Thailand is a prominent country in Southeast Asia, which is famous for its Buddhist temples, beautiful beaches and wonderful local cuisines. The tourists love the taste of Thai delicacies that has inspired the establishments of several Thai restaurants within Thailand and other parts of the world as well. People can savour typical Thai foods on their visit to these eateries and they also get a sense that they are actually in Thailand. As a result, these restaurants run successfully and are always crowded by the lovers of Thai cuisine.
Notable specialties that are found in all Thai restaurants:
- Thai cuisine consists of all extreme tastes. Thus, the customers may find the dishes to be very spicy, sour, bitter, salty, or sweet at all the Thai restaurants. People have a wide array of food options to choose from and they can choose the varieties that suits their palate.
- The cooks working in these restaurants are very careful about the proportions of the food ingredients while preparing each dish, thereby, imparting the authentic flavor to the Thai dishes that are served by them. They are particular to maintain the specific flavor and the unique aroma of every Thai food item that is sold in the restaurants.
- Various kinds of Asian spices are widely used in all the Thai dishes, which include mint leaves, shredded lime leaves, basil leaves, lemongrass, curry leaves, cilantro, garlic, green chilli, and ginger. These spices are specially treated for bringing out the special Thai flavor that marks the distinctiveness of these restaurants.
- The main course of Thai meals always consists of Jasmine rice, which is the most popular staple food of Thai people. Here, the rice is cooked with the sweet aroma of jasmine flowers while the rice remains absolutely white and light.
- Thai cooks prefer to cook the desserts with different kinds of sweet fruits, like coconut, which are combined with ground rice or wheat flour. A special essence is added for completing the preparations of these popular desserts.
- As the thai restaurants are widespread in both eastern and western countries, the Thai dishes have acquired the influences of those lands to some extent. Basically, all Thai foods have some Chinese influence, apart from the Buddhist cultural background of Thailand. Due to the arrival of Dutch, Portuguese and French missionaries in Thailand, several food ingredients introduced by them also were adopted by the Thai people during the medieval ages.
- Most of the Thai cuisines are prepared with plenty of herbs that are available in Thailand, instead of the usual spices that are used in India and other Asian countries. Moreover, the Thai curries are cooked for a long time to bring out the typical aroma and flavor of these herbs.
- Generally, coconut oil and coconut milk are the popular cooking ingredients for most of the Thai cuisines, instead of any other cooking oil or fats.
- While the meals of other countries are served in separate courses, according to the Thai culture all the foods are served at the same time to the customers.
- As Buddhist culture prohibits the killing of animals, all non-vegetarian Thai foods contain meat in shredded form, rather than in large chunks.
- An ideal Thai meal consists of a typical Thai soup of melon and pork minces, a steamed curry in sauce, a fried item in Thai style, a fresh salad of meat and vegetables, lastly followed by a dessert or fresh sweet fruit. Different kinds of sauces accompany the different dishes and are sure to tickle your taste buds.
On a concluding note, it can be said that the Thai foods served in the Thai-based restaurants are loved by people on a worldwide basis because of the amazing tastes and aromas of these food items.