neighbourhood stall rather than a destination restaurant.
DISH ANALYSIS
Dish 01 — Basil Chicken with Rice & Egg ($6.80) · Recommended
This is pad kra pao — Thai holy basil stir-fry — and it is the dish that reveals the stall’s ambitions most immediately. The minced chicken is cooked on high heat to develop the wok-hei quality characteristic of the dish: slightly scorched at the edges, dry rather than wet, with each grain of mince carrying the rendered fat and aromatics of the pan. The garlic is pushed close to caramelisation, and the bird’s eye chillies deliver a sustained, building heat rather than a sharp frontal spike.
The basil — likely Thai basil if not holy basil — releases its anise-clove fragrance into the cooking oil, which then coats the rice below. The sunny-side-up egg arrives with lace-edged whites and a jammy yolk that breaks into the dish and introduces a soft, fatty counterpoint to the heat.
Texturally: granular mince, crisp egg white edges, yielding yolk, fluffy rice beneath. The hues are earthy and warm — deep scorched brown on the meat, vivid green from the basil, red from the chilli, ivory from the rice, and the bright yellow-orange of the yolk.
Heat: 9/10. Aroma: 9/10. Umami depth: 8/10. Value: 10/10.
Dish 02 — Baby Kailan with Mince Chicken · Moderate
This dish occupies the same flavour register as the basil chicken — savoury, spicy, umami-forward — but substitutes the fragrant basil for the brassica bitterness of baby kai lan. An oyster-sauce glaze coats the minced meat well, and the chilli presence keeps the dish animated. The fundamental flavour architecture is sound.
The primary failure is textural. Kai lan should offer a faint resistance before yielding a clean snap — what food writing sometimes calls the “vegetable bite.” The specimens served here were overdone, with soft, almost fibrous stems where there should have been crispness. This points either to excessive cooking time or vegetables that were not at peak freshness on the day.
It is a recoverable flaw, and the flavour itself holds up. But texture is not a minor consideration in a dish where the vegetable is the defining ingredient.
Heat: 7/10. Aroma: 6/10. Umami depth: 7/10. Texture: 4/10.
Dish 03 — Tom Yum Soup, Coconut Milk Version (from $6.80) · Recommended
Tom yum is the most internationally recognisable Thai dish and the one most frequently adulterated in its diaspora. Mawar Thai’s version resists that tendency. The broth is built on the correct structural pillars: lemongrass stalks, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and fish sauce creating a foundation that is simultaneously sour, savoury, and herbaceous before heat even enters the picture.
The coconut milk variant introduces a silken, ivory body to the broth that tempers but does not extinguish the chilli fire. The palate experience is sequential: first the warm, mild sweetness of coconut; then a surge of lemongrass brightness; then a slow, insistent burn that builds at the back of the throat and persists. This is a well-constructed flavour journey.
The inclusions — sliced fish, prawns, straw mushrooms — are adequate without being generous. The fish is the standout: cut thick enough to absorb the broth into its flesh, releasing a concentrated burst of the soup’s character with each bite. The prawns are firm and fresh. The mushrooms are spongy and drink in the broth well.
Colour profile of the bowl: an ivory-gold base from the coconut broth, shot through with amber galangal notes, white fish flesh, the pink-orange of the prawns, and the scattered red of chilli slices.
Heat: 8/10. Aroma: 8/10. Umami depth: 9/10. Texture: 8/10.
Dish 04 — Steamed Seabass with Red Chilli (from $15) · Premium
The seabass arrives on a heated metal plate with a live flame burning underneath, still actively cooking in its own aromatic liquor. The sauce is built from lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, and lemongrass, with red chillies providing both colour and heat. It is the most visually arresting dish on the menu.
The fish itself is correctly cooked: moist, yielding, and clean in flavour. The muscle fibres separate in clean planes when probed, the hallmark of proper steaming — not the collapsed, waterlogged texture of an overcooked fish. The lime-garlic sauce is sharp and bright, cutting through the fish’s natural oils with citric precision.
The descaling issue is a legitimate concern. Patches of unremoved scale on the skin create a papery, unpleasant bite when eating the skin. This is a preparation-stage oversight rather than a cooking failure, and it is directly preventable. The kitchen should address it.
Hues: white fish flesh, pale lime-green sauce, red chilli slivers against the amber broth, and the cream-beige of the lemongrass stalk. Textures: moist clean flake, bright liquid sauce, firm chilli, and the occasional papery scale.
Heat: 7/10. Aroma: 9/10. Texture (fish flesh): 8/10. Value: 7/10.
HOME RECIPE — PAD KRA PAO (Basil Chicken Rice)
This recipe attempts to honour the structural principles evident in Mawar Thai’s version: high heat, restrained sweetness, and an uncompromising chilli presence.
Ingredients (serves 2): 300g minced chicken thigh (not breast — the fat content matters), 1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves, 6 cloves garlic roughly smashed, 4 to 6 bird’s eye chillies sliced, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, half tsp sugar, 2 tbsp neutral high-smoke-point oil, 2 cups cooked jasmine rice, 2 eggs, additional oil for frying eggs.
Method:
Step 1 — Combine oyster sauce, fish sauce, dark soy, and sugar in a bowl before you begin cooking. This preparation is non-negotiable. Once the wok is hot, the process moves faster than most people expect, and fumbling with bottles mid-cook is how dishes get ruined.
Step 2 — Heat the wok or largest heavy pan you own over the highest flame available. Wait until the oil shimmers with visible heat distortion before adding anything. The wok must be searingly hot. If using a domestic hob, accept that the result will be slightly less charred than the restaurant version — this is the one disadvantage of home cooking that cannot be fully overcome.
Step 3 — Add oil, then immediately add garlic and chillies. Stir constantly for 20 to 30 seconds until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Do not let it burn. This is the most time-sensitive moment in the recipe. Burnt garlic ruins the dish without remedy.
Step 4 — Add the minced chicken. Resist the urge to stir immediately. Let the meat sit against the hot surface for 30 seconds to develop colour and initial char. Then break it apart and stir-fry aggressively for 3 to 4 minutes until fully cooked and beginning to crisp at the edges.
Step 5 — Pour in the sauce. Toss and stir for 1 minute, allowing the liquid to reduce and coat the meat. If the pan looks wet, raise the heat and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
Step 6 — Remove from heat. Add the basil leaves and fold through. The residual heat wilts them perfectly. Adding basil off-heat preserves more of its volatile aromatic compounds than cooking it directly in the pan.
Step 7 — In a separate pan, fry the eggs in shallow oil on high heat. Baste the whites continuously with spooned hot oil to produce lace-edged, crisp whites while keeping the yolk soft. This technique — khai dao in Thai — is the correct preparation for this dish. A pale, steam-cooked egg is a different dish entirely.
Step 8 — Serve immediately over jasmine rice with the egg on top. Accompany with a small dish of fish sauce and sliced bird’s eye chillies for individual seasoning at the table.
DELIVERY OPTIONS
As a halal hawker stall within a coffeeshop, Mawar Thai’s delivery availability should be verified directly before ordering. The following reflects the most probable situation for a stall of this type in Singapore.
GrabFood is the most likely active platform given its dominant coverage of Singapore hawker stalls. Search “Mawar Thai” or “Bukit Merah Thai” to check listing status. Foodpanda is the second platform worth checking, with reasonable coverage of the Bukit Merah area. Deliveroo has limited hawker stall coverage generally and is unlikely to list this stall. Self-collection remains the most reliable option: 165 Bukit Merah Central, #01-3683, Monday to Saturday, 11am to 8pm.
A note on delivery suitability: the basil chicken rice travels best among the four dishes, being a dry preparation that holds its texture reasonably well in a container. The tom yum soup and steamed seabass are both structurally compromised by delivery — the broth of the former will cool and lose its aromatic volatility, while the seabass will continue to cook in its residual steam, potentially overcooking by the time it arrives. If ordering for delivery, the rice dishes are the wiser choice.
VERDICT
Mawar Thai earns its 8/10 through the fundamental integrity of its cooking rather than through presentation or marketing. In a city where halal Thai options frequently flatten heat, substitute ingredients, or both, this stall does neither. The Thai chef’s hand is evident in the aromatic hierarchy of each dish, the calibrated spice levels, and the respect for how Thai ingredients interact.
The flaws are real — overcooked vegetables, incomplete descaling — but they are execution-level rather than conceptual failures. They are the kind of issues that careful attention to kitchen process would resolve. At the current price point, even the imperfect dishes represent strong value.
For halal diners in Singapore seeking Thai food that tastes like it comes from Thailand rather than a Thai-adjacent idea of Thailand, Mawar Thai is a meaningful option and a stall that deserves more attention than its surroundings suggest