Best and clearest way to ask for less greasy food in Thai

[Jingthing]

OK, the humanity!

My very favorite place for pad krapow gai that I have been going to for years and has got my preferences down perfectly recently served me a plate SWIMMING in grease.

Now I know pad krapow is cooked in fatty oil and it's not a health food.

But this was disgusting.

Stupidly I ate it and was feeling the results for days.

So I have a specific purpose here.

I don't want that to happen again and I also don't want to give up on my regular pad krapow place (most places do it so poorly).

SO, to generalize this for any Thai dish as well --

How to ask in Thai that your dish be cooked not in a pool of oil without sounding like you're an insane health freak and expecting them to stir fry a dish with no oil?

Please help and save my pad krapow!

Years ago I remember asking a hoy tod (fried oyster pancake) vendor to cook it in less oil, and she laughed at me! (I was actually just a tourist then and speaking English, she understood but was laughing at the idea of using less oil with that dish and just ignored the request.)

Since then, I haven't even tried to ask for less oil.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Jingthing

[Costas2008]

Yia Sai naman mak, khrap

[Jasun]

Once you've learned that one, 'mai ao nam lai' - don't spit in my food, may also come in handy.

[Jingthing]

Yia Sai naman mak, khrap

Please provide some pronunciation clues on Yia Sai naman. Thanks.

Do others agree this is the best way to say it?

[Jingthing]

Once you've learned that one, 'mai ao nam lai' - don't spit in my food, may also come in handy.

Funny, but this place they really seem to really like me.

I think the grease pool was not to mess with me.

Perhaps a one off mistake.

Perhaps a new cook who cooks it that way.

[jackr]

Oi nit deow ... krap!

[Jingthing]

Oi nit deow ... krap!

Thanks. Please provide full translations and pronunciation tips with the phonetic Thai.

This isn't the Thai language section and this information may be used widely by many people for different dishes.

I think people want to know what they are saying, and feel confident they aren't asking to have sex with the waiter's grandmother!

Edited January 22, 2014 by Jingthing

[transam]

Bigmac's never swim in oil..................

[Jingthing]

Bigmac's never swim in oil..................

A fair point but I prefer pad krapow.

Seriously, the dish of horror show pad krapow that I stupidly ate was definitely worse than a Big Mac.

[Forethat]

I would say:

Mai dai chai namaan maak khrup

or simpler:

Mai sai namaan maak, khrup

Edited January 22, 2014 by Forethat

[ricklev]

The idiomatic way to ask for less oil is to say: Mai mon. (my mon)

They will understand.

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[Jingthing]

The idiomatic way to ask for less oil is to say: Mai mon. (my mon)

They will understand.

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Excellent. Shorter the better. Mon meaning what?

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[apiwan]

Sai nam marn nit deow ,na krap.

Should work,give it a go,

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[orchidlady]

I will show these different answers to my Thai tutor on Saturday and report back. I haven't had that problem with the food I eat yet...I usually have to ask for less salt and pepper as they get very heavy handed.

[orchidlady]

I asked my Thai tutor. This is what he said: Khao paht heng heng namarn noi noi krup = (the words heng and noi are intended to be said twice) please cook with just a little oil. English transliteration is cow pot hen(with short g sound at end) nahmahrn noi (like noise but drop se from end).

[Cricketnut]

Don't forget to add Dai mai khrap ( Dai like die as in dice and Mai as in the month) this is polite to the cook or staff taking your order and the will end up simply saying " Dai ka or Dai Khrap" and think the better of you.

Sent from my Brain

[I Like Thai]

You have eaten in this place for years and always have had good food. You get one dish that is poorly cooked and you want someone to tell you some Thai so that you can go and have a confrontation.

Why not keep quiet, go and order your food there again. You never know, you might go another few years without having a poorly prepared dish there.

P.S: If your next dish is poor as well, this is a Thai's way of telling you that they don't want you eating at their place anymore.

Edited January 28, 2014 by I Like Thai

[Jingthing]

You have eaten in this place for years and always have had good food. You get one dish that is poorly cooked and you want someone to tell you some Thai so that you can go and have a confrontation.

Why not keep quiet, go and order your food there again. You never know, you might go another few years without having a poorly prepared dish there.

P.S: If your next dish is poor as well, this is a Thai's way of telling you that they don't want you eating at their place anymore.

I haven't been back yet. I am not looking for a confrontation. I am always very warmly greeted at this place FOR MANY YEARS and there is no possible way the food was cooked super greasy to get me. It is possible they have a new cook or just a mistake. I am not sure most Thais would have seen a problem with the dish, but for me it was a problem. I will probably try again as you suggested (thought of this myself actually) without asking for less oil because I think asking for less oil is a little tricky for a dish cooked in oil, and just see what happens. The other issue is that I already customize the dish three ways as "special large" "very spicy" and egg cooked runnier. Super results with all that (my name there is my order) but a FOURTH customization might just be the tipping point. Rather than making up fantasies that they hate me, which I know isn't true, perhaps the extra oil was a "gift" to a loyal long term and TIPPING customer. If it does happen the next time, actually I still won't believe they want me to go away. THEN I will try to the next time with adding this FOURTH request. If that doesn't work, well, then I'm screwed, because it's surprisingly hard to get good versions of this dish.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

I asked my Thai tutor. This is what he said: Khao paht heng heng namarn noi noi krup = (the words heng and noi are intended to be said twice) please cook with just a little oil. English transliteration is cow pot hen(with short g sound at end) nahmahrn noi (like noise but drop se from end).

Thanks! That sounds real good but I think too long when added to the other words I use with the order. (See above.)

[ricklev]

The idiomatic way to ask for less oil is to say: Mai mon. (my mon)

They will understand.

Read the above......Think about it.......Read it again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Think about it..............Then try saying it in a restaurant and see what happens!

[wayned]

I worked with a "pseudo vegetarian" that was paranoid about them using rendered pork fat when they cooked. We ate in the school lunch room everyday and he ate the same thing everyday, an omelet. He would go into the kitchen area and pour a little bit of oil from a bottle in the wok. When he turned his back the cook would put her ladle in the rendered fat and put a big dollop of fat in the wok. He ate it everyday and never complained! Nahmahrn nit noi is probably the best way to ask them, but, good luck iin getting what you want!

[Jingthing]

I worked with a "pseudo vegetarian" that was paranoid about them using rendered pork fat when they cooked. We ate in the school lunch room everyday and he ate the same thing everyday, an omelet. He would go into the kitchen area and pour a little bit of oil from a bottle in the wok. When he turned his back the cook would put her ladle in the rendered fat and put a big dollop of fat in the wok. He ate it everyday and never complained! Nahmahrn nit noi is probably the best way to ask them, but, good luck iin getting what you want!

Hilarious. Not surprised at all.

[ricklev]

You have eaten in this place for years and always have had good food. You get one dish that is poorly cooked and you want someone to tell you some Thai so that you can go and have a confrontation.

Why not keep quiet, go and order your food there again. You never know, you might go another few years without having a poorly prepared dish there.

P.S: If your next dish is poor as well, this is a Thai's way of telling you that they don't want you eating at their place anymore.

I haven't been back yet. I am not looking for a confrontation. I am always very warmly greeted at this place FOR MANY YEARS and there is no possible way the food was cooked super greasy to get me. It is possible they have a new cook or just a mistake. I am not sure most Thais would have seen a problem with the dish, but for me it was a problem. I will probably try again as you suggested (thought of this myself actually) without asking for less oil because I think asking for less oil is a little tricky for a dish cooked in oil, and just see what happens. The other issue is that I already customize the dish three ways as "special large" "very spicy" and egg cooked runnier. Super results with all that (my name there is my order) but a FOURTH customization might just be the tipping point. Rather than making up fantasies that they hate me, which I know isn't true, perhaps the extra oil was a "gift" to a loyal long term and TIPPING customer. If it does happen the next time, actually I still won't believe they want me to go away. THEN I will try to the next time with adding this FOURTH request. If that doesn't work, well, then I'm screwed, because it's surprisingly hard to get good versions of this dish.

I think all your requests are quite normal and a Thai would order in the same way. Saying mai mon is a perfectly polite way of saying no excess oil or not oily. It's a preference, like asking for it spicy or not spicey. Add krap to the end of your sentence and you are as polite as can be.

I've been ordering that way for years, if they don't get mai mon, for some reason, I add nammun nit noy or noy and then a light goes off, it's usually not needed though.

That said, I guess only about 50 percent of the time does it actually make any difference to how much oil they use or the the little they leave out is inconsequential. Sometimes they really do pay attention and it's less oily. Sometimes also I will order with my preferences (perhaps Khao Pad Kung) and then listen as the server yells to the cook to make the farang shrimp fried rice, while leaving everything else I asked for (in Thai) out. Whatever, I'm not whining, it's a complicated world.

Edited January 29, 2014 by ricklev

[Jingthing]

I am already amazed this place gets my special requests right most of the time! Sometimes there are issues with new waiters. One new waiter said special size wasn't possible. I guess I knew better. So far the eggs are always done right but sometimes they forget the special size but as least not charge for it. I have faith.

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Edited January 29, 2014 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Update on this.

Thanks for the help.

I'll file it away for future.

At the place in question, I didn't want to rock a boat that has been so steady for so long, so I want back and didn't change my order.

Three times now, no problem with too much oil.

So it was just a one off mistake, not a new style or chef, etc.