Lowell Meets Thai Cuisine

On the suggestion of a few friends (Joy and Aaron), I decided to make a page about my experience with Thai food.  No, this won't be full of culinary reviews with wine suggestions for the food, and discussions of the ambience of a restaurant.  Instead, it will be my look at how to eat in another place from a guy that doesn't exactly have a wide range of tastes.  I grew up eating meat and potatoes.  Heck, I still like meat and potatoes.  At some point, this page may "die" a friendly death, if I end up finding lots of food to eat.  But until then...it should be fun to explore the world of food in Thailand.  One of my goals is to try everything that's at our table.  (Not that we'll order one of everything that can be found here...On one of our myriad jaunts this summer, on the shuttle to the airport in Denver, a person that had been to Thailand suggested we try "Monkey on a Stick."  He wasn't kidding.  And he said it tasted great!  Then he admitted that the first time he tried it, he didn't know what it was.  He thought it was good, so he asked what it was.  When he found out it was monkey, it didn't stop him from ordering another.  True story.  I'm not sure yet if I'll be having the monkey...I'll let you know.)

                            Scoreboard

The "food experiences" below will be placed in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest, so you can check on things without having to scroll down.  So if this is your first visit to this page, you may want to start at the bottom and scroll up, reading the caption for each picture in that order.  Most recent update:  08/05/2007.

Sunday, August 5th, 2007:  The weather this afternoon looked alright, so we were going to visit our favorite local restaurant, Annebelle's Steak.  But within a matter of minutes, we got a HUGE rain storm, with high winds and a full-on "raining cats and dogs" rain.  So...plan B.  Devin cooks something simple.  She heated up some canned corn, and made some chicken nuggets.  All good and easy to make and relatively "like home."  She also made some mozzarella cheese sticks.  They looked good at the grocery store.  But when we ate them...they tasted vaguely like fish...and just not all that good.  After reading the package, it turns out the cheese sticks were 45% minced fish meat.  Ug.  Not what we were looking for.  Silving lining:  David liked them!  Not a bad experience...just not what we expected.

Saturday, August 4th, 2007:  While staying at Rayong Resort for the new staff retreat, the whole group (spouses, kids, etc.) went to a local seafood restaurant.  Can't remember the name...I still can't read Thai...imagine that.  But the menu was quite varied.  Some of you may need to sit down before you read the list of things I tried...because you may not believe it...(See the picture to the right for photographic evidence.): 

Soft-Shell Crab
Fried Shrimp (Kind of like Tempura Shrimp)
Deer Meat with Garlic Sauce
Fried Squid
BBQ Fish (See picture...No idea what kind it was...)
Chicken Curry  (Green Curry)
Cashew Chicken
Fluffy Catfish  (Hard to describe...but I didn't really like it...)
Fried Carrots (Yep...battered and deep-fried...)
Fried Rice
Chocolate Ice Cream

Overall, this was quite the meal.  We were served a TON of food, and we all kind of shared the food.  My favorite was the Cashew Chicken...but I actually liked the shrimp...and the soft-shell crab wasn't all that bad.  The squid was a bit of a weird texture...and the deer meat was great...the BBQ fish was tolerable, but I wouldn't order it...  So far, I guess you could say my eating experiences here in Thailand have been pretty good.  The service is usually outstanding, and only occasionally the food is too spicy.  In general, us farang (Foreigners) are treated with kid gloves when it comes to spices.

Not much new to report here...Devin's been doing a good bit of cooking at home.  But we did find out that frozen food here comes really spicy!  Oh well...lesson learned.

Saturday July 28th...again no picture.  Sorry...I took it with me, but it was dark by the time we left.  We went to a restaurant right up the street called Annabelle's Steakhouse.  Don't let the name fool you.  This is a small "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant with a small store front, run by a Thai woman.  It's so small that when Devin ordered a Coke, one of the folks from the restaurant came back from the Family Mart next door with the Coke.  We shared a few big plates of food...  Grilled pork chop with fried rice and a chicken breast with a mango sauce.  Both were very good!  David had fish and chips.  Probably the biggest piece of fish he's ever had...bones still in!  The owner (I presume...) was very friendly and started some conversation with us.  As usual, she knows more English than we know Thai.  But she gave us some help with our Thai.  We now know how to ask for our check!  So far, so good, when it comes to food.  I certainly haven't stretched myself too far when it comes to exotic food, but I haven't been to McDonald's or KFC for every meal.  (Just one so far...KFC...see July 28th for that...)   And as usual, the food was good, and relatively inexpensive.  Although this place was a bit more costly...but the portions were bigger also.  We figure we'll split a dinner next time.

Sorry...no picture...forgot the camera.  At lunch on Friday, July 27th, we were at the Big C shopping center and found a place called the BBQ Palace.  I know what you're thinking.  Lowell, you're in Thailand, and you had BBQ the other day.  Well, this wasn't an American-style BBQ.  It was actually almost more Japanese style, but it had a variety of Asian food.  There was a burner on the table to grill or boil your own food, along with other menu items.  So, ladies and gentleman, mark your calendars.  I  ate a shrimp!  Yes, it's true.  And I didn't die!  Heck, after trying a bit of one shrimp, I ate another!  Well, except for the tail.  Now for the truth...it was a fried shrimp with a good batter.  But that's about 1 and 1/2 shrimp more than I've had my entire life!  Remember the movie "What about Bob?" with Bill Murray.  Baby steps.  That's what I'm taking.  Baby steps.  The only other excitement was that David's lip seemed to swell a bit.  Since he has a peanut allergy, we always watch his face when we eat.  Our bad Thai isn't up to speed yet on how to announce his peanut allergy...and lots of food uses peanut sauce...  So we gave him some Benadryl and kept an eye on him.  He did fine...so no problems.  Not sure if there really was peanut, or if it was parent-peanut-paranoia.  (Say that five times fast.)  Either way, all is well.  While it may not seem like that big of a deal to you, I'm actually quite proud of myself for eating something I don't normally eat.  Even if it was a measly shrimp.

Wednesday July 25th...today was a cool day.  The morning started with us securing our apartment.  (See pictures here.)  Then our "welcoming committee" chairman Jim took us into downtown Pattaya to a huge market complex called Carrefour.  They have a large "food court" similar to many American malls.  But here you buy a coupon (like a gift card) loaded with Thai Baht to purchase food.  Jim likes BBQ, so we took him to Bob's BBQ and Mexican Grill.  So food for four was under $10.  Amazingly cheap food, and fairly good quality.  This particular place would fit in at any food court at Southcenter, or any other mall you've been to. 

You're probably ready to ask...So what about eating non-Western food, Lowell?  Just read on!

So while going through Carrefour and looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, Jim pointed out a fruit called Rambutan.  Check out the picture on the right...that's the stack of them.  The price:  18 THB per kg.  In other words, over two pounds of this fruit is about 55 cents.  Amazing prices.  (Another example:  A full fresh pineapple was also 18 THB.  Don't be too jealous.)

So Jim just pulls one of these fruit off the stand and shows me how to eat it.  Standard practice to try a fruit before purchasing...so I grab one, pull it open by shoving my thumb to break it open...and pop the white fruit into my mouth.  There's a seed in the middle, so you have to chew carefully...then spit the seed out.  And truthfully, this fruit is pretty good.  We bought some to bring home.  And besides...it looks cool!  I bet you don't have these at your local supermarket.  Next fruit to try:  Dragon Fruit.  So the food adventure continues.  I feel like I have a long ways to go before I am "fully integrated" into eating local food, but I'm making progress.  So...honestly...did you ever think you'd say I enjoyed trying new food?  Nope...me either.

Dinner on Tuesday, July 24th, in Sri Racha was at a steak house called Silom steak house.  It had an eclectic menu, with steaks, pork, chicken, etc.  There were six of us (Devin, Lowell, David, our touring host Jim and his two kids) and Jim's son Robert ordered two entrees.  We split four pitchers of soda.  Total, with tip:  Under $20.  And the food was good.  It is an "open air" restaurant, with a huge door leading into the restaurant.  It's under cover, inside the building, but open to the air, which makes it hot for newbies like me.

I increased my vocabulary by three phrases.  I learned how to say water, ice, and thank you.  (nam, nam kang, and kap korn kap, respectively)  Thai language certainly doesn't translate into English spelling very easily...hehehe...

Good food, though.  And the menu was in Thai and English, so no problem ordering.  One thing I noticed, though, is that I'm significantly larger than most folks here, so sitting at some of these tables is not always comfortable.  Yes, I know...I'm bigger than most folks at home also...but here the difference is much more significant!  And yes, I knew that I'd be bigger than everybody here.  Oh well...makes for some interesting looks!

One other thing I've noticed so far is the service is quite good.  They don't hesitate to throw tables together for bigger groups, and are quite accommodating of our language barrier, often finding somebody in the restaurant that speaks some English to help us order.  I am impressed.

Monday July 23rd, two locals associated with my school took us to a restaurant up the street.  I'm not even sure of the name.  Based on the sign, the name of the restaurant is "Restaurant."  It was run by a Thai woman and a German guy.  As you might guess, this made for quite a varied menu.  Have you ever been to a restaurant where you could get a brat with sauerkraut for an appetizer, followed by curry soup, with mango sticky rice for dessert?  No?  Me either.

The restaurant was tucked into this little space on the side of the street.  One of our hosts is Thai, so she got things ordered for us, asking that David's hot dog be cooked without peanuts.  (Still one of our concerns about the food here...with David's allergy.)

We had Coke and Sprite to drink...tasted just like home...

Our lunch was "family style" with four entrees in the middle and white rice.  We had sweet and sour chicken, a red curry chicken, a pork omelet (Yep...it was an omelet...for lunch), and a spicy soup.  The first three dishes were mild for us farang (foreigners), but the soup was a bit spicy.  Well, it was spicy for us, but not for the locals...hehehe.

I never did try the soup.  I intended to, but it was almost gone by the time I was ready, then we had to go.  But Devin tried it, and said it was OK, if a bit on the spicy side.  As for the other three dishes, they were all great.  I've never had omelet with white rice before...not a bad combo.  And the other two dishes were great also.

So far, so good!  (Well, except I didn't try everything that was ordered...but it was the first day, after all.)