Restaurants in Thailand
But be careful, tread softly, as some Thai dishes can be very spicy!
Just reading our Thailand restaurant guide will make you hungry. So, after an exciting Thai shopping spree, there is nothing better than to relax in beautiful surroundings and taste a variety of dishes to your heart's content. You can check out information about what the local dining scene is like in the destinations below:
- Bangkok
- Chiang Mai
- Chiang Rai
- Koh Samui
- Pattaya
- Phuket
- Sukothai
Food & Cuisine in Thailand
Thai food preparation
Due to the predominant Buddhist religion, Thais have not developed meat dishes that use meat in big chunks. Big cuts of meat were shredded and laced with herbs and spices. Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing and baking, or grilling. Chinese influences saw the introduction of frying, stir frying and deep-frying. Culinary influences from the 17th century onwards included Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese. Chillies were introduced to Thai cooking during the late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who had acquired a taste for them while serving in South America.
Thai food influences
Thais were very good at 'Siamese-ising' foreign cooking methods, and substituting ingredients. The ghee used in Indian cooking was replaced by coconut oil, and coconut milk substituted for other daily products. Overpowering pure spices were toned down and enhanced by fresh herbs such as lemon grass and galanga. Eventually, fewer and less spices were used in Thai curries, while the use of fresh herbs increased. It is generally acknowledged that Thai curries burn intensely, but briefly, whereas other curries, with strong spices, burn for longer periods. Instead of serving dishes in courses, a Thai meal is served all at once, permitting dinners to enjoy complementary combinations of different tastes.
Traditional Thai food
A proper Thai meal usually consists of a soup, a curry dish with condiments, a dip with accompanying fish and vegetables. If you are not so much into Thai food, do not worry. You can find Western and other cuisines in every city, but it would be a sin not to try as many dishes as possible. If you have not tried Tom Yam Kung-soup and Phat Thai-Noodles you probably haven't seen Thailand at all.
Thai food is internationally famous. Whether hot and spicy or quite bland, harmony is the guiding principle. Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. The characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it, for whom it is cooked, for what occasion, and where it is cooked to suit all palates. Originally, Thai cooking reflected the characteristics of a waterborne lifestyle. Aquatic animals, plants and herbs were major ingredients. Large chunks of meat were eschewed. Subsequent influences introduced the use of sizeable chunks to Thai cooking.
Eating and ordering Thai Food
Thai food is eaten with a fork and spoon. Even single dish meals such as fried rice with pork, or steamed rice topped with roasted duck, are served in bite-sized slices or chunks obviating the need for a knife.
Ideally, eating Thai food is a communal affair involving two or more people, principally because the greater the number of diners the greater the number of dishes ordered. Generally speaking, two diners order three dishes in addition to their own individual plates of steamed rice, three diners four dishes, and so on. Diners choose whatever they require from shared dishes and generally add it to their own rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with rice. Spicy dishes are \'balanced\' with bland dishes to avoid discomfort.
The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate. A typical meal might include a clear soup (perhaps bitter melons stuffed with minced pork), a steamed dish (mussels in curry sauce), a fried dish (fish with ginger), a hot salad (beef slices on a bed of lettuce, onions, chillies, mint and lemon juice) and a variety of sauces into which food is dipped. This would be followed by sweet desserts and/or fresh fruits such as mangoes, durian, jackfruit, papaya, grapes or melon.
