Best restaurant in BKK ?

[june11]

Are all these Italian places that are mentioned here---staffed

by Italians (at least the COOKS)?.. When i eat international food, i like "authentic", and that would eliminate all places

where the cooks are from a different country than the food.

[solar]

So are you saying all McDonalds have to have American 'cooks' for the true, authentic taste of cardboard?

 

Generally I find if the cook is skilled and has access to the authentic ingredients then the nationality is of little importance. There are many Thai restaurants in the UK that have Thai staff, but they don't come close to the experience of dining in LOS and cost 10 times more! I think their main failing is their inability to get fresh ingredients.

[june11]

Your comparison of Thai-staffed places outside of thailand with places within thailand, as you are doing, is not really relevant to what I'm saying. If the restaurants in your country did NOT have Thai cooks, then they probably would be even less authentic food-wise than they are now. Sure, what you're saying is true for the US as well (Thai food costs much more here but is not as good as in thailand, even though the cooks are thai). But if the cooks were American and it was called a "thai restaurant" in America, I would not even get foot in the place. It may taste good, but I'm more interested in having food cooked by people who have lived and have experience in the country that the restaurant is based on.

[Coss]

Well there,

 

Just to propose the other side of the argument:

 

I am chef (or used to be) of many years standing, I do Indian, Thai and Japanese as well as the more Euro fare.

 

Once did an Indian wedding, and because I was out the back in the kitchen the bride's family were complimented on the great (Northern I believe) cuisine.

 

When I had my Japanese restaurant, I was always getting asked out to the dining room to meet the customers so they could compliment me on the fine Japanese food, some of the stunned mullet - looks of shock I got were priceless, mainly from older men, to whom the concept of a Gaijin (sp?) doing excellent Japanese food must have been unimaginable.

 

Can't say that I've had bad comments on my Thai dishes but then I don't cook so much any more, so opportunity is reduced.

[Guest]

A lot of it has to do with the availability of the ingredients. I remember that Thai restaurants in Hawaii, even though staffed with Thais, pretty much all sucked. Same with others I've tried on the Mainland. Even those I found to be decent, Thai-owned and operated, are never as good as the ones in Thailand. They just can't get the same ingredients, at least not exactly the same. (Lacking in freshness or quality, totally unavailable so have to use a substitute, etc.)

[june11]

I'm talking about how authentic and how real-Thai the food is, not how good it tastes. If the places you are referring

had non-Thai cooks,it would be EVEN LESS authentic than it is now, probably. You talk about ingredients being most important. The cooks have to know what the ingredients are, and what to do with them, in a real-thai way. That's what I'm talking about. Interestingly, all of the Indian restaurants I've been to in thailand have Indian cooks. But most other types of restaurants always have thai cooks. Just to give one trivial example of the kind of thing i'm talking about regarding authenticity, if a thai person (for example) in thailand wanted to see what the average and basic American sandwich was like and how it was actually eaten in American, he would have trouble finding that out by going to an "american sandwich" place staffed by thais in thailand. For example, they would probably HEAT UP the sandwich, no matter what it is (i've seen them do that in thailand). That's usually not done in america. They would also do some other "strange" things.....but the INGREDIANTS could be the same...but not authentic preparation. And when i ask for milk for my coffee,they sometimes give hot milk even though i just want regular coffee with milk. These are just trivial examles to give you an idea of what i'm talking about. It may TASTE good heated, but i'm talking about ....oh, you know by now.

[Guest]

No, the places I referred to in Hawaii had Thai cooks, there's quite a few Thais there, and it still was not that good. (When I said "staffed by Thais," I was referring to the cooks.) Same on the Mainland: Where I'm from now has a number of small Thai restaurants, all operated by the extended Thai family that has settled in the area, and the kitchens are open to view from the public, so you can see the Thais cooking, not hired local help. Still not as good, because the ingredients are not the same as can be had here.

[june11]

You keep missing the point. To repeat: Your comparison

between places in American with Thai cooks vs. places in thailand with thai cooks is irrelevant to my post. I don't deny that the former are "not as good" as the latter. It has nothing logically to do with the point I made twice.

[Guest]

Then yes, I AM missing your point completely. So, what WAS your point??? Sorry to be dense here.

[june11]

sorry, i only say things twice.