For those who stay around Kepong area, probably you have heard about this Thai restaurant that is located between Kepong and Jinjang. The Thai Garden Village, or known as TGV (not to be mistaken with the cinema company) is one of the most happening Thai restaurants around this area.
Located in between Kepong and Jinjang, along Jalan Kepong, nearby Shell petrol station, behind World Motor Trade. Unless you are from this area, otherwise it is unlikely you will notice it's existence within the factory and scrap area. The restaurant location is once a food court, namely Meteor Garden, which existed some years ago until it miserably failed and ended its operations, just like most of the food court around this area.
I believed the boss of TGV spent a big amount of money to renovate the area into what it is now, aiming to create a comfortable Thai dining experience by "shifting" the whole Thai experience into this Thai Garden Village. No doubt, the decorations and landscape designs are something very fresh to me, especially in this Kepong area. With the ample space, the owner is able to include many trees and plants, as well as a small fountain in his outdoor section of the restaurant.
I remember reading in newspaper some time ago, about this restaurant, the owner invites a Thai chef from Thailand to exclusively prepare authentic Thai food, to ensure the best quality served to his customers. I have no chance of meeting the chef nor the owner himself that day, so I guess I will let the food to do the talking instead.
I arrived at TGV around 6:30p.m. in the evening, where the sky is still bright, providing good natural light for some shots later. The car park is big enough to accommodate easily 50 cars with my rough estimation. At the entrance you will notice some Thai statues of elephants as well as some human figurines, those you commonly found in Thai restaurants or at Thailand itself.
We were warmly welcomed by the waitress, greeting us and asking the total number of people in our group. She then asked whether we would like to sit inside or outside. Both indoor and outdoor brings a different feel and atmosphere. The kitchen and beverage corner is located indoors, there is also a playground for kids to enjoy during their meal, as well as aquariums with fishes and souvenir section selling souvenirs to the customers. It's really like you have stepped into Thailand, especially with the non-stop Thai songs playing while you dine.
We decided to dine outside of course, why dine inside when we can enjoy the nice environment outside, since it is not raining anyway. The waiter came to us with a simple menu, with different Thai dishes to be selected. Unfortunately the menu lacks of pictures, which makes us hard to decide on which dish to order by just reading off the names as we are not familiar with Thai dishes.
After taking orders, I spent some time exploring the "garden" area of TGV. There's a BBQ grill corner inside the garden, preparing special grill dishes like sotong, fish, lamb etc. There's also different sections within the garden. Some within wooden huts, which I think provides better lighting when having your meal at night later. There's also some sign posts stating the distance to various places in Thailand, a perfect spot for people who likes to take portrait pictures.
Let's move on to the food shall we? We ordered the typical Pandan Chicken, Steamed Talapia with spicy lime sauce, Sizzling Seafood Taufu, Stir-fried Kailan with Salted fish and a pot of Seafood Tom Yam. The price for the food here are quite decent, with the vege slightly overpriced in my opinion. The beverage is another big portion that you need to fork out if you are going in a big group. Typically in chinese restaurants, drinks can be settled by just ordering chinese tea. But in TGV, the minimum amount to pay for a drink is RM2, which is normal chinese tea (Tie-guan-yin), jasmine tea or green tea. Fruit juices will cost you RM4.90 per glass, Coconut will cost you RM4.90 and Thai Coconut RM5.90. Other drinks such as Ice Lemon Tea and Beer are also available.
The Pandan Chicken is decent, but the size is inconsistent, with some pieces particularly big and some as small as can-be-eaten-in-a-bite. Taste is good, well marinated. With the price tag of RM3/piece and a minimum order of 6 pieces. Comes with a tasty Thai Chilli sauce, but the chicken taste best by just eaten on its own.
Next will be the seafood sizzling taufu, priced at RM16.90 if not mistaken. Using japanese egg taufu, I found this dish to have everything else besides taufu. The portion of taufu is overwhelmed by its side ingredients. However, taste wise I will say it's decent too. With some prawns and squids, together with mixed vege and button mushrooms, it's a not-so-bad side order to be ordered, but beware of the small portion.
Next will be the stir-fried Kailan with salted fish, priced at RM14.90, which I think is overpriced, but expected for such restaurants. Besides being small portioned, there's nothing to complain about this dish.
Here comes the two main dishes for the day, the seafood tom yam pot @RM22.90. Served in a very "flammable" way as you can see in the second picture below. The amount of seafood is disappointing but the taste is good. With squids, prawns, fish meat and mushrooms, this tom yam pot will definitely make you tambah nasi.
The last dish for the day is the Steamed Talapia with Spicy Lime Sauce, which is one of the signature dishes that the waiter introduced to us. The Talapia fish given is a big one, priced at @RM26.90 each. This is one different steam fish that you should try besides the common types that you can find else where. Fish is very fresh too, no complain for this. Worth the price paid. Other options such as Thai Asam steam fish, Teochew steam fish, Deep fried and etc. Fish options will be either Talapia or Siakap.
The rice here is served in pots, like those you found in other Thai restaurants. Serving Thai fragrant rice if not mistaken by my taste buds. Each bowl will be charged RM1.50.
The total bill at the end was RM180+ with 7 people, with a big amount came from the drinks. This is not the end of my TGV review, I visited that place again as requested by my parents the next two days, but unfortunately this time I did not bring my camera along with me. So please do bear with me with just boring text. The one mentioned above is with the accompany of my girlfriend's family. This time will be my own family.
In this time, we ordered a few dishes, with some difference from my previous visit. This time, we ordered the Deep Fried Talapia with Mango Salad, Stir-fried paku with belacan, Pandan Chicken, Seafood Tom Yam and Mixed vege. With the previous experience, we cut down some beverage expenses.
The Deep Fried Talapia with Mango Salad is the most satisfying dish among all, with the big Talapia provided and the generous amount of Mango salad topped with grounded peanuts and big pieces of cashew nuts , and the price of RM26.90 also. Definitely worth the price, much bigger than the steam fish we ordered previous.
Other dishes will be around the same, but would like to highlight on the mixed vege, which is not recommended. The coconut served this time is much smaller than my previous ones. And when the waiter was serving the coconut, I saw different sizes of coconut on his tray, which is something I would like to highlight. The bill for this time is RM120+ for 5 person, inclusive of 6% gov tax and 5% service charge.
To wrap up about TGV, I will list down the pro and cons of this restaurant, and well of course, this is just my personal pinion.
Pros:
- Very decent dining environment, especially within Kepong area
- Decent food
- Good service
- Very clean toilet with sexy woman pictures for men and handsome guy for ladies
- Inconsistent food portion (Pandan Chicken and Coconut)
- Small portions of vege and taufu (which I think is common but preferably bigger portion)
- Beverage doesn't taste good
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