The Greatest Thai Mystery

[richusa]

In Bangkok the Arabs and Indians love the shit out of McDonalds. ..only 10% are western..the rest are thai, Asian.

[richusa]

In Bangkok the Arabs and Indians love the shit out of McDonalds. ..only 10% are western..the rest are thai, Asian.

[ggt]

I prefer the mystery of young Thai women over the food at MK...delicate flavor...never disappoints...

[namdocmai]

I only eat their duck with 6 portions of green noodles and chili sauce. No soup.

[Emster23]

Brings to mind scene in Apocalypse Now when Chef describes army cooking school, and how they took wonderful sides of beef and boiled them. All turned grey etc. Worst thing you can do with beef.

[overherebc]

Biggest mystery for me is how are you supposed to taste anything, wherever, when your mouth is completely on fire, your nose is running and your eyes watering from the 100 grams of chilli powder that's dumped on the food.

Edited October 7, 2014 by overherebc

[AYJAYDEE]

Biggest mystery for me is how are you supposed to taste anything, wherever, when your mouth is completely on fire, your nose is running and your eyes watering from the 100 grams of chilli powder that's dumped on the food.

youll understand once the caustic oils have deadened your taste buds too

[mantu]

Disagree with the OP. This is outstanding food.....healthy, delicious and well priced….hard to believe that there are some who do not like it.

Also you can customize your dipping sauce by adding more or less garlic, chillis.

A bit of background info here,

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/09/26/thai-food-101-story-suki

[daveAustin]

Thailand has delicious and tasty food on the streets in the markets and malls all over.

Classic newbie mistake. I used to think so, too, until years of eating that stuff eventually turned my stomach inside out. Highly refined and reused oil aside, take away all the MSG, sugar and other crap they put in there and you probably wouldn't be saying so. If you want evidence of how bad, head to any hospital and it will be loaded with Thais with chronic stomach issues.

Not dissing Thai food here, per se, as it can indeed be amazing IF COOKED TRUE TO FORM BY COMPETENT, MINDFUL COOKS. But when you go bottom end on the street, you're kind of asking for it.

As for MK, it's prison goop... but for the locals, it is mostly about being seen there.

[ableguy]

Its not too bad in MK I go quite a lot, quick cheap and easy.

You pay to cook your own food ?

[AlexRRR]

Ahhh the MK debate is back....exTGF loved it, i thought it ummm rubbish, she wasnt to happy that i wanted to avoid it at all costs and this is a woman who put tomato sauce (ketchup) on her steak of Aussie beef i cooked her one night, and should i mention that one evening in front of me she spread that red muck all over her seaffod pizza too?

[IsaanUSA]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

[eeeya]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

Its like going to a fast food burger restaurant and taking your tray and rubbish to the bin when your finished.

Bugger that, pay someone to take it away you cheap ####

[AYJAYDEE]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

Its like going to a fast food burger restaurant and taking your tray and rubbish to the bin when your finished.

Bugger that, pay someone to take it away you cheap ####

heaven forbid u could carry it to the bin located on the way to your exit!!

[eeeya]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

Its like going to a fast food burger restaurant and taking your tray and rubbish to the bin when your finished.

Bugger that, pay someone to take it away you cheap ####

heaven forbid u could carry it to the bin located on the way to your exit!!

That's the problem with those burger chains, they play on our western belief of cleaning up after ourselves so they can keep staff numbers down.

If nobody took their tray back then the companies would have to employ someone to do it.

So, take tray back.. Take away a job

[AYJAYDEE]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

Its like going to a fast food burger restaurant and taking your tray and rubbish to the bin when your finished.

Bugger that, pay someone to take it away you cheap ####

heaven forbid u could carry it to the bin located on the way to your exit!!

That's the problem with those burger chains, they play on our western belief of cleaning up after ourselves so they can keep staff numbers down.

If nobody took their tray back then the companies would have to employ someone to do it.

So, take tray back.. Take away a job

and you'd have to pay more for your food. or did you think the owner would absorb the cost himself?? lol

[ultimate weapon]

I actually regret to say i mixed up MK with MBK and caused some confusion because i forgot it was called MK but kept on saying MBK and ppl were thinking of the shopping centre and not the restaurant chain.

Personally for me i love the green colored noodles. They taste like typical noodles in fact they seem to follow the chinese HK cantonese style in terms in taste but i just like them.

It's steamboat bascially. You cook your own food and yes you can order cooked food but that's the draw. I don't see what's wrong compared to other types of steamboast like chinese style or korean style.

It's just an asian style of food. Actually i can bet why OP doesn't like it is cause he doesn't know how to cook. I bet he probably took out some half cooked food and ate it or probably ordered some cooked food off the menu because he doesn't even know how to follow the steamboat style of restaurants in asia.

Edited October 8, 2014 by ultimate weapon

[eeeya]

Well there's the conundrum. Here in Thailand I choose to leave a mess.

[ultimate weapon]

The duck is very nice. What is the drink they give you?

That's tea it's yellowish in color if i recall correctly. You can always order other drinks like fruit punches and so on.

Don't know why some of you are complaining. It's like going to a greek style restaurant and complaining why don't they do it in say american way or any other non greek way.

[AYJAYDEE]

Well there's the conundrum. Here in Thailand I choose to leave a mess.

and add to the workload of an overworked underpaid thai! well done

[farang000999]

It is one of the many options. No need to get emotional.

As for it being expensive ...

[SoiBiker]

Don't know why some of you are complaining.

I think it's like a hobby for some of them.

[jacky54]

Dragged to the one in central opposite fortune town this week, I don't eat meat but even if I did I would actually expect the food to be cooked for me in a restaurant. Overpriced but full of people, how do they get away with it? The staff sing an awful song at one point, went to s&p while they got through it.

[Sigurris]

I actually regret to say i mixed up MK with MBK and caused some confusion because i forgot it was called MK but kept on saying MBK and ppl were thinking of the shopping centre and not the restaurant chain.

Personally for me i love the green colored noodles. They taste like typical noodles in fact they seem to follow the chinese HK cantonese style in terms in taste but i just like them.

It's steamboat bascially. You cook your own food and yes you can order cooked food but that's the draw. I don't see what's wrong compared to other types of steamboast like chinese style or korean style.

It's just an asian style of food. Actually i can bet why OP doesn't like it is cause he doesn't know how to cook. I bet he probably took out some half cooked food and ate it or probably ordered some cooked food off the menu because he doesn't even know how to follow the steamboat style of restaurants in asia.

Sorry mate but you are so wrong. It is the fact that I can cook (and IMHO very well) and have done since I was 16, that I really don't like this steamboat nonsense. Boiling a load of stuff in in thin tasteless broth then having to slap loads of sauce on it to get a sembalance of taste is not my thing. Paying 500 baht for it doesn't work either. There are buffet style restaurants all over Thailand which offer a similar experience with a flat or rounded hotplate in addition to the soup. THese are all you can eat places and charge between 100 and 200 baht a head. More variety and more flavour.

The few times I have been there I eat the duck (which is good). But this is not about me. I just wondered why it was so popular when there is so much better around.

[AYJAYDEE]

I actually regret to say i mixed up MK with MBK and caused some confusion because i forgot it was called MK but kept on saying MBK and ppl were thinking of the shopping centre and not the restaurant chain.

Personally for me i love the green colored noodles. They taste like typical noodles in fact they seem to follow the chinese HK cantonese style in terms in taste but i just like them.

It's steamboat bascially. You cook your own food and yes you can order cooked food but that's the draw. I don't see what's wrong compared to other types of steamboast like chinese style or korean style.

It's just an asian style of food. Actually i can bet why OP doesn't like it is cause he doesn't know how to cook. I bet he probably took out some half cooked food and ate it or probably ordered some cooked food off the menu because he doesn't even know how to follow the steamboat style of restaurants in asia.

Sorry mate but you are so wrong. It is the fact that I can cook (and IMHO very well) and have done since I was 16, that I really don't like this steamboat nonsense. Boiling a load of stuff in in thin tasteless broth then having to slap loads of sauce on it to get a sembalance of taste is not my thing. Paying 500 baht for it doesn't work either. There are buffet style restaurants all over Thailand which offer a similar experience with a flat or rounded hotplate in addition to the soup. THese are all you can eat places and charge between 100 and 200 baht a head. More variety and more flavour.

The few times I have been there I eat the duck (which is good). But this is not about me. I just wondered why it was so popular when there is so much better around.

better is kinda subjective

[A1Str8]

Coz you can cook there and they love that.

[phanhan]

Is it worrying that that the more upmarket food outlets seem a bit empty these days?

[Jingthing]

No mystery.

People all over the world are attracted to well marketed middlebrow mass market food.

Similar to the appeal in the USA to chains like Applebees.

It's a treat for the mostly aspirational middle class of people who love it and a culinary joke to more sophisticated people.

To the majority of Thai customers there, no it is NOT seen as a cheap feed at all!

There is some status attached to eating there for them.

I think western tourists often like it because Asian hotpot is seen as exotic.

I think most western expats here grow bored by MK though.

There's nothing wrong with it. Where I live there are so many more exciting choices that I haven't been there in years. It's hard to care enough to "hate" it though and I really wouldn't mind going there right now ... but I won't.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Jingthing

[Sigurris]

I actually regret to say i mixed up MK with MBK and caused some confusion because i forgot it was called MK but kept on saying MBK and ppl were thinking of the shopping centre and not the restaurant chain.

Personally for me i love the green colored noodles. They taste like typical noodles in fact they seem to follow the chinese HK cantonese style in terms in taste but i just like them.

It's steamboat bascially. You cook your own food and yes you can order cooked food but that's the draw. I don't see what's wrong compared to other types of steamboast like chinese style or korean style.

It's just an asian style of food. Actually i can bet why OP doesn't like it is cause he doesn't know how to cook. I bet he probably took out some half cooked food and ate it or probably ordered some cooked food off the menu because he doesn't even know how to follow the steamboat style of restaurants in asia.

Sorry mate but you are so wrong. It is the fact that I can cook (and IMHO very well) and have done since I was 16, that I really don't like this steamboat nonsense. Boiling a load of stuff in in thin tasteless broth then having to slap loads of sauce on it to get a sembalance of taste is not my thing. Paying 500 baht for it doesn't work either. There are buffet style restaurants all over Thailand which offer a similar experience with a flat or rounded hotplate in addition to the soup. THese are all you can eat places and charge between 100 and 200 baht a head. More variety and more flavour.

The few times I have been there I eat the duck (which is good). But this is not about me. I just wondered why it was so popular when there is so much better around.

better is kinda subjective

Really? Thanks so much for clearing that up. And I thought everyone was the same. You really are the biggest pedant on this site (a subjective opinion).

The whole point of opinions are that they are subjective, otherwise they would be facts. Then you would have no-one to criticise. So be grateful :-)

[DDbkh]

I have several very bad sulks during and after a trip to MK. I loathe the watery stewed mess with poor quality meat but she, seemingly like most Thai women, loves it. We seem to be at a form of truce these days where I will eat the duck, dim sum and the green noodles with an occasional shrimp She mixes up the chilli and garlic sauce into a large bowl and goes for it while I have a couple of Heinies.