Thai

Bring on the fire! I love to see all the bits and pieces of lemongrass, thai basil, thai ginger, onions, and oh, yes - hot chili peppers! Tom Yum Soup from Mekong Restaurant.

Please click on the following links to explore the various Thai Restaurants on Oahu, Hawaii:

Page 1: Singha, Keo's, Mekong 1 and 2, Siam Garden, Siam Palace, Champa Thai, Souvaly's, Chiang Mai, Phuket Thai, Maile's Thai Bistro.

Page 2: Pae Thai, Thai Sweet Basil, Haleiwa Eats, Thai Valley, Chao Phya Thai.

Thai Fast-Food - Bangkok Chef, Thai Mixed Plate, Little Cafe Siam.

Thai food restaurants have been the most famous of Southeast Asian food types here, although Vietnamese eateries are quickly becoming just as popular, if not more so, no doubt helped along by cheaper prices. Thai foods are loved for their hot chili’s, fresh herbs, rich curries, and fragrant jasmine rice, which is a long-grain variety indigenous to Thailand, and indispensable when eating the spicy curries. Your palate will undoubtedly spring to life when enjoying a Thai meal, and your mind will be piqued wondering what the various herbs and spices are within – is it lemongrass, basil, kaffir leaves, cardamom, or tamarind? Add to that such flavorings as fish sauces, shrimp pastes, and coconut milk, and your palate will find itself on a major sensory overload. You’ll need a spoon or fork to shovel the fragrant jasmine rice, which has soaked up all those savory, delectable sauces, into your mouth. Don’t worry, because chopsticks are not traditionally used in Thailand - picking up sauce-soaked rice with chopsticks is no fun at all!

Pad Thai noodles are the Thai equivalent of chow mein in Chinese cuisine, yakisoba in Japanese, or pancit in Filipino foods. Pad Thai comes in many varieties and can be tossed with just about any type of meat, seafood, and Oriental vegetable, and garnished with ground peanuts and various herbs. The popular curries are mostly, but not always, made with a coconut milk base, and come in various, distinct flavors like yellow, red, green, massaman, sour, and Panang. Garlic chicken dishes are delicious and not the same as the very popular local-style, deep-fried garlic chicken. The Thai version comes pan-fried in a garlicky gravy that is usually served over a bed of cabbage. When ordering rice, keep in mind that if they offer you sticky rice, an authentic specialty, it doesn’t mean a little wet so the individual grains don’t fall apart so easily all over the table – it means ripping whole sections apart by hand sticky, and it’s not by accident!

Some of the best curries on the island are found at Siam Garden on Nimitz Hwy.

Thai foods are definitely meant to be eaten hot – chili hot, that is. There is mild, medium, hot, and then there is Thai-hot (your waiter will understand you)! I encourage you, within reason, not to be too much of a wimp on this matter, as there is a certain allure to going spicy that adds so much more depth to a Thai meal even aside from the health benefits like boosting metabolism (thus burning more calories) and opening the lungs and nasal passages. I, personally, often go Thai-hot and cannot imagine a Thai meal without the fire, but of course, don’t try it unless you know you have graduated from mild to medium to hot and are now ready for the next level, especially when there are young ones around. Those kinds of levels can be dangerous and should not be taken lightly.

Da Big Boy’z: So many great choices! Mekong’s, Siam Garden, Champa Thai, and Chiang Mai are all fabulous choices; Siam Palace is a humble eatery with the best Panang curry ever; Phuket Thai, Maile's Thai Bistro, and Souvaly have modern atmospheres along with great, somewhat “progressive” Thai cuisine.

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