Correct Thai Words Used When Eating Out

[ozzieovaseas]

Hi Guys,

This is really more of a food issue but im thinking i'll have more luck with you guys that have been here a bit longer and know thai, since you have obviously had more experience in ordering from thai restaurants where little English is spoken.

Theres a Thai/chinese place down the road where i have seen (or rather smelled) some great stir fry blackbean dishes..I have used the "same same" method of ordering when possible but havent been able to in this case!

Ive tried to order the black bean chicken/beef using:

ถั่วดำ... thuaa dam ghai/nua...To no avail!

I know there are many different words for black bean as its used in desserts and what not but the above obviously doesnt work! I have heard a different specific word for this dish but cannot recall it.

So does anyone know the thai wording for black bean as used in a spicy stirfry???

If you can include the sounding in English it would help..not that great with with thai spelling/sounding as such..

thanks!

[freddy123]

Hi Guys,

This is really more of a food issue but im thinking i'll have more luck with you guys that have been here a bit longer and know thai, since you have obviously had more experience in ordering from thai restaurants where little English is spoken.

Theres a Thai/chinese place down the road where i have seen (or rather smelled) some great stir fry blackbean dishes..I have used the "same same" method of ordering when possible but havent been able to in this case!

Ive tried to order the black bean chicken/beef using:

ถั่วดำ... thuaa dam ghai/nua...To no avail!

I know there are many different words for black bean as its used in desserts and what not but the above obviously doesnt work! I have heard a different specific word for this dish but cannot recall it.

So does anyone know the thai wording for black bean as used in a spicy stirfry???

If you can include the sounding in English it would help..not that great with with thai spelling/sounding as such..

thanks!

Maybe your getting the tones wrong? Especially if the people are chinese, they may not pick up so well when a foreigner is speaking thai. The tones are in brackets after the translitteration for you. Maybe someone that knows more about black beans could help you, or maybe just take a picture of black beans with you to the restraunt. Or try and read the menu (if they have one) , if you can't read very quick maybe take a picture of it and work it out using thai-langague.

tuwa(L) dum(M) gai(L) / nua (H)

Ive also changed the transliteration slightly to what I think suits the Australian way of speaking better.

Good luck

[Edit: Realised questioner was Australian]

Edited September 3, 2009 by freddy123

[DavidHouston]

Here is a suggestion from left field. Is it possible that what the OP was seeing was "หนำเลี๊ยบ" (nam[R] liep[H]), pickled black olive? This picked vegetable is often stir-fried with minced pork or chicken. Sometimes it accompanies ข้าวต้ม (khao[F] tom[F]), boiled rice.

See, for example, http://www.bloggang.com/viewdiary.php?id=j...=15&gblog=1

What do you think?

[aanon]

Perhaps you could get someone to write down the name of the dish, then post a pic of the note here and we can help with pronunciation and/or explanation. Or perhaps just a picture of the dish would suffice.

Googling "black bean sauce" and ซอส (the Thai word for sauce) I got ซอสเต้าซี่ (sauce dtao see) as the name of the ingredient. This is a good way to find pages that show terms in both languages, as long as you can guess at least part of the Thai name.

X ผัดซอสเต้าซี่ (X phad sauce dtao see) would be 'stir-fried X in black bean sauce'.

Whether that is the name of the dish you smelt, I don't know. Let us know.

ps. Black bean sauce is not made from black beans, hence the problem doing a direct translation from English. Ref: http://www.cookthink.com/reference/4311/Is...rom_black_beans

Edited September 3, 2009 by aanon

[katana]

I think the word also has some sexual connotations to be aware of , when using it.

[Groongthep]

I think the word also has some sexual connotations to be aware of , when using it.

Yep. Be careful when using it.

[DP25]

I've never seen or heard of chicken stir fried with black beans in Thailand. I've never seen beans used in anything but those ice desserts or boba tea.

[aanon]

Since it's difficult to 'be careful' when you have no idea what to be careful of, I'll give my understanding of the sexual connotation of ถั่วดำ (thua dum), which is that อัดถั่วดำ (ut thua dum: to pack in the black bean [paste]) is a slang term referring to sodomy. So, if you go around saying you love black beans or black beans are your favourite food etc. then you may raise some smiles from people making a mental link to the slang term. If you're asking for the steam buns with black bean paste or for black beans in your crushed ice dessert, don't worry about it.

[Hardie]

Like Harry and Sally, sometimes it's best just to point and click, "I'll have what she's having," orgasms optional.