Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [64]
Whether at home or in a restaurant, Thai meals are always served ‘family-style’, that is from common serving platters, and the plates appear in whatever order the kitchen can prepare them. Another important factor in a Thai meal is achieving a balance of flavours and textures. Traditionally, the party orders a curry, a steamed or fried fish, a stir-fried vegetable dish and a soup, taking great care to balance cool and hot, sour and sweet, salty and plain.
When eating Thai family-style, all the dishes are arranged on the table and everyone digs in rather than passing the plates to each diner. Reaching over someone to a plate is customary. If you can’t reach the platter at all, it’s best to hand your plate to someone near the serving platter, who can then place some food on your plate. Most Thais will do this automatically if they notice you’re out of platter range. When serving yourself from a common platter, put no more than one spoonful onto your plate at a time. Heaping your plate with all ‘your’ portions at once will look greedy to Thais unfamiliar with Western conventions.
* * *
For the best of Lonely Planet’s culinary wisdom, seek out World Food Thailand by Joe Cummings.
* * *
* * *
BEYOND THE STREET STALL
Read any food magazine article about eating in Thailand, and you will inevitably find gushing references to the glories of the country’s street food. While much of the food sold from mobile carts and streetside stalls is indeed very tasty, it certainly isn’t the case that only street food is good. In fact, in our research, we’ve found that the best places to eat are anything but mobile, but rather are the long-standing, family-owned restaurants typically found in aged Sino-Portuguese shophouses. The cooks at such places have likely been serving the same dish, or limited repertoire of dishes, for several decades, and really know what they’re doing. The food may cost slightly more than on the street, but the setting is usually more comfortable and hygienic, not to mention the fact that you’re eating a piece of history. While such restaurants rarely have English-language menus, you can usually point to a picture or dish. If that fails, turn to Click here and practise your Thai.
So do indulge in a street cart or two, they’re a fun part of the Thailand experience, but be sure to try a few old-school restaurants as well.
* * *
Originally Thai food was eaten with the fingers, and it still is in certain regions of the kingdom. In the early 1900s, Thais began setting their tables with fork and spoon to affect a ‘royal’ setting, and it wasn’t long before fork-and-spoon dining became the norm in Bangkok and later spread throughout the kingdom. To use these tools the Thai way, use a serving spoon, or alternatively your own, to take a single mouthful of food from a central dish, and ladle it over a portion of your rice. The fork is then used to push the now food-soaked portion of rice back onto the spoon before entering the mouth.
* * *
THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
If you’re not offered chopsticks, don’t ask for them. Thai food is eaten with fork and spoon, not chopsticks. When fa·ràng (Westerners) ask for chopsticks to eat Thai food, it only puzzles the restaurant proprietors.
Chopsticks are reserved for eating Chinese-style food from bowls, or for eating in all-Chinese restaurants. In either case you will be supplied with chopsticks without having to ask. Unlike their counterparts in many Western countries, restaurateurs in Thailand won’t assume you don’t know how to use them.
* * *
Return to beginning of chapter
EAT YOUR WORDS
While some restaurants in Thailand may have English-language menus, most will not. So you’ll need to have some stock phrases on hand to tell pàt tai from kôw pàt. For pronunciation guidelines, Click here.
Return to beginning of chapter