Take a tour of Gin Khao One Raffles Place

Get to know the man behind this Thai restaurant.

Gin Khao One Raffles Place is the latest addition to the Gin Khao Family, which is one of the brand names under the Jus Delish Group chain of restaurants. It is a Thai restaurant that seeks to offer a different casual dining experience for their customers. The vibe ties in with the restaurant namesake, which means 'eat rice' in Thai. Food wise, the emphasis is on sharing, proportional servings that allow groups of various sizes to grab a comprehensive sampling of the dishes.

Gin Khao One Raffles Place is situated directly above Raffles Place Mrt, on the 4th floor and commences operations on 15th February 2016.

Strategically located in the Central Business District, this new outlet serves as an ideal place in the city to wind down, away from the bustling city life, while having the luxury for one to enjoy their meals in comfort. The elegant 65-seater checks all the boxes for destination dining, from its minimalistic, bright and aesthetic interior to the inundating aromatic smell of Thai food and herbs that seems to permeate every inch of the 1,200sqft outlet.

Like its two predecessors, located at East Coast Parkway and Sentosa Cove respectively, Gin Khao One Raffles Place serves Modern Thai Cuisine, specially tailored and fine tuned to suit the Locals’ palates with interpretations on authentic Thai Food such as Watermelon Fried Rice, Tom Yum Seafood Soup, Pan-Seared Squids Coated in Savory Salted Egg Cream, Crayfish Served With Glass Noodles in Claypot and many more! With the inclusion of modern reinvent Thai delicacies such as Prawn and Green Mango Relish Served with Rice Crackers, Green Curry Gelato Served with Black Sticky Rice and Sticky rice Gelato to create a complete sensory gratifying Thai dining experience.

The specialty
Watermelon Fried Rice has since become an iconic dish, synonymous to the Gin Khao Brand.

“We are the First and Only Restaurant in Singapore to be dishing out this otherwise unknown authentic Thai Food. We have tried the Thai version and feel that there is much potential if we just proceed with some fine- tuning to make it relevant in Singapore context, such as the wok hei that is typical of all fried rice cuisines,” said Ralph Liow, founder of Gin Khao.

Ralph notes that one distinctive characteristic about this outlet is that it also offers a wider selection of cakes and it caters express takeaway specifically for the working professionals with its portable Thai Pinto set lunches as it understands that setting time aside for having a meal is a luxury to many of these professionals.

“We also provide premium delivery services within a 2.5km radius of our outlet (by our service partner) to ensure the quality of the Food delivered,” he said.

The founder
Ralph is the founder of Gin Khao One Raffles Place. He is a chef by training and has a wealth of experience in the F&B field. He was formerly the General Manager of a reputable restaurant chain in Singapore and has help see to the successful implementation of many of these now household brands in Singapore.

Ralph shared that he was poached by an acquaintance Brandon Ng, who saw the potential of this F&B business kicking off. Mr Brandon Ng is an esteemed businessman with successful forays into many endeavours.

“Upon learning of my track record in the F&B industry, coupled with his interest in the Food Business, we immediately start penning down our plans/ideas on how we are to proceed with our collaboration,” he said

Seeing that their two earlier Gin Khao outlets have started to gather some results and is becoming a sustainable business, they decided to capitalize on the opportunity to establish a presence in the CBD belt at the first chance that they learnt that a unit is available in the vicinity.

“We were approached/contacted by the landlord of One Raffles Place (OUE) to take up a unit in the area after learning about the success of our first two Gin Khao outlets and trying out our Food offerings themselves,” Ralph shared.

According to Ralph, the only problem faced was perhaps on how to make effective use of the available space. “We only have 1,200 sqft to play with, so we need to ensure that the architectural design of the outlet has to be as minimalistic, able to accommodate as many customers as possible, while still maintaining the overall appeal of the outlet to the business executives in the area,” he said.

Ralph hopes that Gin Khao becomes a household brand in the near future, known by all as a casual dining restaurant that provides quality Thai Food with impeccable services. As such, the team, he said, is aggressive in their marketing pursuits, especially on the different types of online social media to generate awareness, such as blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Google platforms, EDMs, promotions and publication through various medias, flyers distribution, banners, posters display at prominent locations and etc.

“Word of mouth is the best way to gain awareness and that is our ultimate aim – To ensure that our food offerings have something for everyone and that they will be inclined to return week after week and Share with others on the Good Food that Gin Khao is offering! I placed the greatest emphasis on Food quality and that is why you will usually find me hanging around the kitchen to oversee the whole cooking process – from food preparation all the way to food presentation. I am glad to say that the responses garnered have been positive thus far,” he said.