The next time you visit Thailand, enjoy all the street food you come across, but take your culinary adventure a bit further by also exploring Thai fine dining for a new experience.
Tourists to any country in the world, most of the time, seem to be creatures of habit programmed by travel articles they’ve read on the internet and in magazines. There are always some brave souls who love to step off the beaten path and try something new, but by and large, people want to eat food they’ve heard about or tasted before.
For most tourists to Thailand, while food is definitely on their list of things to try, they rarely stray very far from the old tried and true favourites like Pad Thai, Tom Yung Kung, or a Thai curry.
Thailand is world-renowned for the quality of its cuisine, but for many visitors to the country, Thai food is synonymous with street food. And while the street food in Thailand is excellent, it falls well short of representing the cuisine of Thailand as a whole, although many tourists believe it does.
Much More than Street Food
Thai fine dining is rarely experienced by the tourist trade on the same scale as street food is, simply because it’s not as visible. While there are thousands of street food stalls all over Bangkok, Thai fine dining restaurants are much less abundant.
But any tourist who has taken the time to seek out a Thai fine dining restaurant has come away from the experience with an entirely new appreciation for Thai cuisine.
Attention to Detail and the Seasons
They begin to understand and appreciate the artistry behind the whole concept of Thai cuisine. The balancing of the flavours, textures and aromas into a singular whole. The reliance on freshness as part of the dining experience. And how the changing of the seasons plays a role in the selection of dishes you’ll be served.
Thailand has a rich history of agriculture and raising a wide variety of crops. These crops are at their freshest at different times of the year. Skilled Thai chefs know the seasons in which their ingredients for each dish are at their freshest. They tend to cook only those dishes that they know will be the best representatives of that particular dish at the time of year that the ingredients are their peak.
Experience Thai Fine Dining
You probably won’t find a street food stall that practices fine Thai dining on your next visit to Thailand.
This type of dining experience takes a talented and skilled chef performing their magic in a well-equipped kitchen. It demands all the disciplines of a Cordon Bleu-trained chef of the level of Alain Ducasse, Julia Child or Gordon Ramsay.
Fine dining “Thai-style” takes dedication, knowledge of Thai agriculture and history, and a firm grasp on the intrinsic complexities of the flavours of Thailand. For your next visit to Thailand, get off the beaten path and make a worthwhile side trip to a fine dining restaurant in Thailand. It will provide an entirely new level to your appreciation of Thai cuisine.
