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Papadave

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Papadave

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More Volts Igor

I find it impossible to get a good curry here in India, mainly because to me as a Brit. a good curry 'aint what they dish up here.

I'm with the others that think our OP has a similar problem, introduced to 'Thai' food UK style which bears little relationship to Thai food in Thailand.

Luckily I was introduced to Thai food by the Thai girlfriend of a workmate whilst sitting on a hotel room floor in HongKong with several other cute ladies, we'd got a job lot from the Panda in Wanchai if anyone remembers it. The same lady (now his wife) introduced me to my wife (in Rome of all places).

Marmite the Dog

If you go to some of the top hotels you'll find some.

William

funny enough, some of the best "Indian" food I ever ate was in Malaysia

Udonite

[quote=benbaaa;584015]Well you obviously didn't try the food at the places I went to.

I was trying to impress a girl once by my knowledge of Thai food in London. I asked the waitress (in Thai) for a som tam, and she babbled excitedly about me liking real Thai food, etc. What emerged from the kitchen was horrible - shredded carrots and sliced tomatoes doused in fish sauce and some dried chilli flakes. I complained to the waitress about it - and she looked embarrassed. She said there were no fresh chillis in the kitchen, no fresh garlic, no papaya, no dried shrimps, no cherry tomatoes, no fresh lime/lemon juice and no peanuts. Apart from that, they had all the right ingredients.

Fresh papaya is very expensive in the UK, it don't travel well and has to be flown in by air, which makes it retail at about £7 a kilo. Lots of Thai restaurants use swede instead to make som tam.

peterpan

I would certainly agree with that, the Indian food is exceptionally good, in fact most of the food I've had in Malaysia is good, even the Western.
There used to be a famous restaurant where the twin towers are now, terrific food to be had there.

Propagator

I agree with a lot of what has been said here, especially the point of engineering food to the English palate. Way back in my younger years (1960's) the abundance of Chinese and English restaurants had not really started when I left for a 9 year stint in the Army and was the out of the UK for 7 of those years.

Two years were spent in Hong Kong and thus my first intoduction to Chinese food was out there. On return to the UK the restaurants were springing up everywhere. My mates who had never been out of the UK were taken up by the taste - but I was saying it was crap food. It wasn't until I befriended one of the cooks and he then knew I had spent time in HK that I started to get some decent Chinese food.

Same applies to Indian food, this is much more designed for the English palate. Again we had befriended the owner of the local Indian restaurant, he was from Bangladesh and helped him out a lot when he started up. He honestly said that they would not eat what they served in the restaurant as it was not to their palate. Many times he would invite us to join him after they closed and eat what they did, a differance between chalk and cheese.

Of the two and only times that I have eaten Thai food in the UK, let me say that it was an experience I would rather forget. Tasteless and insipid is the only words I can use to describe it.

Loombucket

The best Thai food that I ever had, outside of Thailand, was in a small place in Brittany, France. They had three menus and you had to book about two days ahead, because the place was so popular. The first Mrs LoomB, and her brother were fans of Thai food and reckoned that it was the best that they had ever had. It was a bit hot for me but very cheap, I remember.

Texpat

Five-star Chinese restaurants in Tokyo serve soup that taste exactly like dirt. I had the shits so bad for a month in India, all I ate was rice, and we stayed in the Sheraton Agra. A Japanese noodle shop in NY's Times Square serves tiny bowls of Miso Ramen for $15 that taste like they were instant microwave jobs. Three Thai restaurants near LAX proudly served shit so rotten my wife vowed never to go back. We never did.

If you're in London, odds are the only authentic fare you'll get is English. Same for Tokyo, New York, etc ... You might like it, but it probably doesn't taste like the Real McCoy.

RandomChances

Thai food in the UK is pretty much crap....well expensive crap really. Can't wait to get back over for some of my Mother-in-laws cooking. Stopping off in Ayuttaya on the way up to stock up on crab, fish, prawns ect

Marmite the Dog

When will you be here?