Am I Blase ?

[simcity]

just a through ..

the last 2 years many time i said to my friends, restaurant food is not so good as it use to be OR it is getting harder to get the same quality as before or find good new places !

I am not talking of the shop at 35 baht but more the over 1500 baht for 2 people , good foods but no decor place!

sadly some other places i know have close , one was a restaurant in rama who change oil every time it deepfry the fish ... gone the other was pigeon

[kaopadguy]

Consider yourself extremely lucky.

If you lived in North America you'd realize how good the food is in Thailand.

LOS has a long way to fall before it can come close to the crap we call food.

[Ulysses G.]

Consider yourself extremely lucky.

If you lived in North America you'd realize how good the food is in Thailand.

LOS has a long way to fall before it can come close to the crap we call food.

Sorry, but if one has the money and is willing to pay for it, the food in major cities like San Francisco ( Mexican , Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French and every kind of domestic and ethnic food that you can think of) New York, New Orleans, Miami, etc, is FAR superior to the food available in LOS.

Maybe you are getting confused with North American girls?

[johng]

the other was pigeon

ehhh ??????????

[kaopadguy]

...

New Orleans, Miami, etc, is FAR superior to the food available in LOS.

Are you exaggerating??

I've never had food as fresh and tasty as I did in LOS. Even a Big Mac tastes better in LOS.

the other was pigeon

Yeah, good pigeon really is hard to find...

Edited March 11, 2006 by kaopadguy

[thaigene2]

Hi Simcity

Interesting question. But do you think that's really the case? Maybe you should go 'downmarket' a bit..but not too far down! In the last couple of years the number of mid-range quality places has really increased (Steak One, now also in Convent Road as well as soi nana..and hey, the new place is offering free corkage - for now anyway)

As a Westerner I've noticed that Thais and other East Asians who have lived or traveled abroad have a different view as to what is haute cuisine. Personally I don't get caught up in whether a restaurant has a Michelin Star rating..I just know what I like and I rate it against the charges..

This may not be what you were intending, but I would say a lot of places charge too much (esp in Sukhumvit area) for what is as you say 'blase' food. That (to me) is the real problem.

[TRIPxCORE]

For Thai food, you'll find no better place to get it than in Thailand. All of the Thai food I have eaten in the U.S. is loaded with sugar to make it edible for the Western palate. None of it is authentic that I have ever tried and believe me, I have tried a lot of it here.

For Mexican food, the quality will be a lot better in California than it will be in LOS but at the same time, it will be a whole lot better in Mexico than it will be in California.

As for Italian food, if you can't eat it in Italy, which is the best place to get it, the quality is far superior in New York or Chicago than the rest of the country combined.

If I want BBQ ribs, I would prefer to go to the Carolinas or Tennesee.

Every place has things they are good at making but its usually just one particular thing and not many.

[bmanly]

For Thai food, you'll find no better place to get it than in Thailand. All of the Thai food I have eaten in the U.S. is loaded with sugar to make it edible for the Western palate. None of it is authentic that I have ever tried and believe me, I have tried a lot of it here.

Same in Australia, whenever I talk to the Thai cooks here the answer is the same, "we give the people what they want". The worst is the Green Curry Chicken here, very high in sugar and not to high on the spices. I get more satisfaction from a 30 baht Green Curry Chicken in Carrefoure than in a Restaurant in Australia.

As for up market restaurants, you still can't beat Vientianne Restaurant in Walking Street Pattaya, good food and on the water front and reasonable prices.

[simcity]

Consider yourself extremely lucky.

If you lived in North America you'd realize how good the food is in Thailand.

LOS has a long way to fall before it can come close to the crap we call food.

Yes , i do not said i am not ! i have a place next to my home catering for the student and the temple and the food is very good , plus unbelievable cheap !

I can be down market as well , i am most of the time !

just i go with the father of my friends for the last 7-8 year every two week to dinner in so many places and what i am feeling is something different regarding a discerning market is disappearing !

the only place we do not go is up market place , generally the meal is in the 1500 - 2000 for two !

he is chinese / thai .

thaigene

the dishes i find harder to get is more like Pla Boo / Poo Ky doon and i do not patronage the sukumvit restaurant

More the sea food restaurant in new road or tanon Naret / Geuy Earw Thai restuarant / Roselamoon restaurant

Edited March 11, 2006 by simcity

[kaopadguy]

Yes , i do not said i am not ! i have a place next to my home catering for the student and the temple and the food is very good , plus unbelievable cheap !

what i am feeling is something different regarding a discerning market is disappearing !

Yeah, I understood your first post. I can't really comment on the market disappearing as I haven't been in LOS for 4 years.

I was just saying that "generally", the quality is much higher in Thailand. In no way was I suggesting that you can get better Italian food (etc.) in Thailand than Italy.

[cobra]

Well if it's fresh, prepared in a fairly clean enviroment, and the help has a smile on their face, it'll probably work for me.

As far as decor, I always sit with my back to the wall with a view of the street ...

[kaopadguy]

deleted by me

Edited March 11, 2006 by kaopadguy

[Misplaced]

Consider yourself extremely lucky.

If you lived in North America you'd realize how good the food is in Thailand.

LOS has a long way to fall before it can come close to the crap we call food.

Sorry, but if one has the money and is willing to pay for it, the food in major cities like San Francisco ( Mexican , Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French and every kind of domestic and ethnic food that you can think of) New York, New Orleans, Miami, etc, is FAR superior to the food available in LOS.

Maybe you are getting confused with North American girls?

Surely you must be kidding!. I've eatened in Sanfran, NY, Miami and none is in the same league as the authentic Thai (if you're looking for thai food). I must admit eating at "the blue ginger" a couple of years back was really diffenerent for me. The food was asian infused western cuisine.

[bachismo]

I think that Thailand has some excellent resturants as do many metropolotan cities if you know where to go. However, what is unique about Thailand is that if you pop into a random resturant, from street stall to fine dining, the chances are 90% that the food is going to be delicious. New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong have some of the best resturants in the world, but no other city has such a high percentage of quaility resturants.

[TRIPxCORE]

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the Thai food I buy in Thailand costs me maybe 40-60 baht for a complete meal. In America the same meal would cost me 400-500 baht!

[Mighty Mouse]

Well if it's fresh, prepared in a fairly clean enviroment, and the help has a smile on their face, it'll probably work for me.

Cleanliness is the key to a good kitchen.

Sadly however, cooks practicing hygene and kitchen cleanliness are difficult to find.

The majority of cooks use their bare hands to prepare and plate the food. Only a few cooks bother to wash their hands every time they pick their nose, visit the toilet, have a cigarette, wipe the sweat off their brow, run their fingers through their hair, scratch their crotch, handle the garbage etc.

I've visited open kitchens in Pattaya that are alongside open toilets, smelly drains, dusty roads, full of dogs, birds, cockroaches etc.

Left over food scraps on plates from diners goes back into the pot. Nothing is wasted.

.........and all this applies to many of the upmarket resaurants too.

Having said all that, I still eat out every night whilst holidaying in Thailand and suffered food poisoning on only a few occasions.

[Maigo6]

Left over food scraps on plates from diners goes back into the pot. Nothing is wasted.

Yea right.

[boppia]

Thai food is best in the countryside. If there are any good cooks in Bangkok they usually work at expensive restaurants I would guess because the food at most of the cheaper places stinks except to those who've just steppped off the boat. Another reason why BKK food stinks is that many good cooks in Bangkok eventually move overseas to work in Thai restaurants where they are forced to water down the food. A ThaiRadio international broadcast I heard a couple years ago said there are 3,000 Thai restaurants in the US. Plus a lot of great Thai chef work in hotels abroad. It's braindrain without the brain. What should this type of braindrain be called? Chefsuction?

Anyways the best Thai food I have eaten comes from the countryside. It's still there.

Another reality in Thailand is that many young Thais do not learn to cook. I wouldn't blame McDonalds for this but I would blame MaMa Instant noodles and cheap street food. One more factor affecting the quality of Thai food is sugar. Around the world traditional foods are being altered with access to cheap sugar.

Just my opinions on this.

[Ulysses G.]

For Thai food, you'll find no better place to get it than in Thailand. All of the Thai food I have eaten in the U.S. is loaded with sugar to make it edible for the Western palate. None of it is authentic that I have ever tried and believe me, I have tried a lot of it here.

I agree with you about Thai food being best in Thailand, however, he claimed that food in general is better in Thailand and that is just not true.

One thing I find a little humorous is that some posters are claiming that Thai reataurants in Western countries "load" Thai food with sugar for Farangs, however, all the Westerners that I know who live in Thailand complain that the Thais HERE load everything with sugar.

They are NOT doing it for our benefit!

[TRIPxCORE]

For Thai food, you'll find no better place to get it than in Thailand. All of the Thai food I have eaten in the U.S. is loaded with sugar to make it edible for the Western palate. None of it is authentic that I have ever tried and believe me, I have tried a lot of it here.

I agree with you about Thai food being best in Thailand, however, he claimed that food in general is better in Thailand and that is just not true.

One thing I find a little humorous is that some posters are claiming that Thai reataurants in Western countries "load" Thai food with sugar for Farangs, however, all the Westerners that I know who live in Thailand complain that the Thais HERE load everything with sugar.

They are NOT doing it for our benefit!

Whatever it is that Thai people are eating, they want the flavor of that food to be extreme. If something is supposed to be made spicy, Thais want it extra spicy. If something is supposed to be made sweet, Thais want it extra sweet. I have no doubt that Thai people put a lot of sugar inside foods that call for sugar in them already. I do not think though that they are putting sugar inside of foods that dont call for it.

Where I live there is a very popular Thai restaurant that lots and lots of people go to eat at. People that come to my city for a vacation even stop in at this place because of its popularity. The most popular item they have on the menu is BBQ ribs made with a sweet, Teriyaki BBQ sauce. Now this hardly qualifies as authentic Thai cuisine but the people come in droves to eat these ribs that are loaded with this sugar sauce. Just because the place has the name "Thai" on their marquee doesn't make it a Thai restaurant. But all these people that eat there love it and think that they have just eaten some authentic Thai food.

[Mighty Mouse]

Left over food scraps on plates from diners goes back into the pot. Nothing is wasted.

Yea right.

I guess you haven't eaten at Indian curry restaurants. I can also tell you that this practise goes on in some Australian Thai restaurants.

How do I know, first hand knowledge from former waitress girlfriends.

[Misplaced]

Left over food scraps on plates from diners goes back into the pot. Nothing is wasted.

Yea right.

I guess you haven't eaten at Indian curry restaurants. I can also tell you that this practise goes on in some Australian Thai restaurants.

How do I know, first hand knowledge from former waitress girlfriends.

Yea right.

[Johpa]

Thai food is best in the countryside. If there are any good cooks in Bangkok they usually work at expensive restaurants I would guess because the food at most of the cheaper places stinks except to those who've just steppped off the boat. Another reason why BKK food stinks is that many good cooks in Bangkok eventually move overseas to work in Thai restaurants where they are forced to water down the food. A ThaiRadio international broadcast I heard a couple years ago said there are 3,000 Thai restaurants in the US. Plus a lot of great Thai chef work in hotels abroad. It's braindrain without the brain. What should this type of braindrain be called? Chefsuction?

Anyways the best Thai food I have eaten comes from the countryside. It's still there.

Another reality in Thailand is that many young Thais do not learn to cook. I wouldn't blame McDonalds for this but I would blame MaMa Instant noodles and cheap street food. One more factor affecting the quality of Thai food is sugar. Around the world traditional foods are being altered with access to cheap sugar.

Just my opinions on this.

Well I agree that the Thai food in the major cities like Bangkok or Chiang Mai has gone downhill a bit over the years. I don't know about high end restaurants as I am not in that league, but the mid level places and the street stall food is not what it use to be. Yet in the smaller provincial towns, one can usually find some incredible local eateries, often outdoor "garden" style places that focus on fresh local dishes and boisterous conviviality rather than on a pretentious upscale dining experience focusing on the presentation of the food.

On the other hand, in the larger cities where the Thai food has become worse, the availability of non-Thai food restaurants is immensely better and more varied than yesteryear when very few such establishments could be found apart from a few French eateries catering to Thai high society.

I think one reason that Thai food has dropped a bit in quality is that the meat is now purchased through corporate farms rather than from farmers markets. Instead of truly fresh meat, one now gets meat that has been packaged and either frozen or refrigerated for a few days before it reaches the retail market. To some extent, the same can be said of fruit and vegetables purchased at the large retailers. But even this does not explain the situation in places like Anusorn market in Chiang Mai where the food has gone from quite good to absolutely pathetic, really inedible, over the years.

Over the past decade, most of the families in the local villages have stopped raising pigs as the price they were paid at the markets was not worth the effort. I worry that the local knowledge regarding animal husbandry will be lost to the younger generation who, in the event of a major economic downturn, will not be able to maintain the same level of self-sufficiency as their parents.

As for the many Thais who don’t now how to cook, most live in dorms or small apartments with a tiny fridge and a single hot plate and have little choice but to purchase meals-ready-to-go at the local markets or food stalls.

[simcity]

Some very good points made , i think cost is one of the main factors , and hard work for the younger generation :

Well , if the younger generation do not learn to cook , if the food price increase and the restaurant need to downgrade !

If the son or daughter owner think to own a restuarant is to hard !

perhaps in few years we will wake up asking what happen to the eating glory of thailand !

Edited March 12, 2006 by simcity