Top 5 Thai dishes you have to try once in your life

There’s nothing like being served a big heaping bowl of steamy noodles but that’s not always how this popular Thai dish was served. They’re named after the savvy vendors who used to serve Thai locals from floating kitchens on their small wooden boats (think of it as Thailand’s answer to Venice’s canals). Large bowls became too much of a hazard, so instead rice noodles (thin, wide or vermicelli) were served in small bowls of pork or beef broth, made rich and dark in colour from a small amount of fresh pork and beef blood. If you want to slurp something up that will touch you right down to your soul, the soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, garlic, and white pepper will do it for you. 

Pad kaprao is comfort food at its finest – fragrant stir-fried mince with soy, fish and oyster sauce, loads of peppery fresh Thai holy basil and a gooey fried egg served atop steamed white rice to mop up all the flavour. The smell of sauteed garlic and chilli is recognisable from any Thai street market – Thai food is famously spicy so make sure you order your dish to your liking. Whether it’s an affordable weeknight dinner at home or a flavourbomb restaurant feed, pad kraprao is usually customisable with all kinds of protein, from chicken, beef and pork to seafood and tofu.  

Named after a city in the Songkhla Province, Gai tod Hat Yai is Thailand’s flavourful version of fried chicken. Golden deep fried chicken is covered in a spice blend that’s very Middle-Eastern inspired: cumin, coriander seed and turmeric. Traditionally it’s served with crispy fried shallots and sticky rice and has quickly become the ultimate to-go snack while perusing market stalls. 

Soft egg noodles, shallots, lime and chilli oil tend to make a recipe for success. When you throw them in a thick coconut milk-based curry broth with chicken or beef and top it with crispy egg noodles for crunch, well that’s levelling up the humble soup. It’s a very classic Thai dish that manages to be savoury, salty, sour, sweet and spicy, all at the same time. Springy egg noodles swim in the broth that you can also popularly add pickled mustard greens to. 

There’s plenty of speculation why pad kee mao has been dubbed ‘the drunken noodle’ dish – some say it’s so spicy, that you need an ice-cold boozy beverage to get through, others say the fragrant comfort dish can cure any hangover. Another guess – the stir-fry process for the noodles is so quick (and sometimes haphazard) that it’s like a drunk person is making them. Whichever theory you go with, it’s undeniable that the thick flat rice noodles make an excellent mop for the mix of light and dark soy, oyster and fish sauce. The heat comes from generous amounts of fresh chilies that bring an immediate fiery kick. Choose your favourite meat or topping alongside a healthy handful of Thai basil and consider your hangover gone (or so they say).