I remember when I first visited Bangkok, I was so skeptical about the hygiene level of their street hawkers that I avoided anything not cooked and any water from unknown sources. And this includes the cut fruits placed on top of ice.
Finally I caved in to the hot weather and had my first ever Thai iced tea from the street hawker in Victory Monument.
Since then, I was hooked.
I just have to drink this on my every visit to Thailand. In fact, I suspect this is one of the main reasons I'm going back Bangkok so often. Right! Just to drink their Thai iced tea.
No matter whether it's from the street hawker, cafe or more expensive restaurant, I've never been disappointed once.
Yesterday, my friend posted a photo of a glass of Thai iced tea on Facebook.
It's from a stall in the Newton Hawker Center famous among the tourists.
The iced tea costs $4.50 and tasted awful.
Why is it so difficult to find nice Thai iced tea in Singapore? Did they added something that is not available here? Perhaps there's no people with the experience and skill of making Thai iced tea here.
Of course, we cannot compare the standard to the country of origin. And that's why we can never find Laksa (a local curry noodle) as original in Singapore as anywhere else in the world.
You can get a cup of Thai iced tea from the street hawker for 25 Baht (equivalent to $1 Singapore dollar). For the price of $4.50, which is 350% more, one would expect at least a decent cup of iced tea, if not close to the real taste. But most of the times, it is far from truth.
If that is true, then all the more they should make the iced tea as nice as the original one so that they can justify for the price charged.