<koko> wrote in message news
>
> Should I have known better than to order a Thai dish in a Chinese
> restaurant! I did it anyway and am I sorry.
>
> I've never had Pad Thai before, and I couldn't resist it.
> The ingredients in the recipes I've read have the things I really
> like, so how could I not like the completed dish.
>
> My first observation was that is was non-de script except for the
> level of spice. It was spicy enough without being overdone.
> The flavors under the spicy-ness were muddied, that's the only word I
> can think of.
> Nothing seemed to be blended well and I couldn't even distinguish any
> of the ingredients. And there definitely, positively, absolutely was
> not one iota of peanut in that dish, they didn't even wave a peanut
> over it.
>
> I'm going to try it other places and make it myself before I give up
> and decide I just don't like Pad Thai.
>
> This photo is what I brought home for the raccoons
> http://i9.tinypic.com/4ua7kax.jpg


First, many Chinese restaurants can't even cook Chinese food well. Often it
is incredibly terrible and more often still, it sucks and people don't even
know it because they never tasted anything better. Chinese food is not
supposed to be drowning in oil and full of so much MSG you have to get CPR
at an emergency room after eating it.

You found a bad restaurant. Phad Thai done properly is gastronomic heaven.
It is easily one of my all-time favorites and whenever I visit a Thai place
I always sample the Phad Thai. Thai cooking is difficult, it requires a
delicate touch and a fine sense of balance. A little too much of an
ingredient and the dish is just no good. I am still getting the hang of
Phad Thai. One day I'll get it right, it's not an easy dish to make. IMHO,
it is harder to cook Thai than a lot of Chinese cooking.

Paul