One of the world's most popular cuisines, Thai food is valued not only for its superb flavours and variety, but also for its low fat content and health-enhancing properties.
Although popularly considered a single cuisine, Thai food is really a mix of regional styles, namely Northern, Northeastern (or Isaan), Central and Southern. (Southern dishes, for example, often contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric. Northeastern dishes, on the other hand, often include lime juice.)
Brisbanites are spoilt for choice when it comes to eating Thai, with superb Thai restaurants and take-away outlets found throughout the city and suburbs. The Royal Thai Orchid restaurant (open at two locations, in Milton and Springwood) was the first Thai restaurant in Brisbane, and is still considered one of the best.
Some like it hot (but not everyone)...
The herbs and spices that give Thai food its unique flavours are not universally "hot and spicy" as many believe. Not everyone can tolerate fiery food and for those whose palates lean towards the "delicate", Thai cuisine offers a variety of benign, but still tasty, dishes. Try khao pad (fried rice, Thai style), pad Thai (stir-fried rice noodle dish) or rad na (wide rice noodles in gravy, with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or seafood).
A typical Thai meal consists of steamed rice with a variety of different dishes. The highly prized, sweet-smelling jasmine rice (khao) served with Thai meals is indigenous to Thailand, but widely available in Brisbane supermarkets. Sticky rice (khao neow) - a unique variety of rice that cooks up to a sticky texture - is the rice of choice in rural Northern and Northeastern Thai cuisine.
Highly aromatic curries, stir-fries and other dishes, featuring sometimes large quantities of chillies, lime juice and lemon grass, are standards on most Thai menus. And most people are familiar with classic Thai dishes like green, red and Massaman curries, khao pad (fried rice, Thai style), pad Thai (stir-fried rice noodle dish), tod man (deep-fried fishcake) and Tom yam (hot and sour soup with meat or fish).
Those with an adventurous palate should try the uniquely Thai dish called nam prik, which is a chilli sauce or paste. Often served with raw or blanched vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage and yard-long beans, it's prepared by crushing together chillies with various ingredients such as garlic and shrimp paste. Try it Thai/Western fusion style, spread on toast - if you dare!
Unlike the traditional Western style of eating, Thai dishes are not courses, and are all served at the same time. Food is shared, which enhances the communal nature of the meal.
Find using chopsticks a challenge? Not a problem - Thai food is generally eaten with a fork and a spoon.
Thai cooking schools
Exotic doesn't necessarily mean difficult. Learn the secrets of Thai cooking - from the basic skills of Thai food preparation to making your own pastes with mortar and pestle - at Thai cooking schools in Brisbane and surrounds.
Eat like a king - Royal Thai cuisine
Royal Thai cuisine - now a common offering in Thai restaurants worldwide - features menu items that were restricted to palace consumption until the late 1960s when the country's revered King Bhumibol made the recipes available to all.
Another feature of Thai cuisine - cleverly carved fruit and vegetables - was also developed at the Royal Court of Thailand, where it reached a high level of sophistication. It takes years of practice with a sharp knife and steady hand to be able to turn a piece of fresh fruit or a cooked vegetable into a spectacular work of art, but you can learn some of the simpler decorative flourishes at a Thai cooking school, right here in Brisbane.
Essential ingredients
Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, fish sauce, garlic, palm sugar, chillies, galanga (a type of ginger), coconut milk and curry pastes - you'll find all the essential ingredients of Thai cooking at your local supermarket, which makes home cooking a breeze.
One item you're not likely to find, however, is the notoriously smelly durian fruit, which is widely available - and much loved - throughout Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia. (Durian's distinctive odour - regarded as either fragrant or overpowering and offensive - has caused the fruit to be banned from certain establishments such as hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.) Say no more.
Where do you go for your favourite Thai meal? Add your comments below.
Tara Thai in the Valley is one of my favourite places to go for Thai. Granted the decor needs some work but the food is absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced. It does get quite busy on the weekends so you may want to book ahead.