Comparing restaurant prices between Hua Hin and the UK

[REEM]

A box of frozen prawns in the UK could easily set you back £50 in the UK.

£12/kilo in Aldi. Tiger king prawns from a high street fishmonger, £25 to £30.

[dtaai-maai]

... a high street fishmonger...

Few and far between these days!

[REEM]

... a high street fishmonger...

Few and far between these days!

Not really, certainly less than a few years ago, but they do exist and there are many online coastal fisheries that home deliver inland on a daily basis. Our local market has half a dozen traditional fishmongers, and butchers shops.

Food has certainly increased in price in the UK over the past couple of years, but the supermarkets, unlike the cartel supermarkets in Thailand, are extremely competitive.

Eating out in the UK is a lot more expensive than Thailand, for the reasons already given. What I like about the Thai restaurant scene is that it caters for all budgets, you can eat at a street stall or tin top cafe for 70 or 80 baht a plate, or you can eat in a "proper" restaurant for Western prices.

In the UK, eating out entails a large outlay, it is just not possible to do it on the cheap.

A decent main dish in a good pub or middling restaurant is £15-£25, that's Northern England, in London you can easily spend 2X or 3X that.

Food and products in Thai supermarkets are certainly no bargain, and in many cases as pricey as in the UK, and with Thai or Chinese sourced fresh produce there are no guarantees whatsoever as to the chemicals, i.e. poisons, that have been used in their production. Food standards and compliance with them is virtually non existent.

[buksida]

Food has certainly increased in price in the UK over the past couple of years, but the supermarkets, unlike the cartel supermarkets in Thailand, are extremely competitive.

Food and products in Thai supermarkets are certainly no bargain, and in many cases as pricey as in the UK,

Its been my observation for some time now having spent enough time in both!

[HHTel]

Aren't these comparisons rather pointless. Expats here are living mostly on UK money so things are bound to appear cheaper. If they had to live on an average Thai income they would think differently.

More relative would be comparing how an income for a Thai family is split vs the same in say the UK. i.e. what percentage of income is spent on food, rent, clothing, utilities etc. That would give a much fairer comparison.

The average salary in England was £39,452 for those working full-time, and £13,845 for part-time jobs.

That equates to around 138,000 baht per month. The average in Thailand (2023) is around 15,000 per month.

Comparisons need to be like for like with all that entails.

[Big Boy]

A box of frozen prawns in the UK could easily set you back £50 in the UK.

£12/kilo in Aldi. Tiger king prawns from a high street fishmonger, £25 to £30.

I am talking at least 15 years ago. Maybe the supply chain has improved.

[Edit] Or maybe the boxes were bigger back then. We used to get a fairly big box from Billingsgate - not your average retail pack.

[caller]

The average salary in England was £39,452 for those working full-time, and £13,845 for part-time jobs.

That figure scared me, as it seems so high. And it is indeed the sum total simply divided by the number of employees, so somewhat skewed, as not taking into account industry or business worked in. When that is all factored in, as far as I can tell, the average salary comes down to 33k for those working full time, still much higher than I imagined. But obviously there are regional differences. And that is gross pay, so doesn't factor in tax paid, mortgages etc, But this is a big jump from when I last could be bothered to look. Seems to me there have been some pretty decent salary increases taking place to deal with inflation.

[STEVE G]

Since my partner started a small business during Covid, sometimes I find myself having to feed myself in Hua Hin and not being an enthusiastic cook, I often go out early in the morning looking for food.
I'm in Hin Lek Fai and around Mon Mai market area I can find locals selling bags of homemade food for minimal prices, I buy a couple of different ones and stick them in the fridge for heating up later.
There is nothing in Europe that compares for anything like the price, even if you multiplied it up to account for cost of living, salaries etc.

[dundrillin]

On my recent visit to the UK I found the Thai restaurant chain Thaikhun very good value for money and my wife said it was very authentic. On a smaller scale Abbie's Thai in Earls Court , London was a very busy family type restaurant, very much like the real thing and again reasonable. 55 pounds for 3 main courses , as usual 1 for me and 2 for my wife plus 2beers.

[404cameljockey]

I’ve visited India countless times on business and sampled a good number of “authentic” Indian Curries, which are generally quite different than those served in the UK. I’ve also had the Sri Lanka versions of their curries (some of them fiercely hot!!).

My Indian customers allways wanted me to visit, but I always demurred, shame really.

In Dubai we had a lovely Sri Lankan maid (still in touch) who cooked me an evil curry or several before my family came out there to live. It's true that the further south you go on the subcontinent, the hotter the food. Kashmir vs. Goa!

Enjoy your curry, I'm sure I would.