Best restaurant in BKK ?

[june11]

Thanks for the interesting post. First, just to clarify, I say "LESS LIKELY to be authentic".....I'm not saying that food made by a non-thai will be non-authentic in every case.

 

This whole sub-thread pretty much started when I pointed out that every Italian restaurant I've visited in Bangkok had Thai chefs, and that I was concerned that it therefore was less likely to be authentic italian food (and even most japanese places in bangkok have thai chefs, I THINK). Siam Sam would say (based on his previous arguments) that "But look, in places where the cooks can't get the same ingredients, even though the cooks are Italian, the food is not as good...so therefore being an Italian cook does not really matter". My point all along was that the food would probably be EVEN WORSE (even less-authentic, that is) if the cook was non-Italian and he couldn't get the real ingredients.

 

But I have always known that Thai food in the US is OFTEN NOT authentic....certainly not as spicy. I've always noted that, for example, they rarely use small eggplants in the green curry...they often use peas because they can't get thai eggplants.

 

 

[Brink15]

Good point.

 

Much of the western food I've had in Thailand was fairly abysmal. The few places with Western chefs are certainly better, but usually it's the combination of Thai chefs and the wrong ingredients.

 

I know many of the high end restaurants send their chefs to the West for training or bring in Western chefs to train them. But my budget only allowed for occasional visits to these places.

 

A friend from the UK and I were in a pizza place in Phuket and had just finished a pretty awful pizza. I had been there long enough that I would put up with this pale relation to the real thing. My friend made a comment about how wonderful it was. At that point I knew he had been in Thailand way too long.

 

[Guest]

I concur. I spent several tours in Thailand training cooks at hotels. Many times they just didn't know what the dish was supposed to be...but then why should they. Only thing one had to be careful of was their amazing ability to exactly duplicate any item you made....including the mistakes.

 

I must say thought that there are some amazing exceptions to the Nationality/Authenticity question. One of the best Thai food cooks I have ever known is Chinese, She worked with me in China and has been in Bkk the past several years. Conversely, one of the best German Chefs in Thailand is Thai, never been to Germany. Experience, training and attitude are more important than Nationality. IMO

[june11]

Actually, I agree that EXPERIENCE in the country is what is more important, rather than nationality per se. If a Thai only lived in the country for 3 months, I would say the more authentic food would be made by the non-Thai who lived there (cooking) for several years.

[Palatkik]

>unfortunately I can't leave Bangkok over the new years

 

Life's a bitch ain't it? LOL.

[pattaya127]

Much of the western food I've had in Thailand was fairly abysmal

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But there are some good restaurants out there, definitely a few french in Pattaya, and my pick at best western rest in Pattaya: MATA HARI. I read BRUNO'S has the best food there, but i understand it's a pricey restaurant, unlike M H.

 

[Coss]

I second Mata Hari, very good food. On second rd in Pattaya, about 3 or 4 places away from Soi 8 if I remember.

[Guest]

HOWDY Sars,guess who ya golden hair!!!!!

Catch Ya :-)