chain of thai restaurants . for the canadian chain of thai restaurants see tha express . this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . july 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message thai express type private industry restaurants founded 2002 2002 in holland village in singapore founder grace goh lee and ivan lee number of locations 69 restaurants 2011 1 key people ivan lee ceo products food service parent minor international website thaiexpress.com.sg thai express is a chain of restaurants serving thai cuisine . the first restaurant was opened in holland village in singapore in may 2002 . 2 since then there have been other outlets in malaysia china and vietnam . 3 hyderabad . the singapore based chain has no affiliation with the tha express chain operating in canada owned by mty group . in may 2008 the company was sold to minor international . 4 contents 1 early history 2 type of restaurant 3 menu 4 locations 5 see also 6 references 7 external links early history edit thaiexpress is owned by minor international mint from thailand since may 2008 5 the idea of a restaurant was conceived in 2000 by two classmates at the national university of singapore grace goh lee and ivan lee who are now married to each other . 2 the first thai express restaurant opened in holland village . ivan lee is the company s ceo . grace goh lee later return to school to study law . they decided to serve thai food due to its popularity in singapore . 2 the founder and ceo ivan lee has addressed the singapore management university lee kong chian school of business as part of its lunchtime talks series . 6 ivan lee and the founding of thai express has been featured in a television documentary on channel newsasia in 2006 . type of restaurant edit a restaurant review characterise thai express as breaking away from the traditional thai style of communal dining by serving items in individual portions for those who may want to dine alone . in place of fine dining which may be intimidating to some thai express is all about being fresh contemporary and fuss free . 7 the typical casual and modern decor of the restaurant is glass partitions with wooden chairs of scandinavian style design . menu edit 95 % of dishes are cooked to order . 8 many of the dishes on the menu some of which have won awards have been created by native thai chef suwakhon wangsai who has 25 years of international cooking experience . 8 some of the dishes are reported to be unique including the japanese inspired popiah wrap the tofu mushroom salad and tofu squares . 7 8 thai fried squid thai mee sua thai longevity noodle curried soft shell crab are also dishes that while the restaurant attributes as unique may be more accurately characterised as unique in the way that they are prepared . 8 thai express is one of the few thai restaurants in singapore to serve thai laksa 9 of which they serve eight varieties . locations edit the original location is in holland village singapore . there are many other locations in singapore including but not limited to a restaurant in the esplanade theatres on the bay where there is some view of the outdoor performance area and within walking distance to the merlion the paragon shopping centre and plaza singapura both located in orchard road . there are several restaurants in indonesia vietnam as well as a few in malaysia australia and thailand . 10 there is consideration to expanding into the middle east . 11 thai express has now entered india with an outlet in hyderabad . see also edit list of thai restaurants references edit minor international 21 february 2012 . management discussion and analysis 2011 pdf . retrieved 22 february 2012 . a b c the way to business success . national university of singapore . july 2004 . retrieved 2007 11 27 . restaurant locator . thaiexpress . retrieved 2007 11 27 . mint to acquire a 70 % stake in thai express pdf . retrieved 12 august 2015 . http www.minorfoodgroup.com international news mint % 20press % 20release thai % 20express 7may08 e.pdf http www.business.smu.edu.sg wkwc lunchtime talks lt2006.asp 9 january 2006 address entitled succeed from failure a b colours by the bay singapore a b c d http www.thaiexpress.com.sg franchise2.htm http www.thaiexpress.com.sg aboutus.htm http www.thaiexpress.com.sg stores.htm satish cheney 30 march 2007 . competition gives business students hands on experience with smes . channel newsasia . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title thai express & oldid 740493790 categories companies of singaporerestaurants established in 2002thai restaurants2002 establishments in singaporerestaurant chains in singaporefast food chains of singaporehidden categories articles with a promotional tone from july 2013all articles with a promotional toneuse dmy dates from september 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 september 2016 at 12 04 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view