The Trials & Tribulations Of Running A Restaurant

[farangconnection]

I suppose it had to happen. A thread on Thais ordering Falang food. We've had it all, but I'm not dwelling in the past. These two episodes happened today and yesterday.

1) I got called downstairs to see to a customer ( who was a friend of mine anyway) He explained to me exactly what he wanted. Two eggs, over easy, on fried potatoes. It turned out it was something one of the girls fancied that was with him and his friend. I said explain to the waitress in Thai, and there will be no mistake. I went back and found her eating a tuna mayo sandwich. Apparently she had asked in Thai and that was what she ordered. I asked what had happened to the two eggs, and she just laughed and indicated she got what she wanted.

2) A Thai girl ordered Spaghetti Bolognese, with a side order of mashed potatoes. She didn't realise you got pasta with spaghetti.

[roietjimmy]

I suppose it had to happen. A thread on Thais ordering Falang food. We've had it all, but I'm not dwelling in the past. These two episodes happened today and yesterday.

1) I got called downstairs to see to a customer ( who was a friend of mine anyway) He explained to me exactly what he wanted. Two eggs, over easy, on fried potatoes. It turned out it was something one of the girls fancied that was with him and his friend. I said explain to the waitress in Thai, and there will be no mistake. I went back and found her eating a tuna mayo sandwich. Apparently she had asked in Thai and that was what she ordered. I asked what had happened to the two eggs, and she just laughed and indicated she got what she wanted.

2) A Thai girl ordered Spaghetti Bolognese, with a side order of mashed potatoes. She didn't realise you got pasta with spaghetti.

My guess is the young lady was trying to show off her farangness by wanting the same as your friend ordered. Upon discovering via your waitress, over easy eggs had runny yolks, her immediate response was to order the tuna sandwich. When it comes to eggs and steaks, overcooked is the order of the day with most Thais.

[sbk]

My husband is the odd Thai person then. He likes his steak medium rare and his eggs runny

He also likes sausages, baked beans and lots of other farang foods too. And knows what he is ordering

But, that said, too often I have seen farang come in with a Thai friend, order something, the Thai person order the same thing and then not touch it. I'd rather they didn't order anything at all then see all that food go to waste.

[PeaceBlondie]

I like my eggs so runny that they're barely warm. It's hard enough to order them in Mexico when I'm fluent in Spanish, but I have given up here. A hard cooked egg tastes entirely different than a runny egg. I hate hard boiled eggs. When we were kids, we'd crack warm eggs onto freshly toasted bread and it was delicious.

Added: writing this tempts me to run downstairs to the kitchen, but my sister in law is down there and would vote me out of the family for eating raw eggs. Oh well, she just brought me freshly squeezed orange juice and corn on the cob.

[OneeyedJohn]

"Customer is always right" was a policy never employed at our restaurant years ago

[farangconnection]

"Customer is always right" was a policy never employed at our restaurant years ago

You remember?

[Pink Mist]

"Customer is always right" was a policy never employed at our restaurant years ago

You remember?

shadies policy is ????????????????? free beer for visiting celebrities

[roietjimmy]

My husband is the odd Thai person then. He likes his steak medium rare and his eggs runny

He also likes sausages, baked beans and lots of other farang foods too. And knows what he is ordering

But, that said, too often I have seen farang come in with a Thai friend, order something, the Thai person order the same thing and then not touch it. I'd rather they didn't order anything at all then see all that food go to waste.

Drats, bad boy, bad boy. Hit me with a newspaper. I'll eventually learn not to generalize. My apologies.

As with farangs, Thais...strike that... As with many farangs, many Thais are reluctant to try foods they are unaccustomed to. My wife, after much persuasion from me to "at least try a little bleu cheese", is now a confirmed addict. Persuading her to try bleu cheese is the most costly blunder I have made since my 2001 purchase of the time share condo in Bagdad.

[sbk]

Oh, no roiet jimmy, I agree with you. Merely pointing out that my husband is the odd Thai. He will eat anything --and loves most of what he tries

But I agree, sounds like she wanted her friend to think she was willing to eat what he wanted, instead of just ordering what she wanted in the first place.

[junkofdavid2]

I dunno how to say "over-easy" in Thai, but to get fried eggs (sunny-side up) but still wet on the inside, ask for your eggs to be "mai soop".

I dunno what that exactly translates to but that's what the food ladies taught me to say and it works. "kai, mai soop na krap!"

[Nignoy]

Some of your experinces with thais and farang food are quite funny, After returning to UK from thailand in 1966, I persuaded my parents to pay for and sponsor 2 young muythai boxers from yasothon province to come over to lancashire for 6 months to show their skills in the local boys clubs and schools,Originally they were to stay with my grandparents and I in down town Warrington big mistake , Gran had cooked them a welcome meal of Thick seam tripe , trotters, and ears with onion gravy, one mouthful of tripe and they both locked themselves in their rooms, they were confused that they had to stay with a white witch who did not speak english, and whoboiled up buffalo,and pigs till they were as white as a farang, before she would eat it,I guess Grans Cuisine and her Eeh lads tha,s a finnecky pair o buggers, would be a culture shock to anyone Nignoy

[lampard10]

Some of your experinces with thais and farang food are quite funny, After returning to UK from thailand in 1966, I persuaded my parents to pay for and sponsor 2 young muythai boxers from yasothon province to come over to lancashire for 6 months to show their skills in the local boys clubs and schools,Originally they were to stay with my grandparents and I in down town Warrington big mistake , Gran had cooked them a welcome meal of Thick seam tripe , trotters, and ears with onion gravy, one mouthful of tripe and they both locked themselves in their rooms, they were confused that they had to stay with a white witch who did not speak english, and whoboiled up buffalo,and pigs till they were as white as a farang, before she would eat it,I guess Grans Cuisine and her Eeh lads tha,s a finnecky pair o buggers, would be a culture shock to anyone Nignoy

Jeez........you served that up to me, and I'd lock myself in my room. Although saying that, being Lancashire, I'd probably have done that anyway.

[farangconnection]

I think the most common one, which has happened dozens of times, is, a Falang orders his meal. Before the waitress/waiter can deliver the order, she/he is told by his Thai better half, " Don't give him that. He really wants this"

When the food is bought to the table, the Falang of course says, " I didn't order that"

The Thai spouse/GF then denies she had anything to do with the order, so the right food is then offered. Lucky, in most cases, the Falang accepts what is put in front of him. We have had a couple that refused though.

Another one last night.

Falang says his food is taking a long time.

" But you havn't ordered"

" No, my wife ordered for me"

Talks to the wife.

" No, my husband ordered. I heard him"

" No he didn't"

" Yes he did. I heard him. He ordered a Panang curry"

" But we don't do Panang curry"

End of story.

He settled for a cheese burger, which he really wanted in thwe first place.

[funfun]

I think the most common one, which has happened dozens of times, is, a Falang orders his meal. Before the waitress/waiter can deliver the order, she/he is told by his Thai better half, " Don't give him that. He really wants this"

When the food is bought to the table, the Falang of course says, " I didn't order that"

The Thai spouse/GF then denies she had anything to do with the order, so the right food is then offered. Lucky, in most cases, the Falang accepts what is put in front of him. We have had a couple that refused though.

Another one last night.

Falang says his food is taking a long time.

" But you havn't ordered"

" No, my wife ordered for me"

Talks to the wife.

" No, my husband ordered. I heard him"

" No he didn't"

" Yes he did. I heard him. He ordered a Panang curry"

" But we don't do Panang curry"

End of story.

He settled for a cheese burger, which he really wanted in thwe first place.

well that one should have been picked up by your staff really,

ie "sir you not order food?"

or repeating the order back to both concerned!

not having a go at you, but could be avoided!

after seeing many tops off beer bottles removed with the stupid attempt to replace when it hasnt been ordered really annoys me, most reason is comunication problems, sometimes staff, and somtimes customers!

either way its normally followed by a falang saying "i told her char, and she brought me chang, she must be deaf"

the thai person just gets on with it, while, the falang moans about how they can never get things right!

now, a bottle unopened gets stuck under thier nose until its confirmed, before opening, maybe not right but works!

[realthaideal]

"I dunno how to say "over-easy" in Thai, but to get fried eggs (sunny-side up) but still wet on the inside, ask for your eggs to be "mai soop".

Hi Junkof. Your Thai is almost right on there, fortunately the end of a word isn't always enunciated clearly, and if you get the tone, they can usually tell what you're saying.

What you're trying to say when ordering your 'khai dao' -star eggs - is 'Mai suk/sook.' Suk being the word for cooked (and ripe as well). Luckily they get it by context, or from experience, but I dare say a new person cooking for you might make the mistake that you want the yolks hard, as you have asked them not to have 'soup' - a word they have adopted from English.

And very polite to say ne krap at the end. Wish all Falang spoke this nicely when going about their business.

I like mine runny too, or over easy and then turn the flame off right after the flip. That's it. Only latent pan heat of the yolks. Mmmmm!

[farangconnection]

Of course the English do it the easy way. We just flick the hot fat over the yolk. No broken eggs, and a loverly coating of cooked white.

[Furbie]

"I dunno how to say "over-easy" in Thai, but to get fried eggs (sunny-side up) but still wet on the inside, ask for your eggs to be "mai soop".

Hi Junkof. Your Thai is almost right on there, fortunately the end of a word isn't always enunciated clearly, and if you get the tone, they can usually tell what you're saying.

What you're trying to say when ordering your 'khai dao' -star eggs - is 'Mai suk/sook.' Suk being the word for cooked (and ripe as well). Luckily they get it by context, or from experience, but I dare say a new person cooking for you might make the mistake that you want the yolks hard, as you have asked them not to have 'soup' - a word they have adopted from English.

And very polite to say ne krap at the end. Wish all Falang spoke this nicely when going about their business.

I like mine runny too, or over easy and then turn the flame off right after the flip. That's it. Only latent pan heat of the yolks. Mmmmm!

This is making me laugh. "Kai dow mai suk" was the second first full sentence I learned in Thai. ??? - If the fried eggs are always overcooked, why the heck are the scrambled eggs always too runny?

[cathyy]

How do you convey, in Thai, the concept that the egg white of an over-easy egg must be fully cooked, not just a cooked top and bottom layer with a runny middle? The over-easy part refers to the doneness of the yolks, not the whites. Over easy is runny yolks, over medium is syrupy yolks, and over hard is cooked yolks. All of them mean fully cooked egg whites.

How do you convey, in Thai, the concept that scrambled eggs should have one uniform color throughout? and that you want them fully cooked, not mushy with uncooked areas?

What is most depressing about this is that the farang owners of eating establishments were unable to convey these messages to the Thai cooks, apparently.

[Cuban]

What is most depressing about this is that the farang owners of eating establishments were unable to convey these messages to the Thai cooks, apparently.

What is even more depressing is the lack of foresight amoung hands-on farang owners not to learning from the first experiance of a farang customer encountering such problems with food orders. Where there is room for "misunderstanding" with something like eggs or a steak for example, a few close detail pictures with a digital camera of a runny vs a well cooked egg or a steak cut open with a pink or brown middle with a simple Thai phrase written next to the picture that can be passed on to the cook/chief would remove the problem of the paying farang customer getting the wrong order. Yes many customers will simply ignore the error and put it down to The Thai Way to ignore anything that the customer says then make up excuses as to why the following complaint is due to the farang, the weather or the phase of the moon.

If I were running such an outlet it would make so much business sense to gather small advantages to make the business more profitable, an extra page in the menu of these simple pictures along with phrases like: No spices at all. No Garlic. No added Salt to my food, No added sugar, No dried prawns please, etc etc etc.

But it's unlikely to happen - too much effort. Hlel, I've only seen it happen in one place in Thailand, a Scandi managed place down in Hua Hin, and that was full every night with farangs from every nation spending their money because the menu was broken down into about eight languages with such an added page of extras as described above.