Soi 60 | 3.5/5

SINGAPORE — Australian chef Martin Boetz, best known as the chef behind the successful Longrain Thai restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, is also the man behind the menu at Soi 60, a contemporary Thai restaurant that opened along Robertson Quay in July.

This lounge-y space, with glossy concrete floors and polished dark wood, has a lovely view of the river and, more importantly, a team of service staff who are warm, efficient and knowledgeable.

Although the menu is compact by Thai standards, just about everything sounds appealing. There are spring rolls (S$15) and octopus with pickled cucumber, lemongrass and chillies (S$12) alongside a roast duck salad with lychee and black vinegar (S$24) and braised beef ribs in Panaeng curry (S$36).

The S$45-per-person sharing menu is a boon for small groups. For that price, tables get a pre-determined list of two starters, two mains, a papaya salad, steamed white rice and a dessert. Our meal began with the popular snack of betel leaves wrapped around a fresh, citrusy mound of crabmeat kissed with coconut milk and kaffir lime (S$15), followed by a young vegetable salad (S$18) tossed in a sweet, gingery dressing.

The latter — brimming with crunchy jicama (bangkwang), baby bok choy leaves, cherry tomatoes and chunks of pomelo — lacked that distinctly Thai harmony of salty, sweet, sour and spicy, but it was a pleasant enough distraction before the main courses appeared.

When they did, however, the prawn pad Thai (S$26) had a pervasive sweetness, which we fixed with some fish sauce and cut red chillies. Fortunately, the other mains fared much better: Hearty pieces of diced chicken were tossed in holy basil and chillies (S$22) such that they were spicy enough to induce a light sweat — its crown of a soft-centred fried egg helped temper the heat with its luscious creaminess. The fall-off-the-bone braised beef rib in a creamy Panaeng curry had surprisingly nutty endnotes of wild black rice. The burnished sauce was rich and vibrant, with just the right amount of spice.

Sadly, there was no Thai iced tea on the menu to help soothe our tongues. But the mint iced tea (S$8), made by steeping the fruit and herbs in Darjeeling overnight, was refreshingly delicious. For dessert, the wobbly coconut panna cotta (S$10) did a pleasant job of taming the heat — even if the diced pineapples it was served with were a tad dry and the fine ribbons of kaffir lime leaves got in the way. ANNETTE TAN

Soi 60 is at 60 Robertson Quay, #01-04 The Quayside. Telephone: 6635 6675. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 5.30pm until late; Sunday noon to 3pm, 5.30pm until late