How a Thai meal works
Rice is the centre of the meal; the Thai for “to eat” in everyday speech is กินข้าว kin khao, “eat rice”. At a shared meal each person has a plate of rice, and the other dishes go in the middle for everyone. You take a spoonful or two at a time onto your rice, rather than filling your plate at once, and a serving spoon (ช้อนกลาง chon klang) often comes with each dish.
A good table balances its dishes the way a good dish balances its flavours: something soupy, such as a curry or a tom yam; a stir-fry; a sharp salad (a yam); a chilli dip (nam phrik) with fresh and boiled vegetables; and something fried or grilled. One-plate meals, such as fried rice or a rice dish with a topping, are what people eat alone or at lunch. Noodles are mostly a snack or a quick meal from a stall, and come with a condiment set of chilli in fish sauce, dried chilli, sugar and chilli in vinegar, so that each person can season their own bowl.
The four regional kitchens
Central Thai food, the cooking of Bangkok and the river plain, is what most restaurants abroad serve: coconut-milk curries, hot and sour soups, palace dishes and Chinese-Thai stir-fries, eaten with jasmine rice. Northern food, from the old Lanna kingdom around Chiang Mai, is milder and earthier, with sticky rice, herb sausages, chilli dips and curries without coconut milk, and is traditionally served on a low tray called a khantok. Isan food, from the northeast, is sour, salty and very hot: grilled meat, pounded salads and minced-meat lap with sticky rice, seasoned with fermented fish (pla ra). Southern food is the hottest of all, yellow with turmeric, rich in seafood, and shaped by the Malay and Muslim cooking of the peninsula.
| Thai | Romanised | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| ต้มยำกุ้ง | tom yam kung | hot and sour prawn soup with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaf |
| แกงเขียวหวาน | kaeng khiao wan | green curry with coconut milk and Thai aubergine |
| ผัดกะเพรา | phat kaphrao | meat stir-fried with holy basil and chilli, often with a fried egg on rice |
| ผัดไทย | phat thai | rice noodles fried with tamarind, egg, tofu, dried shrimp and bean sprouts |
| Thai | Romanised | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| ข้าวซอย | khao soi | egg noodles in a mild curry broth with crisp noodles on top |
| น้ำพริกหนุ่ม | nam phrik num | a dip of roasted green chilli, shallot and garlic, with pork crackling |
| ไส้อั่ว | sai ua | grilled pork sausage packed with herbs and curry paste |
| แกงฮังเล | kaeng hang le | a slow pork curry of Burmese origin, with ginger and tamarind and no coconut |
| Thai | Romanised | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| ส้มตำ | som tam | green papaya pounded with chilli, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar |
| ลาบ | lap | minced meat with lime, chilli, mint and toasted ground rice |
| ไก่ย่าง | kai yang | grilled marinated chicken, eaten with sticky rice and a chilli dip |
| ซุปหน่อไม้ | sup no mai | a salad of shredded bamboo shoot with herbs and toasted rice |
| Thai | Romanised | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| แกงไตปลา | kaeng tai pla | a fiery curry built on fermented fish innards, with vegetables |
| คั่วกลิ้ง | khua kling | minced meat dry-fried in curry paste with lime leaf and turmeric |
| แกงเหลือง | kaeng lueang | a sour yellow curry of fish and green papaya or bamboo shoot |
| ข้าวยำ | khao yam | rice salad with herbs, toasted coconut and a fermented fish dressing |
Ordering in Thai
The words below are in Thai script with the official RTGS romanisation, which leaves out tones; the Thai spelling carries them, and the tone rules show how to read them. Two letters are worth learning first because they start the words you will use most: ผ, which begins เผ็ด phet, spicy, and อ, the silent carrier that begins อร่อย aroi, delicious. End polite requests with ครับ khrap if you are a man and ค่ะ kha if you are a woman.
| Thai | Romanised | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| เอา … ครับ / ค่ะ | ao … khrap / kha | I’ll have … (men say khrap, women kha) |
| ขอ … หน่อย | kho … noi | Could I have … , please |
| ไม่เผ็ด | mai phet | not spicy |
| เผ็ดนิดหน่อย | phet nit noi | a little spicy |
| เผ็ดมาก | phet mak | very spicy |
| ไม่ใส่ … | mai sai … | without … (literally “don’t put in”) |
| ไม่ใส่ผงชูรส | mai sai phong chu rot | no MSG |
| แพ้ถั่วลิสง | phae thua lisong | I’m allergic to peanuts |
| มังสวิรัติ | mangsawirat | vegetarian |
| ข้าวเปล่า | khao plao | a plate of plain steamed rice |
| ข้าวเหนียว | khao niao | sticky rice |
| น้ำเปล่า | nam plao | plain water |
| หวานน้อย | wan noi | less sweet (for drinks) |
| กลับบ้าน | klap ban | to take away (literally “go home”) |
| อร่อย | aroi | delicious |
| เก็บเงินด้วย | kep ngoen duai | the bill, please |
The pattern noun + mai sai + ingredient covers most needs: ไม่ใส่พริก mai sai phrik is “no chilli”, ไม่ใส่น้ำตาล mai sai namtan “no sugar”. At a noodle stall you order by naming the noodle and the soup: sen lek (thin rice noodles), sen yai (wide), ba mi (egg noodles), then nam (with broth) or haeng (dry).
Spice levels
Heat in Thai cooking comes from fresh bird’s-eye chillies, dried chilli and chilli pastes, and a cook will often adjust it to the customer. Mai phet usually gets you a mild version; phet nit noi, a little spicy, gets you what many visitors find quite hot. Som tam is pounded to order, so tell the vendor how many chillies you want: พริกเม็ดเดียว phrik met diao, “one chilli”, is a common request. If a dish is too hot, plain rice or sticky rice helps more than water.
Table manners
- Spoon to the mouth, fork to the spoon. Putting the fork in your mouth looks odd to Thais. Knives are rarely needed; food comes in bite-sized pieces.
- Take a little at a time from the shared dishes, and use the serving spoon if there is one.
- Leave the last piece on a shared plate for someone else, or offer it round first.
- Sticky rice by hand, right hand only; keep the basket closed so the rice stays moist.
- The bill is usually paid by one person, often the oldest or whoever invited the others, rather than split at the table. Offer, but do not argue too long if a Thai host insists.