favorite thai food.

[Jack the lad]

As I am fairly new to this forum I would like to ask the locals what is their favorite thai food and where best to get. Also what "unusual" thai food can you recommend.

[TypicallyTropical]

I love Thai food and I wouldn't say I have a "favorite" dish, but I had a "Chicken Chili Soup" in a restaurant near the night market and that was the best Thai dish I ever had. (I have not even seen it on the menu anywhere else.)

[Bamboo Grove]

There have been favourites that have come and gone but one that I've always enjoyed is "phat kraphao" i.e. pork, beef, shrimps or whatever with holy basil leaves. No, can't say the best place to have it, as there are hundreds of them. All with their slight differences.

[hhfarang]

Here are some of my favorite places when I strictly want good, reasonably priced, Thai food; as for the dishes, hard to recommend as there is a huge variety and taste is individual.

Sirin Hotel restaurant (downtown beside McDonalds)
Seb Nuer (on the rr tracks south of the station)
Mini Farm Kitchen (Soi 88 just west of the rr)
Tamarind (in Nong Khae across the canal beside the rr (just below and north of the flyover)) I will recommend a dish here. The duck salad with lemon sauce is the signature dish and a "must try".

[HuaHin61]

see also:
http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/vi ... 16&t=16565

[jimmy40]

Welcome Jack, i like the night market next to san paulo hospital. You can get a nice noodle dish with pork for 40 baht, from the old lady with the cart, in the food stall lane, also kims kitchen just south of the hua hin rail station is good and priced right, you can get 4 dishes from there with rice for about 300 baht, and they deliver to your hotel or whatever cheers

[Randy Cornhole]

So many places so much good food so little time...

[hhfarang]

There is now a sign up under the flyover south of town pointing to the driveway to the dirt road that Tamarind restaurant is on, but it says Ma Cham. I have heard people call it by both names but in the past the signs were only in Thai. Is that (Ma Cham or Ma Kham) phonetic for the name of the Tamarind fruit in Thai?

[Bamboo Grove]

Makahm is the word for tamarind.

[chelsea]

As I am fairly new to this forum I would like to ask the locals what is their favorite thai food and where best to get. Also what "unusual" thai food can you recommend.

If you love drinking beer/wine and eating, nothing better than Larb gai (Chicken) or Larb Moo (Pork) and if you like spicy ask for phet phet.
Is like a minced chicken or pork salad dish. Can have a good portion and still have room for more drinks.
http://www.chow.com/assets/2006/09/12_19_500x362.jpg
Would have to be my favorite Thai food. If in touristy places, ask for spicy as most times spicy taste is dummed down for those that do not like hot food and can be very disappointing if served without a bit of a kick to the taste.
As I have said many times before, BamBams place just up the road from O'Neil's bar is one of the best Thai places I have found.

[E-Dork]

Nam Tok Moo is an excellent dish which I would consider as my favourite. Spicy pork with vegetables. Again, I couldn't recommend any specific place as they all taste pretty good to me. Make sure you ask for 'Nua' (meat) as otherwise a lot of places will serve you up the fat, which, an englishman generally doesn't like.

[hhfarang]

I thought "Nua" was beef..."Moo" is pork.

[barrys]

I thought "Nua" was beef..."Moo" is pork.

Néua (เนื้อ) actually means meat or flesh, so in this case lean meat rather than fat.

[Korkenzieher]

I think neua is also used for beef, barrys. You certaily get beef if you ask for neua, though 'neua moo' would be pork meat.

Favourite thai dish: Pla thoht prik gaeng. Slam dunk! Basically a deep fried whole fish with deep slashes so that the flesh is quite hard fried. Smothered with prik-gaeng, which is a red chili base paste / sauce along the lines of (pinang) red curry but lighter and hotter. Not everywhere has it, and a lot of places don't want to serve it to a Farang because they believe we couldn't cope with it. I have had it in the Makan (mentioned above) when it has been stupendous (ordered by a thai), and also when it had to be sent back twice (and including a protest visit from the chef), because it was completely wrong, probably simply because I had the temerity to order it myself. Quite often they will try to substitute sweet & sour, or pinang sauce. For extra 'gusto' ask for dtam prik kua (or prik kua dtam), which is the roasted and lightly ground mid sized chilis! Out of this world. But not for the faint hearted. Managed to get it as Siam Siam. First time was a bit half hearted, but second time they recognised me and brought the real McCoy. You wouldn't really expect that white fish would mix that well with chili but it does.

[E-Dork]

Yes Barry's already answered the question for me.

'Neua' is used when you want the meat rather than the fat. It's also used for beef. Not sure if there is a difference in tone for the two, someone else maybe able to answer that. I have used 'Neua' when asking for the meat not the fat, and also used it when ordering a beef steak. If there is a difference between the intonation of the two it must be slight as both seems to work the same.