think_too_mut Posted December 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Home made? Hard enough to get good Thai dishes in the US. Restaurants cut corners and tone everything down to what folks who have never been to Thailand think Thai food should taste like. I have two great but small restaurants in walking distance of my house. Tourists would look at them and walk right by, but the cooks (one from Phitsanulok and one from Ubon) are fantastic. Quite opposite here. If you know that the ingredients are available (if available to me, Thai restaurants surely have better sources), that chefs are native Thais and that quality control is one of the highest in the world, it is not hard to understand why Thai food in Japan is better than in Thailand itself. What an average restaurant here offers, you would have to go to top notch one in Thailand to match. Pad thai: Whole set, this is some 15$. Small soup, small papaya salad, prawn fingers, glass nooddle seafood salad: Same with fried rice as main: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 I hope to be in Japan next spring and it would be great, if you could recommend some Thai restaurants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 I hope to be in Japan next spring and it would be great, if you could recommend some Thai restaurants! They come and go, 4-5 I frequented around Shinjuku where I lived do not exist any more. I would need someone to tell me where new ones are. The pictures of food in my previous post were from Nagoya. Generally, other than those underground at train stations (similar to what you get at food court at Lotus), they are usually the same quality level as that one at the Emporium, Floor 5 I think, in the middle of the floor. Thai food does not go high in prices, I have never seen a classy Thai restaurant in Japan. Well presented yes but nothing in marble and drapes. Although, a full plate of somtum goes 300-400THB (1,200-1,500Y) to the horror of people upcountry who said, should need be, they could live whole week entire family on that single meal money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 My current address in Bangkok. Before the rain: During the rain: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Munchmaster Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Pad thai: I do like a good pad thai. There was a street vendor with a pad thai trolley on Cowboy last December and it wasn't half bad, particularly at 1 o'clock in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted December 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 I do like a good pad thai. There was a street vendor with a pad thai trolley on Cowboy last December and it wasn't half bad, particularly at 1 o'clock in the morning. I keep on forgetting to add. Thai food in Japan is somewhat sissyfied. Wherever possible, chillies are kept separately and enclosed in a small container. In the picture the chillies are kept aside. Where not possible, like krapao gai or tom yum goong which are nothing without at least some chillies, they ask you for level of spicyness you want, from 1 to 5. It is a standard thing in Japan, whatever the meal or country (Korean, Vietnamese, Lao...) they all keep it same somehow and no chance that yesterday's 3 at Korean kills you today in Thai restaurant. I have 2 Thai restaurants near my office, it happened once that we all ordered krapao gai and my colleagues just repeated "same as him" and level 3 of spicyness made 2 of them burst into sweat and not finish their meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 One dish that seems to have disappeared in Bangkok is a good stuffed omelet (khai yat sai). In the 1970s and early '80s, it was a meal in itself. The omelet was filled with various veggies and maybe a bit of pork, Nowadays you usually get an omelet stuffed with ground meat, a bit of onion and tomato sauce. Maybe you can find a real one still in Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 They must still be available in Chiang Mai, a friend who spends a lot of the year there ordered one when we had a meal out here last month and complained bitterly when he got the "inferior" version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 12, 2011 Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 Hi, Used to order that quit often when I was still working in the Payathai area. Small restaurant there that did them very nicely. And yes, that and a plate of rice was definitely a meal. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specialist Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 Suk Soi 3/1, just off Suk, there is a little covered patio with about five or six street vendor carts pretty much permanently installed. One of them does shrimp or seafood pad Thai, and they do it WELL. Inexpensive, VERY tasty lunch, or late night munch. I learned about the place when a certain cutie wanted to get something to eat before going to the hotel, and it has been one of my regular stops ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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