Thai Food In The West

[TheDon]

Is Thai food booming all over the west.

In Australia Thai food is coming up everywhere, there is so many places to eat Thai food, especially in Sydney. The rave used to be Italian food, but Thai food looks like its taking over, there isnt many people I know who dont like it, actually they all say they love it.

Most Thai resturants in sydney are packed and there is 9 of them in one street in Sydney and they are always full too.

Is this happening in other countries too?

[Padkapow Guy]

Most of the Thai resturants around the area I live in (Greenbay Wisconsin)are Thai in name only. They are usually own by chinese or hmong. They are terrible thai food but ok oriental food and my belief is that 90% of westerners would not know real thai food if it jumped up and bit them in the ARSE! Most of my friends always tell me how good the food is but when we go to these places we always find out hat they are not real thai's or thai food. But yes there are a bunch of so called Thai resturants and they are booming.

The closest thing to a real thai resturant that I have found is in Chicago, and thats a 4 hour drive.

PKG

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Authentic Thai restaurants have thrived on the U.S. west coast for a long time. Los Angeles has the largest population of ethnic Thais outside of Thailand, and named an area "Thaitown", near Hollywood, about 6 years ago. (L.A. also has the largest Chinese and Mexican populatins outside of their home countries). Despite the Thaitown designation, the best Thai restaurant in L.A. is Saldadang, which is in Pasadena. Jitlada or Basil Thai Restaurant are excellent San Francisco Thai restaurants. The best Thai restaurant in Honolulu, hands down, is Keo's.

Edited May 4, 2008 by zaphodbeeblebrox

[suegha]

In my experience in the UK there are lots of Thai restaurants, none that I have tried have been Thai except in name. But that's what happens in the UK, they 'anglicise' all the foreign restaurants...

I went to a Thai restaurant near where I live and asked if there were any Thai staff. I was told they were all from Malaysia, so I ordered a Penang curry thinking it would be good. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't a Penang curry!

Still better than Indian though!

[padfoot]

I live in Seattle and there are many Thai restaurants. Most of them are Thai owned. My favorite is Thai One On; I get a chance to practice my limited Thai language skills with their staff.

[cathyy]

All the Thai restaurants where we lived in the US were run by Lao refugees, cooking what they thought Americans thought Thai food was. Some of it was terrible. Some of it was delicious. None of it was authentic Thai food.

[Jingthing]

I lived in big US cities mostly in Cali. While they didn't have every dish you find in Thailand (for example sour curry soup is very rare to find) at the better places is very similar to food in Thailand. In many cases, better than the average you would find because the better places tend to follow more Royal Thai style. It is expensive though. I still crave a few specific dishes from a few specific Thai restaurants in the US that did the food better than anyplace I have found in Thailand. Thai places are widespread, but actually it has peaked long ago and is no longer considered the trendiest food at all. In places with more limited Asian populations, smaller towns, it is true the local Asian food people will try to sell whatever they think is the hottest and biggest money spinner, and in those places, the food is usually awful. I had "Thai" food in a small town in Arkansas once, I had to laugh.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Jingthing

[DurianChips]

We have a number of Thai restaurants in Maryland and Northern Virginia that are actually run by Thai people. However, if you want the authentic Thai food, you need to ask for the Thai language menu (Of course, in order to do this, you have to be able to read Thai). Most of these restaurants keep a separate menu with homestyle foods that they think Westerners wouldn't want. If you're looking for authentic food, it's probably on this menu, and not the standard English one. (Note: this is also true of many Chinese restaurants in the area).

Chain Thai restaurants like Tara Thai or Sala Thai don't have Thai language menus.

[Jingthing]

I shopped Asian markets in the US. There are just a tiny number of ingredients that are hard to find but even those can be had (the baby eggplants and the fresh black peppercorns). You can absolutely cook Thai food in the US that tastes identical to Thai food in Thailand, unless you think the dirty water is the secret.

[TheDon]

There are alot ofauthentic Thai resturants in Sydney, also alot tht arent but they are still a craze at the moment

[blue eyes]

In South Florida in the US there are many Thai resturants but sadly they are all geared to the American palate.Or what the Thai think the Americans want of Thai food.Which they must because they are open and making money every day.When we go to a few where we know the owners we can get real Thai food but that is rare.If we want real Thai food all we have to do is go to Wat Bhuddarangsi of Miami.Which we do on a regular bases.

Edit to show a photo of the food for the Monks.Of course we get the left overs.

Edited May 7, 2008 by blue eyes

[chiliwasabi]

I don't understand why you think Thai restaurants are a "craze" in Sydney. There has been a lot for a long time. Sure there are new ones popping up a lot of the time but there are others closing down just as regularly.

I find it very hard to find an authentic Thai restaurant in Sydney. As with everywhere the food is often bastardised to fit with what they think farangs like. There are a few and even in them it is hard to get the good stuff unless a Thai orders. It is amazing how different the same dishes are if I order them instead of my wife.

I guess "Authentic" is a greatly variable tag and I believe some people who have spent time in Thailand are yet to have an "authentic" Thai meal. Often not venturing far from the hotel restaurant and thinking that a red or green curry or pad thai (as good as these dishes can be) are the extent of Thai cuisine. But if they are happy who am I to complain.

[TheDon]

Thai food is massive at the moment in Sydney, especially the last few years.

There are some authentic places in Newtown, some arent but there pretty close.

[Ulysses G.]

I much prefered the bastardized Thai food in San Francisco to the real thing. I was always surprised when the Thai staff told me they didn't like it.

[a99az]

Two years ago it was hard to get Thai food in Spain but when I returned to Spain last year with my Thai wife I found that every Chinese restaurant is doing Thai food but the food is westernised.

Like my wife said ‘no good’ I agree with her it is just bland.

[TheDon]

Yeah some Chinese takeaways in Sydney are attempting Pad Thai, masaman curry and they fall short. I had a Pad Thai from a Chinese takeaway about 3 weeks ago and it had tomato sauce in it. Thats the first time ever i had it with tomato sauce and it was horrid.

Luckily we have alot of Thai's in Sydney and they do cook it very well with the ingredience we have.

[Patong Bob]

I went into "Mai Thai" restaurant in Melbourne and , to show off to the girl I was with, ordered drinks in Thai. The girl behind the bar did not have a clue. Turns out it was a Chinese place, but Thai is the latest craze. I wonder how many other Thai restaurants are the same.

[TheDon]

In Parramatta (sydney) last week had some Thai food on busy Church st. This Thai resurant is run by Italians. The chefs were Italian too. They burned the food abit, wasnt very authentic but not bad I must say. Seems like everyone is attempting to cook Thai food these days

[willy1957]

Is Thai food booming all over the west.

In Australia Thai food is coming up everywhere, there is so many places to eat Thai food, especially in Sydney. The rave used to be Italian food, but Thai food looks like its taking over, there isnt many people I know who dont like it, actually they all say they love it.

Most Thai resturants in sydney are packed and there is 9 of them in one street in Sydney and they are always full too.

Is this happening in other countries too?

Not in belgium, some has to close their door already,certainly in Antwerp,but Belgians are not to keen on hot food, so the Thai restaurants serve "commercial" Thai food,my friend call it "baby Thai" as the curry's are very soft and you won't find any Papaya salad on the menu card

[crowbait]

Quite curious really................we went to the Thai Boathouse restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon UK near where I live. Nice decor but the food although thai-ish was very bland and mundane.

The interesting thing was.................the waitresses were all authentic Thais (and very lovely and charming too). We found out that they were all students at Warwick university, mostly doing masters degrees in law. The girl we were speaking to said that when she and some of her colleagues returned home, they would be entering the judiciary.....................seems that Thai judges are going to get an injection of UK-trained juniors..................might help a little!

Wish we could get good thai grub though!

[Groongthep]

Authentic Thai restaurants have thrived on the U.S. west coast for a long time. Los Angeles has the largest population of ethnic Thais outside of Thailand, and named an area "Thaitown", near Hollywood, about 6 years ago. (L.A. also has the largest Chinese and Mexican populatins outside of their home countries). Despite the Thaitown designation, the best Thai restaurant in L.A. is Saldadang, which is in Pasadena. Jitlada or Basil Thai Restaurant are excellent San Francisco Thai restaurants. The best Thai restaurant in Honolulu, hands down, is Keo's.

I agree that many Thai restaurants have thrived on the US west coast for a long time but I can't agree that many are too "authentic". As a general rule you can usually tell how authentic the food is at any ethnic restaurant by the number of patrons of that ethnicity who eat there. In other words, if you see a lot of Chinese people eating in a particular Chinese restaurant or a lot of Mexican people eating in a particular Mexican restaurant then you can usually assume with a fair amount of accuracy that the Chinese and Mexican food at those two places is at least reasonably authentic. There are a scant few Thai restaurants in the US (and outside of Thiland in general I would imagine) that cater to a mostly Thai crowd. While you are correct that there have been many Thai restaurants on the US West Coast for many years, only a very small percent serve food anything close to authentic. I have a pretty good idea as I have eaten at sh#tloads of them in Southern California, Northern California, Seattle, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Phoenix which are the places with the largest populations of Thais in the western US. I've also eaten at Thai restaurants in Chicago, Houston and Miami which also have significant Thai populations. Seldom do you see overseas Thais eating at any Thai restaurant outside of those very few neighborhoods where many Thais and Lao live. Thaitown in LA is a notable exception but that place is fairly unique. Most Thais in the US have not conglomerated into "Thai" neighborhoods like Thaitown but have rather dispersed throughout the community.

The overwhelming majority of US Thai restaurants have dumbed down their menus to cater to what they think Americans want. They are after all businesses and are trying to make money. Don't get me wrong, often the food can be good but rarely is it authentic. The overwhelming number of patrons in these westernized versions are non-Thais and, let's face it, unless you have spent a lot of time in Thailand as most of us here on TV have you are not going to like authentic Thai food at first. Only after having gotten used to it does the average westerner gain a taste for the real thing. It's not just the heat of the chilies, but the unusually large amount of garlic and other herbs and fish sauce and yes, MSG that give the real thing a distinct sharpness or "rot chart" that you almost never get at Thai restaurants in California, Washington or Hawaii. Sometimes there may be an item or two on the menu that is pretty authentic but not very often.

I have not eaten at Saladang or Jitlada so they may indeed be authentic, I can't say since I haven't been there but the many other Thai restaurants I have eaten at in California are pretty sorry. I have eaten at Keo's in Hawaii and even though the restaurant is a beautiful place the food is nothing like any Thai restaurant I have ever eaten at in Thailand. I personally think they s*ck. Same goes for the literally dozens of Thai restaurants I have eaten at in the Seattle area. All these places have real Thai cooks but prepare the same old tired out westernized Thai food. I speak Thai reasonably well and usually strike up a conversation with the staff when I go into these places. It's amazing how often you hear, as Ulysses G. has already said, that they don't even like their own food. They just cook it as they think the locals want it. Oddly enough, probably the most authentic Thai place I have ever eaten at in the US, complete with concrete floor, plastic chairs, cheap plates and silverware and a hand painted sign that simply said "Thai Food" was in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The food was genuine Mom and Pop shophouse-style Thai food. The woman who ran the place told me she grew a lot of the ingredients herself. The one time I was there I was the only person in the near full joint who wasn't of Thai or Lao decent. Fort Smith has an unusually large Lao, Thai and Vietnamese population owing to the fact that nearby Fort Chaffee was an entrance camp for the huge amount of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants who came into the US at the end of the Vietnam war. (You'll probably not be surprised that may Thais passed themselves off as Lao refugees in order to get into the US - but that's another topic.) Many of these people found the rivers and forests in that part of the Ozarks similar to their homes in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand and so just stayed in the area. Like Thaitown in LA however this place is rather unique. Your run-of-the-mill Thai joint in most US cities is IMHO rather lame and far from anything authentic.

OK, all of you who are connected to Thai restaurants outside of Thailand can flame away.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Groongthep

[DP25]

There are a scant few Thai restaurants in the US (and outside of Thiland in general I would imagine) that cater to a mostly Thai crowd.

It is not possible to have many restaurants in the US that serve primarily a Thai crowd. There are only 200,000 Thai Americans, and most of these live in LA. The number of Thais in America is just minuscule, they are only about 1 percent of the entire Asian American population.

[Jingthing]

. Your run-of-the-mill Thai joint in most US cities is IMHO rather lame and far from anything authentic.

I agree mostly, but there also some very good ones! I found great ones in Washington DC suburbs and also San Jose and San Francisco. Also Chicago. Atlanta, not so good, usually a waste of money there.

In the US, almost all of the ingredients are available, so it is really a matter of having a good chef and also the choice to do it right for marketing reasons. It is true it is usually a better business proposition to dumb down the food. But there is always a market for the real thing in the more cosmopolitan areas.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Jingthing

[percy2]

Whenever I'm abroad people always want to take me to their local resteraunt that has "fantastic Thai food"

With one exception I have always been disappointed, that was Hanoi.

Cheers

[Uros]

I much prefered the bastardized Thai food in San Francisco to the real thing. I was always surprised when the Thai staff told me they didn't like it.

I used to like the bastardized version too until I got hooked on to the real thing. There really aren't that many Thai people living in The City. Most of the Thai restaurants are run by the Chinese or other Asian non-Thais. When the Thai food craze hit they were quick to convert their Chinese restaurants to Thai. No authenticity at all. Of course there are exceptions and really authentic Thai food can be found if you know where to look. Off topic I have eaten at a Burmese and a Cambodian restaurant there both of which were an interesting variation on the theme.

[Groongthep]

There are a scant few Thai restaurants in the US (and outside of Thiland in general I would imagine) that cater to a mostly Thai crowd.

It is not possible to have many restaurants in the US that serve primarily a Thai crowd. There are only 200,000 Thai Americans, and most of these live in LA. The number of Thais in America is just minuscule, they are only about 1 percent of the entire Asian American population.

Exactly, and that's reason why there are so few authentic Thai restaurants in the US. Once again, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there aren't some good Thai restaurants out there, I'm simply saying that the vast majority (say 95% or more) are in the business of catering to western tastes and do no serve Thai food that tastes the same as it does in Thailand. Just ask the staff, they'll even tell you so.

[Tolley]

What is authentic Thai anyway??

Different areass in Thailand cook different things in different ways.

My girl is from Phayao in Northern Thailand and what they eat there you will never find on a menu outside of Thailand.

The Thai food in Sydney is great there are so many good thai eateries that you are spoilt for choice. Heck even my Thai girl thinks that a lot of the Thai food in Sydney is better than you get in Thailand. The one area where we fall short in Australia is the seafood. Seafood in Thailand is way better and in fact a lot of the seafood dishes just aren't offered in Australia.

Is the food you get in Australia authentic Thai? Probably not but then again what is?

At the end of the day a lot of the food is delicious and that is what counts.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Tolley

[Groongthep]

What is authentic Thai anyway??

Authentic Thai would be Thai food that tastes just the same as it does in Thailand. Regardless of the regional variety.

Heck even my Thai girl thinks that a lot of the Thai food in Sydney is better than you get in Thailand.

I would be interested as to how many other members of the Thai community in Sydney would agree with your girlfriend. I would guess not many.

At the end of the day a lot of the food is delicious and that is what counts.

I agree with you but the the point of my OP was that I wish more Thai restaurants outside of Thailand would prepare the food as they do here rather than changing the recipe to cater to farang tastes. It's not that the bastardized versions are necessarily bad its just that many of us miss the real thing when we are not in Thailand.

[chiliwasabi]

Heck even my Thai girl thinks that a lot of the Thai food in Sydney is better than you get in Thailand.

I would be interested as to how many other members of the Thai community in Sydney would agree with your girlfriend. I would guess not many.

I would (along with my Thai wife) staunchly disagree that a lot of the Thai food in Sydney is as good as in Thailand. Good Thai food does exist but only if you know where to look.

These days we mainly eat food cooked at home as do any of my wife's Thai friends (some however eat at restaurants where they work but separate - and far superior IMO - food is cooked for staff).

[skylar]

Spice I Am (southern Thai) used to be really popular with Thais until the owners put the prices up, so then they moved to another place that was much less atmospheric, Thainatown. Some go to Saap Thai, which is Issan cuisine. Bangkok in Capitol Square is popular with Thais too. It used to be an unpopular suki place called Orange Thai. I once had 'Thai' on the Northern Beaches and it was so watered down it was appalling, but it was actually run by Thais. However it was FULL of people, and my friend who took me there honestly didn't know any better. But I tend to find that a lot of places serve food from all regions rather than sticking to their own region, to give variety I assume.