David Hare-Scott wrote:
> Ask the staff. Tell them your chilli tolerance and ask them to pick a range
> of dishes that the chef is proud of that would be suitable for Thai virgins.
> If the chef isn't proud of anything or the staff have no idea don't eat
> there.

Agreed.
As most Thai food is cooked to order, if you are afraid of chillies you can
actually specify "mai prik" meaning "no chillies" with your order.

Thai food in Thailand is very different to restaurants outside Thailand. The
virst time I visited Thailand I stayed with an ex-pat who didn't have
cooking facilities at his home. Therefore we ate out in small local Thai
places the whole month.

Many of the restaurants were the "point and hope" variety with ready-made
vats of curry and other dishes, served up on a bed of rice. "Hope" meaning
hope it's not too fiery to eat...

I actually lost about 14 pounds in that month - a lot of the food really was
literally too hot to eat. I used to love curries and fiery food before, but
it burned me out.

The second time I visited my friend had married a Thai lady who did the
cooking, and toned down a lot of it specially for me. I gained 14 pounds
that time!

Traditionally, if two or three people were sitting down to a thai meal at
home, each person would be presented with a large bowl of rice - the main
part of the meal in Thai tradition, everything else being merely
"flavouring". To signify that, if you are eating with a Thai family or
friends, good Thai table manners indicates you take a small mouthful of your
rice *before* serving yourself with anything else, because you understand
the rice is the main part.

There would be four dishes of other kinds on the table - perhaps a curry, a
soup, a vegetable dish and a "novelty", probably something like fried eggs
or steamed shellfish. Each diner takes a small amount of one of these dishes
to put on the rice, eats that, then helps themselves to more.

Unfortunately most Thai restaurants subscribe to the western idea of "one
dish per person", so unless you specify you want to dine Thai style you will
be limited to one dish plus rice - probably too generous a portion (and too
pricey) to order more unless you are in a large party of diners.

"Starters" in Thai restaurants often comprise the foods one would get on
roadside stalls in Thailand - great snacks and also great fun to eat there.
I have never tried it yet but I wonder one day, I might go to a Thai
restaurant and order *just* snacks and beer, just as one might in a bar in
Thailand.

Noodle dishes are a popular lunchtime meal, and the only food eaten with
chopsticks in Thailand since the King introduced forks and spoons in the
1940's! Knives are never seen on a thai dinner table, and unnecessary
anyway. Use your spoon in your right hand to eat - use the fork in your
left but only to load the spoon - putting your fork in your mouth is as
frowned upon as putting you knife in your mouth at western dinner tables!

Sorry have rambled on a bit - enjoy your first Thai meal and don't forget to
say "Aroy!" if it's delicious!