Getting authentic Thai taste at restaurants

topic posted Fri, February 29, 2008 - 12:19 AM by  cee
Hey all,
If you like Thai food the way Thais eat it (and not they way they serve it to you at tourist places), check out our guide.
It has sections on ordering food thai-taste, helpful translations for vegetarians and a section for people with food allergies too.
There's also notes on how to find authentic food, how to eat thai style and more.

Please let me know what you think, and if the guide has helped you!

www.realthairecipes.com/articl...-guide/

Enjoy.
posted by:
cee
offline cee
Thailand
  • Re: Getting authentic Thai taste at restaurants

    Fri, February 29, 2008 - 1:27 AM
    that's awesome cee... is the whole site yours? and i had no idea that gin jeh meant chinese vegetarian so garlic and shallots are left out. really handy stuff.

    i especially love the photos on the site of the ingredients. it makes things so much easier.
    • Re: Getting authentic Thai taste at restaurants

      Fri, February 29, 2008 - 6:10 AM
      Hi Leslie,
      The site is a collaboration with myself and my girlfriend. We work on it on the weekends when we have time :)

      Eating jae is really boring, the flavor is so bland. Instead "mangsawirat" is the better word to use. It's a lot
      closer to vegetarian in the way we know. Unfortunately, most Thais have no idea what mangsawirat means.
      Hopefully the cheat sheet will help.

      Glad you enjoy the site.
      • Re: Getting authentic Thai taste at restaurants

        Fri, February 29, 2008 - 12:24 PM
        again, great job. i forgot to add my suggestion yesterday, which is to include transliteration of the thai name for the dish when listing your recipes... like green curry with chicken = keng kio wan gai -- it's there once i click through, and i like that you also add the thai spelling which is especially good for those of us who read it, but as i looked to see if you had a recipe for khao soy, i realized i'd have to look through any coconut noodle recipes to see if they were it.

        it's like here in the states, there are thai restaurants that just list english descriptions, rather than the thai name. but if you only know the thai name, you might not know recognize the english description.

        and i have never heard the word mangsawirat -- my veggie friends usually just say they gin pak taonan, or gin neua set mai pben, but isn't there another word for vegetarian? personally, i gave up vegetarianism before i moved to thailand for a while, just to make life that much easier ;^)
        • Leslie,
          I totally agree with your suggestion. Someday (hopefully soon) I'm going to redo that recipe listing page. I want to add both transliteration and thai script as well as pictures. I haven't figured out how to arrange it visually yet, but it's on the to-do list.

          I don't have a recipe for khao soy yet, although Jett can make it. We should put that up, it's yummy. Do you have any suggestions for dishes we need to add?

          Most vendors in Bangkok know 'jae', and about 50% know 'mangsawirat'. I don't know of any other words for vegetarian other than those. I usually just order the dish and tell them what to do. ie: "aw pad see ew, mai aw neua sat, mai sai naam plaa, sai khai" (i want pad see ew, no meat, don't add fish sauce, add egg). That way there is no confusion. But you have to know how things are made to order like this. :)
          • Re: Getting authentic Thai taste at restaurants

            Wed, March 5, 2008 - 12:00 AM
            excellent. and i don't really cook, so my suggestions are the things i like to make are what i like to eat, which is pretty simple stuff. pad kapow gai or muu, khao soy, tod mun pla, khao pat, different types of noodle soups, and though i think it's much more complicated than i can deal with, sai ooa or other northern sausages. and fruit shakes.

            i must say i'm glad i'm not vegetarian when i'm in thailand, there are so many delightful fishy meaty things ;^) though i got sort of hooked on that veggie place in the soi near khao san last time i was in bkk. i'll definitely go back there. and that was so much easier for my veggie friend.
            • Leslie,
              Gapraw is up already (I think it's called pork with basil or something). You're right about noodle soup being complicated, although we do really want to learn how to make it and eventually add it.

              Tod mun is pretty easy so maybe we can add that next along with Jett's khao soi. And khao pat too.

              Thanks!

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