For A Culture So Obsessed With Food

[MiG16]

My point is none of those are very big. They still cater towards a small percentage of the population. Most Americans don't eat/won't try sushi rolls much less sashimi.

Fuji is extremely mainstream..like on par with sizzler. There is not a sushi house at every strip mall in the U.S. like the equivalent in Thailand. It's because Thais are big on casual dining Japanese food.

and on a similar note, Bangkok is NOT the entire Thailand

nor are ChiangMai, Pattaya and Phuket.

there are lots of other places, where the MAJORITY of the thai population would not eat sushi, or pizza or steak.

[anotheruser]

Just how many different ways can you cook Kow Padt, Pad Thai, Kai te ow, Kai hut Sai or fried chicken? Of course I do know at least 5 diifferent recipes for curry. Over cooked tiapia in the skin isn't all that difficult to prepare. Fried water beetles are a tastey treat... if you like that sort of thing. So tell me what I'm missing when dining in an over priced restaurant.

My thoughts exactly. Over all Thai food is good but there isn't as much you can do with it. You would think there would be a foreign place that would be world renowned in Thailand but I can't think of one. Almost every major western city in the world I can think of at least one place that is known for it's excellence. In Thailand the only sort of famous places in town are just known for their prices and that attracts the tacky hiso sorts that go there more to be seen than to actually eat.

The average food in Thailand is pretty good but when it comes to upscale dining it is a culinary wasteland. The best chefs in the world don't congregate in Thailand which would not be a very prestigious place to work when compared to Tokyo, London, NYC, etc.

[Milo]

Just how many different ways can you cook Kow Padt, Pad Thai, Kai te ow, Kai hut Sai or fried chicken? Of course I do know at least 5 diifferent recipes for curry. Over cooked tiapia in the skin isn't all that difficult to prepare. Fried water beetles are a tastey treat... if you like that sort of thing. So tell me what I'm missing when dining in an over priced restaurant.

My thoughts exactly. Over all Thai food is good but there isn't as much you can do with it. You would think there would be a foreign place that would be world renowned in Thailand but I can't think of one. Almost every major western city in the world I can think of at least one place that is known for it's excellence. In Thailand the only sort of famous places in town are just known for their prices and that attracts the tacky hiso sorts that go there more to be seen than to actually eat.

The average food in Thailand is pretty good but when it comes to upscale dining it is a culinary wasteland. The best chefs in the world don't congregate in Thailand which would not be a very prestigious place to work when compared to Tokyo, London, NYC, etc.

Agreed anotheruser, but only to a point...

I can certainly taste one hel_l of a difference between market food & restaurant cuisine, and not overpriced 'Hi-So' joints either! Two MAIN dead giveaways before you even taste the dish;

1) More MEAT!! Better cuts too. Only one or two egg-plant for variety & texture rather than a meat substitute.

2) Far richer sauce, more variety in the veggies with more colour & discernible quality, less MSG. Yes, you can both see and smell huge differences the moment the dish arrives.

Admittedly not on the street corner with the ever-present two-stroke haze!

There's only one market we visit with our guests (and many would say not a real Thai food market), the Night Bazaar in Chiang Rai. Purely because most of those units are spotless. On a bike tour we can't afford the risk of any guests falling ill to dodgy food. At best they'd have to be pulling over frequently diving off into the bushes with many Km's between amenities, add sickness too and we suddenly have a spare motorcycle that needs to take up space we'd planned for something else, worst case scenario a couple of days in some village hospital on a drip, the rest of us forced to continue, then somehow we've to get them back to civilisation? Not an option, why take stupid risks with somebody's holiday dreams and especially health for a few measly baht?

Admittedly upsets can happen to anybody at any time, invariably in our experience one guest may be off-colour one day when the rest are fighting fit, after a shared meal so all have ingested exactly the same. If the risks are minimised, so are the consequences. For those on here who "can't tell the difference" (???) I've only one comment; do you actually live here and sample a reasonable variety on which to base this supposition?

There may not be many world-class/world-famous restaurants, but there certainly IS a WORLD of difference between restaurants, never mind restaurant & market fayre! No difference my foot, talk about showing your ignorance I'll bet a 'Thai meal' for you is an MK with the family? The Thais sum this up perfectly, keeniow! "I can eat for 20b/meal" whoop-dee-dooh, we're not worthy of your spendthrift manner! Cheers Beer anyone?? No thanks, I need to ride my bicycle home...

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with market food, often pick up a bag of something for convenience, but kidding yourself that there's ANY comparison to justify a purely financial decision?

Frankly stunned at some of the comments here, never cease to amaze...

[PEP]

Why not give this place a try for "Original" Thai Food?

The Tiger Penis Restaurant.

The Tiger Penis Restaurant first opened its doors in 1988 in the heart of Khemarat and has been serving rare and exotic dishes to our discerning clients for over 50 years, from fresh raw monkey brains, these are killed at the table for your enjoyment and served with vegetables of the season, to our proudest moment when we served rare steaks from the last known Asiatic Cheetah in the world, in a delicious

Issan sauce to a coach party from Korea, the sauce was to die for with hints of garlic, Asian red onion, basil, lemon grass and coriander.

Rare & Exotic Snacks - Get them while stocks last

Panda Pate Foie Gras $59.99 per 100grams

One of our most popular snacks and takeaways is Panda Pate, we buy the youngest baby panda bears we can get and using traditional gavage force feeding techniques we fatten up the liver, after several weeks under anaesthetic we take the baby pandas kidneys and liver, these we slowly bake in our special secret sauce with finely sliced onions, mashed garlic and just a hint of habernaro sauce, absolutely delicious and recommended by the Japanese Kato dining guide as the finest pate available in South East Asia.

You can find some of our Pate Recipes on the forum.

Insect Corner

Our insect corner has the finest selection of insect snacks in Thailand, we guarantee we do not use DDT to catch our insects so ensuring that you are getting the best quality and freshest insects available anywhere in the world, from multi legged 1 foot long centipedes deep fried in a delicious beer batter to our crispy baked Forest scorpions, for something a bit different why not try a small dish of Thai hornets or a nice soup of crushed rhino beetles

Medicinal Dishes - More Healthy & Natural Than Viagra

BBQ Tiger Penis $ depends on size of portion

With a plentiful supply of tigers in Asia our BBQ tiger penis is cheaper now than it was when we first opened over 50 years ago.

The penis is taken and marinated in herbs and spices for 15 days before it is even considered suitable for our discerning clientele, our chef checks each penis everyday to check the infusion of herbs and spices is correct, when the time comes he can guarantee the perfect BBQued tiger penis will be served.

Cobra Blood Special $8.99

And special it is, all our cobras are kept by us for 90 days before being served to our customers, we lovingly care for them and feed them the finest, freshest rats and mice available, you can be sure that when you order our cobra special the snake will be brought to your table alive and placed in the table clamps, you will be supplied with an engraved shot glass which you get to take home as a memento, a small knife to cut the snakes head off, a bucket of ice cubes and a chilled half bottle of Lao Khao, this one will give your sex life a real boost that you will never forget.

NB; for a small fee we can cook the cobra for you afterwards.

Other Dishes

Labrador Retriever Kebab $6.99

A relatively new addition to our menu are kebabs, in 2005 we added Labradors to our dog farm due to their popularity and large amounts of meat available on each one, every night you can be sure that a new fresh Labrador is on the skewer awaiting your order, the meat is finely sliced and placed into pitta bread with your choice of salad at our self service salad counter.

NB; 10% of all profits from Kebabs are donated to the RSPCA, we believe in building a better world for our animals.

Dolphin Steak $4.99

Served as part of our seafood breakfast special, 250grams of medium rare flame grilled dolphin, 2 turtle eggs boiled, 1/8 piece of shark fin aged and marinated, served with either toast or fried bread.

Party Special

If your holding a special party, be it a birthday or divorce, then why not hold it at The Tigers Penis, we now have a regular source for young elephants between 100 - 300 kilo each, our tandoori oven can take 4 100kilo elephants at one time in a squeeze, we do need a weeks notice, all elephant steaks come with a complimentary entrails soup for each guest.

Awards Won and Accolades

The Tiger Penis Restaurant has won a great many awards, we are featured in the Guinness Book of Records for the most Pangolin ant eaters killed and consumed in one evening, and what a great evening that was with both Norris McWhirter and Roy Castle joining us for the fun and festivities, our chef prepared 228 baby female Pangolin ant eaters that evening which were served with freshly chopped string beans and cabbage on ice and a fine selection of sauces and marinades specially prepared for this meal.

In 2001 we were awarded the Leatherback Trophy, this was an extremely proud moment for us as it was something our grand parents had sought for years, we have now held this trophy for the last 8 years and it is highly unlikely considering the scarcity of large leatherback turtles that our serving of a 680 kilo leatherback will ever be beaten.

*Edited* May 2009, we received a 3 legged 650 kilo turtle for our restaurant, I personally believe if it hadn't been involved in an accident with the boat propeller or we could have found the missing limb we would have beaten our previous record.

Recipe of the Day

Zesty Rabbit Soup

Ingredients

1 Baby white rabbit

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 a green onion

1 cup frozen white corn

3 teaspoons ground cumin

Chili peppers chopped to taste

Directions

Using a small blow torch carefully remove all the fur from your rabbit being careful that it doesn't bite or scratch you, industrial gloves are a good idea, once the fur is removed place the rabbit into your liquidiser and give it a good pulsing, using a sieve pour the rabbit juice into a pan, the left overs you want to place into a muslin bag and put that into the pot.

Add beef stock and 2 cups of water and bring to simmer for 15 minutes.

In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic in oil until tender; add to the pan.

Stir in the tomatoes, corn, chillies, cumin and chilli powder. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

The Tiger Penis News

Meerkat back on the menu

After 3 years of absence we finally have a regular supplier from the Kalahari desert for fresh meerkat, due to the scarcity of meerkats we only get one live shipment per month so it's first come first served, each meerkat is prepared to Halal dietary procedures and we allow as much blood as possible to drain from the carcass before preparing your meal.

We can either bake your meerkat whole with a selection of organically grown garden fresh vegetables if you are in a group, or it can be sliced and served lightly grilled with a piquant sauce of your choice.