Thai Cuisine in Bangkok

Recently on my trip to the Kingdom of Thailand, I was blessed with the opportunity to sample the local fair as only god intended. Up until last week, my idea of great Thai food comes from eating at the local food stalls down the road, cooked by some Indian bloke from Bangalore. I may be stating the obvious here but, you just can't beat consuming Thai food that has been cooked by 'the locals'. Being able to eat it there in Bangkok was key. Sure, a Thai dude can come here to Malaysia and cook up a storm, but there's something to be said about using the ingredients that has been grown from the ground where the blood and tears its people have spilt. Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh (rather than dried) herbs and spices as well as fish sauce. Thai cuisine is known for its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - spicy, sour, sweet, salty and bitter (optional).

I was really amazed at how consistent the food was where ever I ate. Whether it be at road side push cart food stall or the Hotel coffeehouse, the food was simply wonderous. Anyway, my favourite Thai dish would have to be the Tom Yam soup. Tom Yam is basically a hot & sour soup with meat. If it has shrimp in it, its called Tom Yam Goong. If there is all other kinds of seafood in it, then is called Tom Yam Talae. Naturally, being Malaysian, I prefer the Tom Yam Gai which has chicken and is more like a curry as it has coconut milk.

I firmly believe that the spicier the soup the better. When I was a student in Adelaide, my friend Simon and I would head down to the corner food court and order their so called Tom Yam. It tasted like just pure chili and water and we thought "wow! this is the shit!". How sadly ignorant we were. Nine out of Ten times after consuming copious amounts of 'imitation' Thai food, my anus pays a hefty fine the next morning. Generally feeling like 50 midgets are having a bond fire and my sphincter is the melting marshmellow-on-a-stick.

This is the 'after' photo of my Tom Yam soup. There's no 'before' photo as I was blinded by greed and hunger that I forgot to take one. As you can see from the reminisce that it was made with love and no ingredient was spared. So good that it inspired me to post this post.

Now here's the thing, if Tom Yam is made right, the balance of all the five fundamental flavors come together in glorious harmony. To much of one, and it all goes to shit. Literally. Every time I sat down and ordered, I would say to the cook, "make it as spicy as locals like it". Expecting it to burn like in the past, I was pleasantly surprised this was not the case. A good indication that its great Tom Yam, your nose starts to run and you can feel your sinus clearing. It should not feel like hot acid being poured down your throat. I normally tear up in pain and frantically guzzle down gulps of water with every spoonful. Not this time. Oh no. This time, my tears were of joy and my grin was that of a giddy school girl.

One last thing, I noticed that at all the various eating establishments throughout my time in Bangkok, one practice was evident. The cooks would almost always create each individual dish one at a time. This seemed inefficient at the time as there was always a long queue. I also noticed that Thai people seem to be not hurried when it came to food. They are willing to wait. They obviously take their food very seriously. As we all should, I suppose. I realize now, that by cooking each meal (or portion) individually, the exact amount of ingredients can be maintained every time, thus ensuring 'the balance of flavour'. The Thais have definitely got it right. Decades of trial and error. Years of mothers passing down those little culinary secrets to future generations. Ultimately forever insuring that the sheer elegance of Thai cuisine lives on forever...