Thai food is
incredible. Street vendors are everywhere in Bangkok. Depending where you
are in this city, you can eat at most
any hour of the day or night. Most of these food vendors setup shop on a
street sidewalk - they have a small glass container for displaying the
food, maybe a few plastic chairs/tables and they will have a small stall
for cooking the actual food - which is done by using a stove hooked into a
propane tank. Food from the street vendors can often be classified
into two categories - soup and rice. There are a variety of soups of
course - and then the rice is served with a variety of vegetables and
meats.
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Dave eats food directly from the street vendors, in the markets, and in the restaurants. A good vacation is one in which he doesn't get sick.
Every trip to Thailand has been a good vacation!
Some of the dishes he ate included a lot of seafood - fried
octopus on a stick (a very common offering from the street vendors), squid, and fish cooked over coals in tin foil. Also, the street vendors
sell a variety of
chicken, beef and pork dishes.
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Many
of the restaurants serve a variety of Thai food. Som Tum, a slightly
spicy vegetable dish containing sliced up green papayas, tomatoes, and
other assorted vegetables, is a favorite of the Thai people. The
cheapest most filling dishes tend to be the vegetables or vegetables
combined with a type of meat set upon a bed of rice. I also found the
soups to be quite tasty. The coconut soup which includes a
variety of grasses, herbs, spices, and meats is a wonderful
concoction! There are two main restaurants, one that serves rice
dishes (Khao - when you say this word you must use a falling tone,
otherwise no one will know what you are talking about) and one that
serves noodle dishes (Kuay Tiew) - pronounce the "k" like
"g" as in Garlic.
Curries tend to be quite spicy - at one point I lost feeling in my
tongue after eating a particularly spicy dish! Fortunately feeling
returned just in time for dessert. Dave's Recommendation: If you want
to eat spicy Thai food with a minimum amount of pain - before your
travels begin a spicy food regimen 2 to 3 weeks in advance, in which
every day you eat mild spices - things like Tabasco sauce and mild
peppers. This will do wonders for your ability to eat some of the Thai
spicy food when you are in Thailand. If you eat something spicy, its
best to continue eating instead of reaching for the water glass; eat
something not spicy such as regular rice. This will help to slowly diminish
the pain instead of trying to use water which after swallowing seems
to make the pain worse.
Eating
spicy foods is a taste that can be somewhat acquired. I have found
that after several weeks of eating spicy foods my taste buds have
changed to the point where I could eat most spicy foods without there
being a huge burning sensation in the mouth or clogging of the
sinuses.
| Forks and knives are mostly provided when eating Thai food -
chopsticks will sometimes be provided or you may have to ask for them. To
eat Thai style for soups you use both the chopsticks and the spoon to
eat. When eating regular food you scoop a small portion of one dish
onto your bed of rice and then eat it. When finished you scoop another
portion of the dish onto the rice, finish it and go to the next
coarse. Thais in general do not mix their food in the rice - they take
only a small bit of one dish at a time. |
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The wonderful fruit shakes turned out to be an addiction of mine.
Often I would order up to 6 different shakes at the same time such as
coconut, watermelon, banana, mango, papaya, & pineapple. The waiter would bring these drinks
all at once and then start handing them out to other people seated at
my table. There would be a moment of strained silence, and then
without saying anything I would collect all the drinks and move them
in front of my place setting. The waiter would stumble out his
apologies, look baffled, and then walk away, no questions asked.
The following are several dishes which are favorites of the author.
"Joke" (pronounced like it sounds) is a favorite breakfast
dish of mine. This dish actually originated in China and has spread to
several nearby countries including Thailand and Vietnam. Its even
called Joke in Chinese. This dish consists a raw egg which is mixed in and
cooked in hot
porridge. In addition several spices and shredded ginger is mixed into
the porridge. You can find this in the morning at many of the
restaurants or outdoor food vendors.
Kob kratium (pronounce the "k" like you wood "g"
in garlic). This is a favorite dish of mine. Its best to cook this
dish with frog legs but other meat such as chicken or pork may be substituted.
You first prepare with a mortle and pestle, garlic, red peppers &
salt. Then you fry this mixture in deep oil, and you cook the meat the
same way. You serve the meat with the fried garlic & pepper.
Lod chong is a wonderful sweet desert type drink made from syrup
of coconut milk and palm sugar with ice, a little salt & green leaf
flavoring. You can commonly find this from street vendors.
Pakached is a simple dish where the main ingredient is a plant that
grows in water. This plant grows a white foam like material that
surrounds its main stems thus allowing it to float in water. Only the
young tender shoots are harvested for cooking - the rest of the plant
is too tough. A mix of sugar, garlic, pepper, soy beans & oyster
sauce is used to
cook this dish. Its quite tasty and not too spicy.
Sen Mee with chicken or other types of meat is very good and is highly
recommended. This is a type of noodle cooked in a soup. The soup comes already cooked
and then you add Basil
leaves, sprouts and an assortment of table top spices including
pepper, fish sauce, sugar among others. Sen Mee is the smallest type
of the Thai noodle. Sen Lek is slighly larger followed by Sen Yai as the
largest of the generic Thai noodles.
Som Yum is spicy papaya salad - usually green papaya is shredded but
other greens can be used. There is "raw" fish, many hot red
peppers, tomatoes and other spicy seasonings. This is not a dish to be
ordered by someone who does *not* like spicy food. Prepared correctly,
this dish will in fact make your mouth water!
Tom Yum Gai - is a spicy very delicious chicken soup. Many Thai herbs,
leaves and other flavorings are in this soup including but not all -
Galanga root, a citrus related leaf, lemon grass & lime juice. Tom Yum
Tale is similar
to the Tom Yum Gai except seafood is substituted instead of chicken. Unlike
typical Tom Yum's found in most Thai restaurants outside of Thailand - a
fresh properly prepared Tom Yum will have Galanga and Lemon grass tender
enough to eat.
Tom Kha Gai is a similar dish but is cooked in a base of coconut milk
instead of water. The soup may be
served in a round metal bowl in which there is a candle underneath the
main bowl to keep the soup warm at your table. No lemon juice is
used in Tom Kha Gai.
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Thai drinks are very good and are usually served in a plastic bag with
a straw. In fact, straws are served any time you sit down to drink. It
is considered offensive not to use a straw. Dave's favorite Thai drink
is the Thai ice coffee in a plastic bag.
Nam priks are basically seasonings that are used in Thai food. Several
basic "priks" are usually just found sitting on tables of
restaurants, and you add them to your meal once it is served. |
I never have any problems with getting sick from the ice in any of the
restaurants I eat at - and I eat at some very cheap restaurants (they
were always clean however). Apparently the ice was always made with
purified water before it was placed into the drinks. |
