Is Thai food better outside of Thailand?

[puukao]

LOL. Yes, it is pretty funny and ridiculous, and maybe the heat has gotten to my brain. Oh come on, not every thread has to be about world peace.

1. Thai food in America is $9+ USD for a plate. I do think the vegetables are both more plentiful and have less plastic in them. More fresh? maybe.

2. I don't really trust the water in the thai soup when in Thailand

3. Meat? Good luck finding good meat in Thailand

On the plus side, is a 30-90 baht meal 3x worse than a meal in America? Likely not. Rice in Thailand is, imo, very good, and eggs are fine and spices are good while fruit is fine.

Yes, when in BKK I bet you can find a 300 baht dish that is as good as a $10 dish in America, but most people tell me when in America, "Oh, In Thailand this meal would only be $1". Ah, no it wouldn't be.

[daveAustin]

I agree. I love Thai food... in my home country, where it's well cooked with good meat and cutlery and no f'ing MSG etc etc! Ironically, just had the best pizza and salad in a Thai seafood restaurant in Krabi. It was really that good, but the missus' Thai food was mediocre by all accounts and double the cost. This is one of the highest rated restaurants in Ao Nang by the way.

Rarely eat out here now, after stomach issues through years of eating crap laced with MSG, sugar, salt, dodgy sauces, ancient palm oil and the rest of it. Always look forward to going home, mainly for the food and supermarkets.

[Gsxrnz]

Dunno about it being better, but it's certainly guaranteed to be cleaner. I've never had a meal at home that's had me rolling on the floor clutching my guts in pain.

Since my last dose of serious food poisoning about a year ago I've stuck to a food buying rule that's kept me off the Imodium.

If the restaurant has wheels, or no wheels but no refrigerator, don't buy food from it.

It's worked so far but I know it's still a game of Russian Thai Roullette.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Gsxrnz

[geronimo]

Absolutely not, in terms of taste that is.

[NeverSure]

Absolutely better. If it wasn't it would go broke.

If they advertise something with chicken or beef, it has to be good pieces of meat from a good part of the animal. There has to be enough meat, shrimp or whatever is advertised that you don't have to hunt for it.

Everything has to meet the standards of the health department. The water to the restaurant is safe. Refrigeration rules are followed. A dishwashing machine that meets health dept. standards for sterilization must be used. If not the business is closed.

Such a dish will cost about US$9.00 plus tip. It will include tea. Happy to pay it.

[roamer]

A massive no from me. I mean I don't know where you eat or what aspect of Thai food you are referring too but certainly not for me. I would swap a fancy meal abroad for any amount of decent eateries I know in Thailand. Maybe if you can eat somewhere like the Pok-Pok restaurants in the US you might approach how good Thai food can be outside Thailand, can be hard elsewhere. Forgot how many counties I have eaten a Thai curry in and thought " yep that's " X" curry paste (libel laws) and it would have to be a pretty poor place in Thailand where that homogenized, pasteurized, taste would greet me. The over reliance of Thai overseas restaurants on these mass produced pastes and sauces means Thai food abroad is very much in danger of becoming the Ronald Mc Donald of SE Asian food. Won't disagree that the meat quality can be better abroad but I would rather chew my meat with Thai tastes bouncing around my palate than eat the tenderest of meat coated with this horrible over salted glutinous gloop. Btw,Thailand's previous PM also bemoaned the poor quality of Thai food abroad and one can reasonably assume she ate at some fairly upmarket places, hard to think of a Thai food blogger who would disagree.

[daoyai]

A massive no from me. I mean I don't know where you eat or what aspect of Thai food you are referring too but certainly not for me. I would swap a fancy meal abroad for any amount of decent eateries I know in Thailand. Maybe if you can eat somewhere like the Pok-Pok restaurants in the US you might approach how good Thai food can be outside Thailand, can be hard elsewhere. Forgot how many counties I have eaten a Thai curry in and thought " yep that's " X" curry paste (libel laws) and it would have to be a pretty poor place in Thailand where that homogenized, pasteurized, taste would greet me. The over reliance of Thai overseas restaurants on these mass produced pastes and sauces means Thai food abroad is very much in danger of becoming the Ronald Mc Donald of SE Asian food. Won't disagree that the meat quality can be better abroad but I would rather chew my meat with Thai tastes bouncing around my palate than eat the tenderest of meat coated with this horrible over salted glutinous gloop. Btw,Thailand's previous PM also bemoaned the poor quality of Thai food abroad and one can reasonably assume she ate at some fairly upmarket places, hard to think of a Thai food blogger who would disagree.

My experience also, the food is very standarized and all curry paste is from those same brands, green, red or yellow all coconut milk from a can (though Mendoncas frozen Samoan is exellent). Very little variety seems every place has the same menu and the pad thai is too sweet and made with ketchup, many USA thai restos were started by x-BGs and their teeraks so not much cooking experience. There are exceptions.

Here there is variety, just going to a night market and selecting from the vendors is great, BBQ, curries, omlets cooked to order, soups, nam prik and veggies I only eat in a few trusted restaurants but often buy from the markets.

[HeijoshinCool]

In Seattle there's a Thai restaurant that has "Angel Wings."

It's a boned chicken wing, stuffed with wun sen, pork, and other ingredients, with a dipping sauce. It's almost a meal in itself. I have no idea how they stuff so much into a single wing.

It's exceptional. $3.99. Never seen it anywhere in LOS.

But if you want down and dirty, the gǔuaidtǐiao, the khao phad, and the phad Thai can't be beat in LOS.

[daoyai]

In Seattle there's a Thai restaurant that has "Angel Wings."

It's a boned chicken wing, stuffed with wun sen, pork, and other ingredients, with a dipping sauce. It's almost a meal in itself. I have no idea how they stuff so much into a single wing.

It's exceptional. $3.99. Never seen it anywhere in LOS.

But if you want down and dirty, the gǔuaidtǐiao, the khao phad, and the phad Thai can't be beat in LOS.

Lemon tree in Chiang mai has that, stuffed chicken wings wun sen etc inside. nice.

[draftvader]

I fell out of love with Thai food for a long time. We'd been here for 4 years and eaten at a variety of levels from low to medium. When we moved up to Pak Kret we fell across a VERY well run Thai restaurant that is always packed with well-heeled, dual language, government workers. The food is excellent quality and the prices are, given that quality, excellent value. THIS IS THE KEY.....

If you eat your meals here at the same price you pay back in the US or England or France, etc then it WILL be better. It might not be so "westernised" but there is such great variety and skill. If you choose to eat on the street on a plastic chair then you have to know that you can't compare that to sitting in a restaurant "back home" eating for 10 times the price. Of course the meat will be low-grade of course the food will be bulked out with nasty stuff.

I have had fairly good to excellent Thai food in the west but I have had appalling to "the best" Thai food here in Thailand.

My love of Thai food was re-ignited by finding the right place and I am carefully, with the assistance of the lovely manageress, heading through their dishes on a wonderful journey of exploration....still haven't disliked anything and have built a lovely repertoire of favourites. I cook a wide variety of global food at home but don't bother with Thai food as I'm here....I must learn before we leave though as I know we'll all miss those flavours!

[villagefarang]

On our overseas travels we routinely found the only way to get a decent Thai meal in a restaurant, was to speak directly with the chef and ask kitchen staff to prepare something they would actually eat themselves. Invariable everything on the menu was too sweet and modified to fit the taste of their western customers.

[SoiBiker]

No. But it seems you don't enjoy it as much here because your prejudices about hygiene and quality get in the way.

[HeijoshinCool]

In Seattle there's a Thai restaurant that has "Angel Wings."

It's a boned chicken wing, stuffed with wun sen, pork, and other ingredients, with a dipping sauce. It's almost a meal in itself. I have no idea how they stuff so much into a single wing.

It's exceptional. $3.99. Never seen it anywhere in LOS.

But if you want down and dirty, the gǔuaidtǐiao, the khao phad, and the phad Thai can't be beat in LOS.

Lemon tree in Chiang mai has that, stuffed chicken wings wun sen etc inside. nice.

.

I'll give you a dollar if you get me the recipe.

[ExPratt]

Not in my opinion. It amazes me what my missus and her mum and sisters can knock up in a Wok, Compared to my ex English missus who had a kitchen that cost as much as a small car and couldn't boil an egg

[daoyai]

In Seattle there's a Thai restaurant that has "Angel Wings."

It's a boned chicken wing, stuffed with wun sen, pork, and other ingredients, with a dipping sauce. It's almost a meal in itself. I have no idea how they stuff so much into a single wing.

It's exceptional. $3.99. Never seen it anywhere in LOS.

But if you want down and dirty, the gǔuaidtǐiao, the khao phad, and the phad Thai can't be beat in LOS.

Lemon tree in Chiang mai has that, stuffed chicken wings wun sen etc inside. nice.

.

I'll give you a dollar if you get me the recipe.

Because I'll do anything for a buck, I googled it and there are many recepies and also youtube video !!!

[ezzra]

What many people fail to understand when it comes to Thai food cooked elsewhere is

first of all the availability and the authenticity of the fresh ingredients, herbs and veg

grown in Thailand have a similar but unique flavours and characteristics to the same

grown outside of Thailand, second, the cooking utensils, the wok, the burners, and every

other utensils use in here to cook Thai food add a lot to the flavour of the finished dish,

last but not least, the cook, nothing will compare to an Issan hands cooking the dish...

[Berkshire]

Speaking strictly about taste, no way is it better outside Thailand, especially in the west. Thai food in the US, for example, is incredibly bland, made to cater to American taste. It's the same with Mexican or Italian food, or whatever, in the USA; it's all made to cater to the American palate. Which could mean that Americans prefer Thai food made to these specs...but Thais sure don't.

[Crazy chef 1]

What many people fail to understand when it comes to Thai food cooked elsewhere is

first of all the availability and the authenticity of the fresh ingredients, herbs and veg

grown in Thailand have a similar but unique flavours and characteristics to the same

grown outside of Thailand, second, the cooking utensils, the wok, the burners, and every

other utensils use in here to cook Thai food add a lot to the flavour of the finished dish,

last but not least, the cook, nothing will compare to an Issan hands cooking the dish...

sums it up in a nutshell...

[Ulysses G.]

I'm not crazy about Thai food anywhere. I rather have Japanese or Chinese or Indian when eating Asian food. I mostly eat Thai food because it is cheap and convenient in LOS. I would not want it anywhere else.

[eldragon]

You need to find some better restaurants, mate. There's a couple dishes I feel are made better in the west (pad see ew comes to mind), but as a whole it's much better here. You can't even find half this stuff back home. And many of the herbs needed to make the dishes correctly are not available.

[ExpatJ]

Thai good outside of Thailand is normally very bland with no spice to it. The best Thai food is in Thailand in the small shop houses or Street stalls.

[pgrahmm]

All of the Thai people I knew in the states felt the Thai food there was horrible....they knew which places to go to even if far away would drive past many others to get there....to them the tastes were neither good nor authentic....quite a few of them grew their own spices if they had the area to do so and the home cooked meals is what they had to compare against.....this was a Thai group/community of about 100+ folks in the bay area - I'm sure areas of the nation count - I've eaten great Thai food in Thai town in the LA area while seeing a gal there....not sure you'd find much in New Orleans, Montana, Texas, or east coast places.....

To me, I never noticed much of a difference until the nuances were shown to me by the people that knew better than me.....

Edited November 30, 2014 by pgrahmm

[Ulysses G.]

I used to go to a Thai restaurant near Polk street in San Francisco - I think it was on Sutter. I thought it was the best Thai food I'd ever eaten. They employed Thai students straight from Thailand as waitresses and they all told me that it was crap and they would never eat there themselves.

[Kitsune]

Most stupid thing ever

Mangosteen, pineapples, mangoes, sugar apples, papayas, coconuts, bananas, aubergines, kales, bok chois, brocolis ginger, lemongrass, krapaow, thai basil, etc all way better here than hauled unripe to each corner of the world

[Farma]

I've yet to find a decent Thai restaurant meal outside of Thailand with the exception of eating with Thai friends who home cooked. I've eaten in Thai restaurants in Europe, UK, Middle East and Oz.

One of the biggest failures I found was a lot of the so called Thai restaurants especially in Oz were run by Vietnamese or Malays who jumped on the band wagon when Thai food became popular.

I know of one Thai who was sponsored into Oz as a cook by a Vietnamese owned Thai restaurant. He's slowly adjusting the food and customers tastes to the authentic Thai taste and its working. The clientele numbers have greatly increased as they remember the taste of meals they had while on holiday in Thailand

[Baa_Mango]

I have noticed that Thai food is not as good outside of Thailand. Some stuff is replicatable but my friends at Thai restaurants in western countries even whine to me that the dishes are dumbed down and just unauthentic. A lot of this has to do with availability of certain sauces or veges etc.

One friend couldn't get around the fact that a Thai place in AUS was using sweet basel instead of Thai basel (กะเพรา)

[Jingthing]

Grilled Thai beef salad ... often much better in the U.S. just based on the beef. Thai beef is wretched.

[rgs2001uk]

On our overseas travels we routinely found the only way to get a decent Thai meal in a restaurant, was to speak directly with the chef and ask kitchen staff to prepare something they would actually eat themselves. Invariable everything on the menu was too sweet and modified to fit the taste of their western customers.

Post # 25 sums it up for me.

Was in a Thai place in the UK, Chinese owned, the food was bland beyond description.

Asked to speak to the cook, the cook couldnt speak Thai, when asked where he had learned to cook Thai food he wouldnt answer.

The staff tended to be Asian students studying in the UK or Oz for example.

The mrs used to get phone calls from the UK from a Pinoy who was employed to cook Thai food in an Indian owned Thai food resto.

Many of the places in the UK tend to be Vietnamese owned, Thai food one week, Mongolian BBQ or whatever is flavour of the month the next week.

I have the exact same problem with Mexican food in Thailand, many places employ Pinoy staff who dont have a clue.

[Suradit69]

It would obviously depend as much on the individual restaurant as its location. I've eaten in Thai restaurants in the US, UAE and Pakistan and find them not to be as good as in Thailand. I assume restaurants in Thailand that cater to tourists and those outside of Thailand that cater to preferences & local tastes will "dumb down" what they serve, but Thai restaurants that serve mostly Thai customers can be excellent or they will lose their Thai patronage.

Don't have any complaints about the meat, water or whatever they use. Never have had any digestive repercussions from eating in a Thai restaurant or from vendors in markets or on the street.

Can't say I've ever had a really great steak here or that I've ever had a pizza here that rose above the level of acceptable, but neither is Thai food.

[seancbk]

Yes overall the quality of Thai food I've eaten in Hong Kong is far superior to what I've had here in Bangkok.

I love Thai food here but the amount and quality of the meat put into locally made dishes is pretty poor.

One thing I really miss from HK is a good spicy Thai Beef Salad, made with succulent strips of slightly rare barbecued steak and mixed with spicy salad.

The versions I've tried here had about 1/4 of the amount of meat (if that). They were super tasty but not enough protein.