Thai grill and bar, Jungle, has officially opened its doors at Ann Siang Hill. With its easygoing charm and unique take on Thai cooking, Jungle is set to leave guests captivated and coming back for more. Jungle is not your typical Thai restaurant, so don’t arrive expecting your standard fare. Instead, Jungle draws deeply from Thailand’s rich and extensive food culture, showcasing a diverse but curated selection of regional dishes brought to life with carefully sourced ingredients, hand-pounded curry pastes, and sublime fire-glazed cooking.
Taking inspiration from Bangkok’s eclectic late-night watering holes and vibrant streets, Jungle presents a laid-back, yet artfully crafted dining experience, with an open-fire kitchen and soundtrack of classic funk and soul adding to the pleasant buzz.
What comes through from even the briefest visit to Jungle is its commitment to quality. Jungle brings its selection of regional Thai dishes to life with diligently procured ingredients and artisanal in-house processes. Their distilled, one-page food menu is incredibly potent. For those seeking something light and refreshing, there is the Pomelo-Lemongrass Salad, made with dried shrimp, homemade candied coconut, and carefully sourced Thai pomelo which, when combined, offers a tantalising balance of sweet and tangy. The Northern Duck Laab, a robust and layered blend of herbs, spices, and chillies – is a rare find outside the rural North of Thailand.
Jungle’s grill section takes centrestage, with highlights such as the Southern Style Charcoal Grilled Chicken, this version of the much loved Gai Golae is a succulent masterpiece bursting with flavour; the skewers are slow-cooked over hot embers and lavishly topped off with a hand-pounded red-curry glaze that is made from scratch.
The Sugarcane Smoked Pork Jowl is a tender must-try dish with flavours of sweet, smoke, and umami; the pork jowl is smoked with lychee wood and sugarcane before being finished off over charcoal.
Seafood lovers will no doubt adore the Southern Crab Yellow Curry, which is shaping up to be one of Jungle’s biggest crowd-pleasers. As with the rest of the menu, Jungle will rotate its curry offerings from time to time, so be sure to make your way over soon if you want to catch a taste.
Vegetarians are also in for a treat, although they currently need to book ahead to allow the team to prepare, as Jungle makes its vegetarian sauces and ferments entirely from scratch. However, there are plans to house these purely vegetarian options on the menu in the near future.
No meal is complete without a sweet finale, and Jungle delivers desserts like the Grilled Banana Cake with Gula Melaka caramel and coconut ice cream – a decadent treat that combines warm, caramelised banana with creamy coconut ice cream.
To complement the cooking, Jungle’s drinks programme features a small selection of homemade cocktails, a curated low-intervention wine programme, and a growing list of sakes and beers.
With its winning combination of both style and substance at this humble new dining venue, Jungle is establishing itself firmly as the neighbourhood spot to check out – and keep returning to.
