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Thai grub

Ha! Phall. I shared one with a friend waaay back when I was a teenager. Never again! Hard to beat a good vindaloo.
 
Ginger said:
Only place I’ve had decent Thai food is in Thailand. Never had anything here that comes close . Including a celebrated Thai restaurant nearby run by a Thai lady . Dishes to suit western tastes. A real shame because I eat so well in Thailand and lost weight - fabulous food.
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Plenty of excellent Thai food in Malaysia, adapted to be halal. Southern Thailand is actually Muslim, so the cuisine crosses the border
 
davidsrsb said:
Plenty of excellent Thai food in Malaysia, adapted to be halal. Southern Thailand is actually Muslim, so the cuisine crosses the border
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And Malaysia’s own foods are delicious.

I love a good laksa, nasi lemak, or a beef rendang (though the Indonesians will claim rendang to be their dish).
 
Dishes of the same name can vary considerably across Thailand. Further south often means sweeter, deeper into Isaan usually means blow-your-brains-out-spicy.
Nam Tok nua (beef)
Laab (usually chicken or pork) or raw beef...my fave!
Nam Prik Pow ( sweet and spicy chilli in oil curry, particularly nice with prawns )
The colour coded curries of any meat or veg. if need be.
Pad Krapow (usually pork or chicken fried with Thai basil (krapow variant))
Tom Yum goong

These are the better known favourites.

Thai favourites;
Top sep (soup) sour with chicken feet and/or wings
Geang jud (soup) usually tofu, loose meat balls and veg.
Som Tum (salad) shredded papaya based with pretty much anything fishy/seafoody...normally served chuffing spicy.
Pad See Yu non sweet variation on Pad Thai.
Moo Deang served on rice or in soup. A tasty carrier for added herbs and spices to taste.
Kataa and its variations such as Jim Jum.
Etc. etc. the possibilities are almost boundless.
Thai always eat with sides of veggies in copious quantities, these can be raw and dipped in spicy, often potent sauces like Pla Ra or cooked like "morning glory".
 
All of these cuisines must be fairly recent as several key ingredients are not native to Asia. These include chill, tomato, potato, sweetcorn, sweet potato. The same comment must also apply to India
 
I lived there for 6 years and owned a Thai restaurant when I returned to UK. A good UK Thai restaurant is really rare. I found one in Birmingham and one in Hull. I suppose every city has one good one. Two good ones might be asking a bit much. A big problem for us was getting specific herbs in from Asia. They only came in by plane on Thursday and by Sunday they were wilted. So if we wanted to keep it authentic, we had a challenge Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. Many Thai restaurants don't bother with them at all, often substituting, eg Thai basil for European basil. But the difference is too much for me.

My favourites are:
Pad kra pow moo khai daow. Fried, minced pork, with Thai basil and a fried egg on top. It's street food more than restaurant food.

Yam khai dow. Fried egg salad, also mainly street food.

Masaman curry. The guff about masaman is irrelevant. It's a real dish in a lot of restaurants but not all. This is because it takes longer to make. It's also more expensive as it is better with beef or lamb than chicken. Loads of Thais eat it. It is a fusion dish but it has been around since before the tourists arrived, probably a couple of hundred years before. It has a southern Thailand influence where Malay curry understandably creeps over the border. And Malay curry seems influenced by Indian curry. It's a hit with foreigners, I guess because Indian spices are already well appreciated.

Tom kar gai, white curry, but don't think creamy just because of the colour, it's full of lime, galangal (similar to ginger), fish sauce and lemongrass. It's probably the biggest all rounder that everyone likes. Of the curries, it's probably the one with the biggest sensory explosion in the mouth. It's not too spicy normally, but they pretty much throw all the intense flavoured ingredients in the pot for this one

Laab moo. Minced pork salad, rammed with mint, coriander and lime, grilled crushed dried rice to give it a toasty flavour. If they don't serve it with sticky rice then the cha ces are it may not be a good'un!

I could go on, as it is my favourite food by a long way. When I was there, I quickly converted to eating spicy rice dishes for breakfast as well, most foreigners did not! But these are the ones I learnt to make from the chef at my restaurant, so I guess that means this is my top list!
 
If you're in Kerry and fancy some, there's this restaurant.

thai-restaurant-in-a-small-town-in-ireland-v0-q65657ad85hb1.jpg
 
If you're in Guildford Surrey, the Rum Wong was always top notch ( knowledge very old though as I've been out of the UK for eons now ).
In Eastleigh there was another but I can't remember the name, Google reveals several that aren't ringing any bells for me.
Went to many in and around London but none were authentic.

As @richardg mentioned, the correct basil is essential for real flavouring, there are three main variants in Thai cooking, all differ greatly from the european type and are very distinct from each other.
 
richardg said:
I lived there for 6 years and owned a Thai restaurant when I returned to UK. A good UK Thai restaurant is really rare. I found one in Birmingham and one in Hull. I suppose every city has one good one. Two good ones might be asking a bit much. A big problem for us was getting specific herbs in from Asia. They only came in by plane on Thursday and by Sunday they were wilted. So if we wanted to keep it authentic, we had a challenge Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. Many Thai restaurants don't bother with them at all, often substituting, eg Thai basil for European basil. But the difference is too much for me.

My favourites are:
Pad kra pow moo khai daow. Fried, minced pork, with Thai basil and a fried egg on top. It's street food more than restaurant food.

Yam khai dow. Fried egg salad, also mainly street food.

Masaman curry. The guff about masaman is irrelevant. It's a real dish in a lot of restaurants but not all. This is because it takes longer to make. It's also more expensive as it is better with beef or lamb than chicken. Loads of Thais eat it. It is a fusion dish but it has been around since before the tourists arrived, probably a couple of hundred years before. It has a southern Thailand influence where Malay curry understandably creeps over the border. And Malay curry seems influenced by Indian curry. It's a hit with foreigners, I guess because Indian spices are already well appreciated.

Tom kar gai, white curry, but don't think creamy just because of the colour, it's full of lime, galangal (similar to ginger), fish sauce and lemongrass. It's probably the biggest all rounder that everyone likes. Of the curries, it's probably the one with the biggest sensory explosion in the mouth. It's not too spicy normally, but they pretty much throw all the intense flavoured ingredients in the pot for this one

Laab moo. Minced pork salad, rammed with mint, coriander and lime, grilled crushed dried rice to give it a toasty flavour. If they don't serve it with sticky rice then the cha ces are it may not be a good'un!

I could go on, as it is my favourite food by a long way. When I was there, I quickly converted to eating spicy rice dishes for breakfast as well, most foreigners did not! But these are the ones I learnt to make from the chef at my restaurant, so I guess that means this is my top list!
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Thank-you, most interesting
 
richardg said:
I lived there for 6 years and owned a Thai restaurant when I returned to UK. A good UK Thai restaurant is really rare. I found one in Birmingham and one in Hull. I suppose every city has one good one. Two good ones might be asking a bit much. A big problem for us was getting specific herbs in from Asia. They only came in by plane on Thursday and by Sunday they were wilted. So if we wanted to keep it authentic, we had a challenge Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. Many Thai restaurants don't bother with them at all, often substituting, eg Thai basil for European basil. But the difference is too much for me.

My favourites are:
Pad kra pow moo khai daow. Fried, minced pork, with Thai basil and a fried egg on top. It's street food more than restaurant food.

Yam khai dow. Fried egg salad, also mainly street food.

Masaman curry. The guff about masaman is irrelevant. It's a real dish in a lot of restaurants but not all. This is because it takes longer to make. It's also more expensive as it is better with beef or lamb than chicken. Loads of Thais eat it. It is a fusion dish but it has been around since before the tourists arrived, probably a couple of hundred years before. It has a southern Thailand influence where Malay curry understandably creeps over the border. And Malay curry seems influenced by Indian curry. It's a hit with foreigners, I guess because Indian spices are already well appreciated.

Tom kar gai, white curry, but don't think creamy just because of the colour, it's full of lime, galangal (similar to ginger), fish sauce and lemongrass. It's probably the biggest all rounder that everyone likes. Of the curries, it's probably the one with the biggest sensory explosion in the mouth. It's not too spicy normally, but they pretty much throw all the intense flavoured ingredients in the pot for this one

Laab moo. Minced pork salad, rammed with mint, coriander and lime, grilled crushed dried rice to give it a toasty flavour. If they don't serve it with sticky rice then the cha ces are it may not be a good'un!

I could go on, as it is my favourite food by a long way. When I was there, I quickly converted to eating spicy rice dishes for breakfast as well, most foreigners did not! But these are the ones I learnt to make from the chef at my restaurant, so I guess that means this is my top list!
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I remember the one in Hull, it was excellent. Forgotten the name, sadly. The fish stew was fantastic.
 
If the cook of your Thai restaurant comes from the north, not north east, of Thailand then give beef khao soi a try.
It is something like spagetti in a beef soup, excellent in the right place, but nothing special if the cook doesn't come from the region.
 
wacko said:
I think Thai food has a price sweet spot: if you go expensive it is often 'westernised' and not so good as cheaper places.
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I could never quite work out why I preferred the street food to restaurant food. I started there as an English teacher so had no money for restaurants initially. Yet after i moved to market research, my salary tripled but I was always disappointed with many restaurants, hardly ever disappointed with street food.
 
richardg said:
I could never quite work out why I preferred the street food to restaurant food. I started there as an English teacher so had no money for restaurants initially. Yet after i moved to market research, my salary tripled but I was always disappointed with many restaurants, hardly ever disappointed with street food.
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I have visited Thailand about 25 odd times, a few times for leisure, been all over the country, and the street food is way better, same in India, same in Pakistan and Bangladesh, China etc etc
 
richardg said:
I could never quite work out why I preferred the street food to restaurant food. I started there as an English teacher so had no money for restaurants initially. Yet after i moved to market research, my salary tripled but I was always disappointed with many restaurants, hardly ever disappointed with street food.
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Which is slightly disappointing for nothing to do with food quality: I like my wife to dress up
 
wacko said:
Which is slightly disappointing for nothing to do with food quality: I like my wife to dress up
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Listen, your private life is your own, you can ask your wife to dress up anytime you like. You can even share your liking for it on here, if that's your thing.
 
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