AUTHENTIC FLAVORS OF THAILAND

Sometimes made a bit sour to suit for local tastes, so ask for the coconut milk dish for a sweeter smooth flavor. A very delicious soup made with galanga, lemon grass, and lime leaf that infuses a wonderful taste to this dish which makes it very popular with everybody.

This classic Thai dish is very popular. Flat noodles are stir fried in a Pad Thai sauce with prawns and traditionally garnished with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and a wedge of lemon.

This is a slightly sweet and savoury dish and not spicy hot which makes it a favourite Thai meal for many people.

Typical alternative options are seafood or pork.

Soft-shell crab is eaten whole because the shell is soft after the crab molts into its new shell as it grows.
This dish is made using nam prik pao which is often called chilli jam. This is a Thai savoury and sweet chilli paste making it an authentic, spicy and tasty meal.
Other key ingredients include Thai basil, soy sauce, fish sauce and coconut milk to smooth out the taste.
If not available, the chilli jam can be made using dried chillies, dried shrimps, garlic, onion, tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar, and a plain vegetable oil for cooking the ingedients.

An alternative to traditional spring rolls using crispy pastry, these rolls are made using puff pastry which makes it softer and easier to eat.

Ingredients include minced prawns combined with garlic, ginger, coriander, and fish or oyster sauce, then wrapped in the pastry and deep fried.

Fillers of vermicilli noodles and cabbage used in traditional spring rolls are not normally used in this dish, but variations of ingredients will depend on the restaurant.

Served with a spicy sweet dipping sauce with chopped cucumber and chilli.

A common home style cooking method starts by frying a little red curry paste, then adding coconut milk, sliced pork peices, fish sauce, palm sugar, and vegetables such as Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, chopped long snake beans, and chilli peppers. Kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil are often added near the end for extra aroma.
This dish is gently simmered to bring out the flavours. The taste is usually spicy, savory, slightly sweet, and very aromatic.
Other more intensly hot and spicy versions do not include the coconut milk and the sauce looks thinner with a much darker colour.

These traditional prawn cakes are not usually too spicy.
Flavoured with chilli and lime leaf and deep or shallow fried with or without a crispy coating. Another popular variety is fish cakes.
This dish is often served as a starter to the main meal along with a sweet sauce.

A soup made of meat (often beef) and other items added such as liver peices, mushrooms, chilli, and other vegetables, in a clear broth which is a typical meal Thai people eat regularly for lunch.
Restaurants may only have this dish available up to lunch time and not served for evening meals.
This dish is served in a deep bowl and will usually include thin noodles. Condiments will be offered so you can alter the taste to be more spicy, sour, and sweet.
Very tasty, healthy and nutritious meal.

Thai style spring rolls usually include minced pork, chicken, prawns, or sometimes no meat.
Other ingedients usually include shredded cabbage, carrot, shiitake mushrooms and glass noodles (thin vermicilli bean thread).
Served with spicy sweet chilli sauce dipping, this is a favorite starter to the main meal.

Thai style fried rice tastes nothing like the Chinese version you are likely accustomed to eating.
It can often be a lightly flavoured rice or a more tasty style made with a Thai shrimp and chilli frying paste.
Fried rice Thai style can be ordered as a side dish with a meal if it is not a noodle dish.
Crab fried rice is also another popular variety.

Glutinous (sticky rice) parcels wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed are a favorite Thai snack. Often found with a middle of taro, pork mince, sweet red bean paste, banana or peanut.
To eat, partially unwap the banana leaf which does not get eaten, then eat the chewy sticky rice filling.

Often on the menu as crispy oyster egg omelette.
A batter is made from rice flour, cornflour or tapioca starch, water is added, and sometimes a little fish sauce.
Fresh eggs are then beaten lightly. The batter is poured into very hot oil in a pan along with the eggs. This method actually shallow fries the egg batter to make it crispy on the bottom but leaving the top softer.
The oysters are added to the top and cooked. This dish is often topped with bean sprouts, chopped spring onion and coriander.

Extremely hot and spicy dish made with green papaya fruit shredded and pounded together with chilli and a pungent sauce and with raw crab peices that marinate in the sauce of this very popular dish with Thai people.

This salad is often eaten every day by the locals. It is always made fresh on the spot and it takes some time to combine all the ingedients together in proper order while pounding in a large wooden mortar and pestle while tossing with a spoon at the same time with the other hand. You need some skill to create a good papaya salad.

Other varieties are the spicy beef salad. Chopped meat is fried with Thai spring onion and mixed with pan cooked cracked dry rice to give it a nice taste and texture. This is the real salad and how it is made in Thailand, not what many western restaurants serve mostly with chopped lettuce.

Thai style noodle dish of seafood with basil and chillies. Very delicious favorite meal popular with everyone.
This dish is often made using spaghetti or egg noodles and has a slightly spicy and savory taste. 

Thai style steamed squid is made by gently steaming whole squid or squid pieces and then topping with a Thai sauce made from lime juice, garlic, chilies, fish sauce, and sometimes coriander or celery.
Served slightly warm to enhance the flavour when eating.

Pad See Ew is made by stir frying wide rice noodles over high heat with a savory sweet based sauce.
Other ingedients include meat such as prawns, finely chopped egg omelette, gai lan (dark green leaf vegetable), garlic, soy sauce, a little tamarind paste to make it slightly sweet, and oyster sauce.
This is a very tasty dish which is not spicy hot at all.
Another similar dish is Pad Kee Mao which includes fresh young peppercorns making it a peppery hot meal.

This dish has stir-fried wide rice noodles with a meat such as prawns, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, or tofu. The sauce uses fermented soy beans and lightly thickened with tapioca starch and flavoured with garlic, gai lan (green leaf vegetable), fish sauce, soy sauce and pepper.

Kang Kua Hoi Kom is created with little river snails simmered in a rich red curry sauce made creamy with coconut milk and wild betel leaves. This dish is deeply aromatic and little bit spicy. It is a Thai home cooking type of dish and usually only on the menu of traditional Thai restaurants.

A hot and spicy curry cooked with chicken, creamy coconut milk, green curry paste, Thai basil , Thai eggplant, and tender bamboo shoots.
The Thai eggplant is picked when it is small and green. This vegetable has a bitter taste which is liked by locals but may not be by westerners.

Krapao Goong (prawns) is a savoury, very spicy, and slightly sweet flavoured dish that is served over steamed jasmine rice and topped with a crispy fried egg.

Other varieties of this dish is the more traditional pork mince, but you can often also get the choice of beef or chicken mince.

Thai yellow curry is a rich, softer and slightly sweeter variety than some of Thailand’s hotter curries This curry often includes potatoes and onions.

This popular dish is usually made with prawns or chicken, although pork, seafood, and tofu are also common. Chicken yellow curry is probably the version that people order most often.

Fish is combined into a richly flavoured curry custard infused with coconut milk, red curry paste, and aromatic herbs, then gently steamed in bamboo leaf cups.

After cooking, this dish is usually topped with creamy coconut sauce and slivers of kaffir lime leaf and chilli.

There are different choices of Thai BBQ sausage in Thailand with the different regions having their own distinct varieties.

Chiang Mai has its Sai ua herb-filled, aromatic flavoured sausage. Sai krok Isan is a fermented pork sausage with a slightly sour taste which is popular in the Isan region of north-eastern Thailand. Moo yor is a milder tasting steamed pork sausage which is a very common type found throughout Thailand.

Thai Wing Bean Prawn Salad combines crunchy wing beans, prawns, shallots, roasted peanuts, chillies, lime juice, and a little coconut milk in a tangy sauce.

Mango Sticky Rice is one of Thailands most famous desserts. This very popular after meal sweet is only available when the fruit is in season.

The soft glutinous sticky rice is often served plain or with added green pandan flavour.

It is topped with warm coconut cream, usually in a small pot so you can pour over fresh.

Depending on the cafe, this dessert can also include a flavoured ice-cream, steamed fruit bun, and whipped cream.

Thai style banana and pumpkin cake is made by mashing ripe banana and soft cooked pumpkin together, then mixed with eggs, sugar, flour, and often coconut milk and grated coconut.
It is then placed in a steamer to cook. Best eaten while still fresh and slightly warm to enjoy the flavours.

Originating from Korea, this shaved frozen Thai tea dessert has been adapted to suit the locals taste for sweets. There are many versions that can be topped with things like cream, condensed milk, tapioca pearls, jelly, or sometimes ice cream, depending on the café.

Pitaya juice is a refreshing drink made from dragon fruit, a tropical fruit prized for its vibrant colour and sweetness.

This juice can be striking pink-red or pale white with tiny black seeds depending on what variety of this tropical fruit is used.

Thai iced tea is a rich, sweet, and creamy drink that is instantly recognisable by its deep orange colour and smooth, spiced flavour.

It is made from strongly brewed Thai tea and mixed with sugar and condensed milk or evaporated milk.

This drink is very popular amongst the locals and is sold through-out all of Thailand by street vendors, food markets, and in cafes and restaurants.

There is a Thai black coffee version as well which is just as strong and sweet.

Thai seasong is always provided when a Thai noodle soup is ordered.

These condiments are usually chilli flakes, sugar, fish sauce and vinigar with chilli.

Once the customer has seasoned the soup to their preference it is taken away and given to other tables.

Last but not least is the famous Thai durian fruit. It has a very strong pungent smell that permeates everywhere it goes.

Most hotels and public transport prohibit it being carried due to its overwheling smell.

Fresh segmented durian pieces in season is highly prized and expensive to buy. It is also exported world-wide by air in refridgerated containers to keep it fresh.

Locals can eat it straight from the wrapping.
It can be served with vanilla ice-cream to make it less strong, creamy and sweet.