petercouz

On 4/4/2024 at 12:54 AM, proton said:

Authentic street food has to be cooked in months old palm oil with heaps of sugar, salt and MSG. There should be roaches running about and the odd rat. Used plates need to be stacked up for hours in stinking water, directly in the sun is best. 😄

Well if that is your experience that's a shame - i have eaten some really great street food over a couple of decades and never ever had a stomach upset -you get to know where the good places are - and i dont think any self respecting Thai citizen would be visiting any street stall if the food resembled what you describe.

On 4/4/2024 at 1:19 AM, Martin71 said:

 

Genuine book saw it in a bookshop in Swampy... damn near messed my britches...

Actually i am in the book business, i sell books from the UK , Australia and US to Asia Books and Kinokuniya - this particular book has been very popular - it is a name that certainly turns your head and makes you chuckle, but I believe it is supposed be genuinely good! Your imahe shows this to be the third edition - thats good going.

On 4/3/2024 at 4:56 PM, Korat Kiwi said:

When I was living in Chiang Mai (Mae Rim to be precise) there was a local guy who use to work in 5 star restaurants.  However his heart wasn't into that scene. 

 

Lucky for the residents of Mae Rim in that he set up a street stall right next to a 7-11.  Every evening from about 6 to midnight unless he ran out of food. 

 

Very good fast and healthy food.  He was a wonder to watch in action.  Many a night I'd sit there waiting for my order with a cold beer from 7-11.  Even during torrential downpours he'd be busy at it. 

 

Him and his wife were lovely people, always smiling. Would love to go back and see if they're still operating. 

Now that sounds nice!

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

You're serious ... street food vs in home/building cooking lessons.   Ever heard of YouTube, or a cookbook.  Food from the street or night market, no different than in home cooking, unless you plan on buying a mobile cart/cooking station.

 

Since 'street food' seems to be a generic name to all food cooked in TH now, I'm not seeing what the difference is, since no longer needs to be serve, outside a building/on the street via mobile vendor.   They call one chickie's ฿1000 crab omelet 'street food'.   Most Thais don't pay 3 days salary for 1 omelet, no matter how many stars you get the dump.

 

Kudos to the guy who can get ฿25k from ding dong tourist  ...  that's awesome.

A lot of what you say is probably right, but there are definitely Street Food style techniques to learn and tips and tricks that just aren't the same as normal restaurant cooking, which my wife is already proficient in - yes she does look at YT a lot, but being at the coal face is very different - we will see how it goes and i will report back if it is a waste of time or not!

4 hours ago, Andre0720 said:

My girlfriend and daughter went from Phuket to Bangkok some years ago, to take a course on Thai cuisine cooking. I gave them $1,000 dollars for the trip and the fees for the so-called chef.

When they came back, they simply said that it was all the same as in Phuket, food mixed with refined sugar, MSG, frying in bad cheap oils.

 

They said they lost the time and money in the ordeal. Nothing to learn there.

 

And since then, I have completely stopped eating Thai food, as I now have the opinion that it contains ingredients considered as poison now in the nutrition domain. Particularly the refined sugar, and the toxicity of high heat on bad oils.

As the only good oils are now considered to be Extra Virgin Olive oil and avocado oil I add Sesame oil to my cooking for the flavor.

 

Just about nobody knows anything about cooking in Thailand. The culture is about putting food in a frying pan, adding some refined sugar, sometimes MSG is added, then they add a sauce form a bottle bought at the Super Cheap mini mart, that contains typically another 20% of added refined sugar, stir it, and serve. Particularly the ubiquitous Soy Bean Sauce

Just a joke. Worst food on the planet.

If you want to take cooking lessons, go to France.

And just check below a picture of the quantity of refined sugar that is sold at only ONE mini-mart, in the course of about 10 days.

And Thai people wonder about how come they got diabetes.

If we wanted to learn French cooking, France would be appropriate........

3 hours ago, Yagoda said:

My kid did Cooking with Poo down in the Khlong Toey market and loved the entire experience. It was cheap too. Shes not a tourist either, she has a ton of Asia time

Sounds interesting - do you have aa contact for Poo - so to speak? I have seen her book in the markets and her YT vids are pretty good

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Simply attend a 'Thai cooking class' to learn some technique, and how sweet, sour & spicy is applied to you cooking.  What will offset (if an oops) or compliment each other when added to a dish.

 

I watch a lot of YouTube, not for the recipes, although will pinch them, but for the technique and cooking knowledge that their years of experience has taught them in practice.

 

Understanding what makes up flavor/taste, and how your ingredients will contribute to the final dish:

 

What to season, when to season, how to season, if to season.

Sure - my wife already has that experience, she understands the balance of Thai tastes and ingredients well, it is the Street style techniques she is after, which can be quite different

3 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Fly to Bangkok.

Wander into any street market during off-peak times.

Approach random seller.

Order two dishes of xxx at 40 baht each.

Offer additional 500 baht if they show you how to make it yourself.

Indeed! Yes, that is exactly what we may do - not s tupid idea at all! Thanks!

Cheers! Yes know about the many cooking schools - we dont have the time for that and my wife already has very good general experience - its more the technique of street food cooking - it is very suited to 'Thai takeaway'

My wife and I are visiting Thailand in June and we are hoping to find someone who can offer Street Food cooking lessons - preferably in Bangkok.

We found one guy on You Tube and his price is 25,000 Baht for three hours - 8,000 Baht an hour is pretty excessive I think!

I like the idea of not only lessons but perhaps some real street food experience in  night market - if anyone has any contacts please let me know

Cheers

Peter

Agreed Jeffkp - same with any type of cabbage - huge amounts of pesticides used on these i believe - 'no chemi' is a very positive watchword among Thai now, especially with concerned parents of young kids - a lot of Thai people now are very aware and wary of buying these vegetables now - our homegrown is organic and boosted with the use of our own chicken manure - you could grown baby Kana is pots and window boxes, quite easily if you dont have a garden

We grow Phak Kana in our garden, but now start to pick it very early when just a baby plant - you only then need to cook it in boiling water very briefly and you have a very delicious and sweet vegetable that is great to eat without any adornment - put a plate of it on the table and just eat it with your normal Thai dinner as an accompaniment - delicious

Indescribable

I am surprised to see you all get so wound up about a situation we know is never likely to change in the next few generations - its why we love and are so frustrated by the place in equal measures (I did not say hate on purpose). We all know it is mind boggling the way the country is run, but that is Thailand and it wont change - the people wont change - the people dont care, and they pay for it with their lives - its up to them, not us!

ONEDAY - Re Military Beach - I thought they would not allow foreigners in to these areas? I once tried driving in to the area from Sattahip side and they would not allow me in despite my Thai Driving License and thai family - is this not the case with Military Beach?

On the positive side is that as Bang Saen Beach is one of the worlds filthiest beaches anyway, so any reason for the lazy Saen Suk authorities to clean it up would be very welcome!

It beats me why anyone finds sitting by this beach, let alone swimming in it (except at low tide when the high water rubbish mark is way up the beach and out of harms way), beats me, but he visitors walk through the trash hand in hand, have their photos taken amongst it as if it is invisible - so perhaps the oil slick wont be noticed by the majority..... I love thailand for many things but the rubbish issue really does get me down a lot.

Can one travel to the South of Myanmar where all the islands are? The coastline there must be incredible - I would love to explore down there - anyone know?

Best beaches in Thailand..KOH SAMUI...that was until the Russians arrived

That is the second negative reference to Russians in this thread. We come here ourselves to live in one of the worlds biggest tourist destinations,so not sure we really have a right to be sniping at the real tourists!

I will not list my favorites because most are hidden gems lol. But will say that my top 4 are all on Koh Lak, Koh Kood and Koh Mak. Koh Mak has probably my favorite beaches in Thailand simply for the fact that tourism has not taken over the Island yet like it has on many others. It it still one of my favorites to sit on the beach with a cold beer and my feet in the water.

Yes best to keep these places to ourselves seeing as there seems to be so few -a sad conclusion to this question.....

Bang Saen is totally mindblowing, it´s a real Thai-beach, with good food, umbrellas cover-up the ugly beach, that´s good, don´t go in the water, it´s polluted, but it´s so Thai, I really like this place, no farang, no russians, but plenty of thai´s going crazy with all their cars, and showing off, try it ...

I live near Bang Saen - polluted is a kind description - like many Thai beaches, and in fact a lot of Thailand itself - they are simply horrific disaster areas - but mid week it is much quieter, a lot of the unsightly umbrellas are gone and the beach has a great atmosphere - nice breezes and blissfully quiet, compared to the riotous weekends!

I have to say that recently they are trying to clean up the beach front, but the sheer numbers that descend on this beach each weeks (especially on Thai bank holidays) means it is a tough battle to win -but for all that Bang Saen is great fun and a genuine Thai experience - loads of great bars along the southern beach front - very few foreigners - top seafood - but in the end the piles of rubbish just get you down - it is the main thing that really spoils this fabulous country for me - the mountains of plastic garbage everywhere......

As someone who has lived in Australia for many years - though i am British - there is not a single beach in Thailand, that i have been to, that holds a candle to an average beach in Aussie - please please tall me where the really good ones are?

White Sands on Koh Chang - Koh Chang southern side in general is really nice - is really nice, but even this far south the beaches still suffers from Thailand's plastic holocaust.

Crikey, must not forget Cheap Charlie's - too trendy these days but still a must every now and again - Le Petit Bistrot, previously mentioned, is nearby as is a number of great little resto's which you can sit outside of - ideal for me - one of the best soi's for eating and drinking in all of Bangkok.

The Sports Corner gets my vote, hands down - Tim, the owner, is a good guy but he never remembers who you are - he is permanently soused! The girls are great and not pushy.

I like to sit outside in bars - its hot in Thailand right...... i hate sitting in aircon for very long so pubs like the Black Swan are really good for half an hour or so, but dont get my vote because it I just dont like sitting inside freezing bars and restaurants - I might as well be back in the West if i am going to go those places.

The Penalty Spot, Huntsman, Londoner are all awful soul-less places - Ray's Bar used to be best when it was on Suk itself, but he left years ago for soi 22 and now gone forever i think (anyone know where he went? lovely guy).

So Sports Corner it is. Well done Tim, keep it going.

There is an historical difference between why the US, Europe etc treat Thai's differently, and that is due to the poverty gap, which means Thai's who were given tourist visas as easily as we foreigners receive them in Thailand would simply never leave the country everyone knows that.

That may well change as Thailand gets richer and the gap closes - it was not so long ago that Brits had to have visas to enter the US and Australia for the very same reason. Thailand has offered an easy tourist entry system for a long time owing to its need to for foreign tourists currency - it is an enormous business for them - that is the only reason they do it, not because they want to be nice to foreigners - so let's please not get all fuzzy about how good the the Thailand Government is for letting us in so easily - it is purely good business sense to do so.

When it comes to Thailand offering long stay visas they are generously available I think, compared to Thai's trying to get the same in 'Western' countries - but again, there is sound business sense behind these long term visas - foreign currency once again - they get loads of cash from us for offering this service, and as we can afford it we benefit - thank you Thailand - but there the benefits to us 'one year residents' end - even if we are married to a Thai and have Thai born Children we are treated pretty appallingly compared to Thai's who (once allowed to reside in our countries) receive the same humanitarian rights as local citizens, which is far far from what we receive here - effectively we have no rights at all compared to 'accepted' long term Thai's in our countries - it is nothing short of scandalous, inhumane and totally unnecessary. What Thailand gains from treating us this was is a mystery to me, but there seems to be no end to it.