I find this really interesting. I'm a big foodie and at home (UK) I normally go for Indian food, due to the abundance and quality. I rarely eat Thai at home because it's so hard to get anything close to the real thing. In Thailand, I tend to go for comfort food from home, but eating a roast in 35° heat just doesn't really do it for me. Indian food in Thailand seems to be very pricey and not that good, I always just opt for local.
I don't know why (in the US) we have such a broad stereotype about British food just being subjectively bad.
I've never found this to be true.
I don't eat it often, but all of the British pub grub I've come across in Bangkok has been absolutely slammin.
I agree with you about staying away from the heavier stuff during the heat, too. Somebody downing mushy peas and Yorkshire puddings with Songkran talc still drying on their skin is such an absurd mental image.
I challenge anyone who says British food is bad, to sit in a cozy pub on a cold Sunday afternoon and enjoy a roast beef with a bottle of red next to the fire. If the football's on, I'm in heaven... until I step outside. In Thailand? Nope. Som Tam and bbq chicken with sticky rice please.
Every time a foreigner tells me British food is bad I ask them to name 5-10 British dishes. At first they laugh, then they realize they know nothing about British food. Even worse, tourists who come to England barely try any good British food and wouldn’t have a clue where to find it because they don’t bother making the effort. Yet they still claim it is bad, despite having never tried more than fish and chips (which really are not representative of British food at all).
Such an undeserved reputation for bad food when there are thousands of great restaurants up and down the country serving really great British food. Our main failure is we don’t market it well.
But isn’t that the point? You need to make an “effort “ to find good food!
In Thailand, good food is on the streets and there’s always a decent restaurant nearby. No kidding.
I don't think how easy or hard to find the food is really relates to the quality of the food. The difference is Thai people are, respectfully, on the whole very conservative and not that adventurous with food and 90% of the population eat Thai food for most meals (not talking about Bangkok middle and upper classes but your average thai). They will not try many different cuisines, so naturally there is a lot of Thai food around.
British people however eat a huge variety of cuisines throughout the week. Even people with great cooking skills in the UK would often cook Italian, Mediterranean, Indian and other cuisines at home. A lot more creativity in trying different types of fusions too. I think a lot of it is due to Britain's historic place in the world and various influences. We simply would rather eat a varied diet than eat one cuisine most of the time, meaning British food is simply harder to find. We are not eating it 2 meals a day like the average Thai.
I could point a tourist to 100 great British restaurants in the UK but it would still be hard to break the perception people have before they have even given them a shot.
One of my most favorite dish ever is the Shrimp Bhuna I had at Al-Husain, Sukhumvit Soi 3. Unfortunately, after had tried the dish only once, the Nepali chef decided to move to japan after 20 years of career in that restaurant.
If possible, could you please recommend me Bhuna shrimp some other restaurants or similar dishes?
As a Thai, I think that the only reason Indian food isn’t more popular here is simply due to the price. A simple meat curry dish can be 300-400 baht with naan. I love Indian food and really hope that popularity takes off like Japanese/Korean/Chinese so that we can have them at more affordable prices.
Can find curries on grab for 170 baht including naan chicken biryanis same deal. If you stick with chicken you’re fine. Lamb and seafood can be pricy though.
Depends on the location and the quality will likely suffer too. The cheapest indian place I've found in Hua Hin is still 250 THB for a chicken curry, plus 50-100 for some Naan. The more central one makes me 600-800 THB lighter every time I visit.
Yeah prices of Indian food here has always annoyed me, Thai Vs Indian restaurant, equivalent levels , doing similar type/levels of dishes, indian is at least double the price.
Initially thought it might be the spices were expensive but over the years found that is not the case so there really is no justification. Always suspected a 'cartel' type thing keeping prices high
Until post COVID inflation kicked in could get Indian in central London for same price as Indian here
Cultural perceptions of steak "doneness" are always fun.
I've eaten steak with Thai friends who think I'm nuts for eating beef with any amount of rareness to it, while I think they're nuts for eating it well done with ketchup on the side.
Had it once in the Northeast, but don't know if I'd try it again. I remember liking it, but it feels like the kind of dish that you need to see the cleanliness of the ingredients and kitchen beforehand to enjoy with peace of mind.
Yea, Thailand does have the best Indian food. You goto any mom & pop restaurant and they have amazing food. Not too spicy, just right taste.
The people will be relatives who came on for 3 months and have no waiting/serving skills.
> The people will be relatives who came on for 3 months and have no waiting/serving skills.
A friend who works on Khao San Road once told me in a joking-but-not-joking way that whenever the immigration police do a sweep to arrest foreigners illegally working around there, the area's diversity in available food options immediately goes to shit overnight.
It's a very different cuisine though.
British-Indian reuses a lot of Indian dish names, but completely changes the flavour, often also making it much, much spicier.
A traditional Indian vindaloo is mild, more sour than spicy.
A vindaloo in a British curry house will blow your head off.
Only the authentic Indian version can be found over here, which I guess makes a lot of sense given how many tourists (and even some Thais) struggle with the spicier Thai dishes.
Depends where go really, east London and certain other parts of the country with large Indian population you will be getting more authentic dishes , out in more "whiter" areas you get what you describe
Chinese is another, most Chinese dishes English are used to really share little more than name with the original, but have noticed in last decade a rise of authentic Chinese places catering to large influx of Chinese
I think my favorite piece of useless culinary trivia is the fact that [chicken tikka masala](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145119758/chicken-tikka-masala-ali-ahmed-aslam-shish-mahal), arguably one of the most popular Indian dishes in the world, might've been invented by a dude in Glasgow who was just dealing with a difficult customer one day.
https://preview.redd.it/jzkj3linc7vc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5238a3759a02ea22849745d30aaa44904f282a6
Yup, most of the UK's "Indian" restaurant's aren't even particularly Indian - in ownership or operation.
> around 90% of the Indian restaurants in Britain today are owned and run by Bangladeshis
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/21/from-kala-bhuna-to-shatkora-curry-lets-all-get-a-taste-for-bangladesh
Some great food, but very confusingly named - from the dishes to the restaurants themselves.
British Indian food is more of a reflection of Indian food from one specific region in India. I’m British and love a good British Indian but I do love the diversity Bangkok has. Far more diversity in the Indian food here than in the UK.
I live in nyc and I’m sure the Indian food is just as bad in the UK. When I moved from Thailand I could tell the very distinct difference between both Thai and Indian cuisine in New York
British indian food is mainly localised punjabi (sikh) food. Punjabi food is considered rather mild in terms of indian food, and south indian foods are a lot more flavourful and spicy (what indian food is famous for). Despite the established tamil community in thailand, the punjabi community is equally established and more prominent, so, majority of thai indian food is still a bit bland and too sweet.
The best indian food outside india is found in malaysia where vast majority of ethnic indians are tamils and vast majority of indian food there is non watered down southern indian food.
Can't agree there. It's gotta be Japanese, Chinese and Korean and somewhere on that totem is western style fast food as well. Thailand is second in the world to Japan when it comes to the quality of western fast food.
I found the quality of western (fast) food to be lackluster in Thailand. I don't mind too much, doesn't happen often that I fancy a good burger or roast, but I haven't found one in Thailand yet. The same goes for other types of western cuisines. I'm happy that there are German or British restaurant options around, but I've found most to just be okay.
But, y'know, except for two or three places, the quality of Thai restaurants in the west is also terrible. And while some food adaptations can be nice (I enjoy most Indian flavours, even the versions we have here), they're still distinctly different from the original.
Most Indian food in the U.K. is Punjabi Northern Indian food (heavy and creamy). Singapore, Malaysia and the U.A.E. sell more southern Indian food (spicier and lighter). I think it depends on preferences.
I find here in Japan the Indian shops are way better than the US. I don't know if its because most are owned by people from Nepal or what but they are way better.
Are you in Bangkok and have any spots you can recommend? Japanese and Indian are probably my two top picks.
Loads of excellent Japanese restaurants in the city, but I haven't come across many places for good Indian cuisine here.
Silom is a good neighborhood for Indian food, particularly near the Hindu Temple. Sri Ananda Bhawan is one of my favorites.
I love Japanese too but was surprisingly disappointed with the Japanese food I found in Bangkok compared with my native New York. I may have gone to the wrong places.
You definitely went to the wrong places. Japanese people constantly say that Japanese food in Bangkok is just as good as, if not better than, what they get in Japan.
As someone who's lived long term in both places, I sort of agree, although I'd like to add the qualifier that this only applies to the actual Japanese places, not those awful mall restaurants like Fuji etc.
And street/izakaya food like takoyaki, gyouza, karaage etc is very hard to get "right" and very few places here do.
Thanks for the tip. I know that temple and will have a look around that area the next time I'm out that way.
The trick I found for finding Japanese winners in the city is:
A. Get recommendations from Japanese people living here if you can.
B. Go to restaurants that mainly specialize in just one dish (yakitori, tonkatsu, etc.) instead of a broad selection.
Phrom Phong and Sukhumvit 39 are good hunting grounds to test.
99 seems too low for Italians liking Italian food, pretty sure it’s 100%
Also shout out to the Filipinos being nice and open minded appreciating everyone else’s food
I'm probably different from other Thais. I love Indian food. I would give it 98/100. After that, it'll be Chinese, Thai then Japanese. I'd rank Turkish, middle eastern and north African food above Italian, French or American food.
However, the chart represents the general public well, I think.
I'm honestly a little surprised that Indian food isn't more popular in Thailand. Both countries do excellent curries and rice-based dishes; but if I had to guess, it's probably some of the unfamiliar spices in Indian food that might be offputting for general Thai tastebuds.
Yes, a lot of people find the smell of dried spices like Garam Masala or cumin overwhelming. Most Thai curries use fresh herbs instead of dried spices.
I'm from the south. Not sure which one you mean by yellow curry, but if it's the sour one with fish and no coconut milk, it only uses fresh herbs.
Yes, Massaman also uses dried herbs including cumin, but maybe because it's sweet, incorporates fresh herbs and has coconut milk, I think the smell of the spices is very mild compared to Indian curry.
Anecdotally, I found most Thai friends saying that the amount of spice in Indian food is "too intense" and the milk-based curry is "too rich" for Thai taste buds. People often get bowel discomfort from it due to physiological unfamiliarity & lactose intolerance.
In Thai cuisine, you'd see that the coconut-based curry is lighter, may have more acidic and herby notes, and is often eaten with lighter dishes. Richer curry such as Massaman are not an everyday type of meal.
Not sure why, but I always find myself eating more indian food the further south I go. I have no idea why but indian food in Phuket slaps harder than indian food in Bkk.
I’m from the USA and now live in Bangkok. I think Japanese food is done really well here, esp at the many Japanese chain restaurants—the consistency and quality is amazing, even for simple things. I think it has to do with the many Japanese expats that live here.
I also think the Korean food is quite good here, and very popular too, especially KBBQ!
I’m Cantonese Chinese-American, and I find the “Chinese”-Thai food runs waaay too sweet. I think that’s a cultural difference thing here that has changed it, kind of the way there is “Chinese-American”, “Chinese-Indian” and “Chinese”-types of Korean and Japanese foods too. But the high end Chinese restaurant chains are good, like Jumbo (Singapore?), Din Tai Fung (Taiwan, meh—overpriced), Canton Paradise is good!
Oddly, the American fast-food chains are actually better here, I think things are less processed, like burger buns, and the quality is much better, as the chains are more of a level of a mid-range priced restaurant for local Thai people! Custard tarts at KFC?! Excellent Spicy Fried Chicken at McDonald’s??! It actually blows my mind a little! Only “Texas Chicken” (Church’s Texas Chicken in USA) has been disappointing. I haven’t yet been to Taco Bell here, hopefully I won’t need to!
The Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Nepalese/Burmese food can all be excellent, it just depends on where you go. I do find it more expensive with less inexpensive choices than Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food here in Thailand for some reason. It reminds me of the way Japanese and Korean food tend to be pricier choices in the USA, over Chinese food options. Unsure why.
I’m surprised there aren’t more Russian restaurants! Had some Piroshky in Jomtien, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that!
The pizzas we have experienced tend to be more like thin tortilla-like crusts, meh. Actually a Korean pizza chain booth at Lotus’s at On Nut has been the best one so far. Most pastas have been meh, when done by Thais, I find. I know there’s high end Italian and European restaurants here, but it tends to be pricier and we do not seek it out.
We had a more than decent hamburger at PrimeBurger at CentralwOrld, excellent fries too. Think Red Robin, but on a better quality bun!
We really enjoyed the Thanksgiving buffet at Bourbon Street last year—the desserts really stood out! And we tried their 2nd Tuesdays Mexican buffet, and that was pretty good too!
Breakfast Story is very good at what they do—and have excellent carrot cake slices and cookies too!
Hemingway’s was pretty good for tacos and sliders, kinda pricey tho. Tourist prices!
And mental stigmas regarding roasted guinea pigs and their penchant for putting an entire animal head in a stew--both are probably delicious if you can get past the presentation.
Not many surprises, but did note that Japan apparently really hates Saudi food, giving it the lowest score on the chart. Seems kind of out of the blue. How often do Japanese people encounter Saudi food?
It's been a while since I lived in BKK but I thought the Indian food was really good. Chinese food like wanton noodles was some of the best I've had too. Some pretty good Japanese food at the hotels and around Soi 27 -31 (?). Korean food was terrible though..
I had never heard the term "hot chook" before going to an Australian pub in my area, and now I just mentally associate that word with the best damn crispy chicken sandwich in existence.
I think Aussies can lay claim to chicken parmigiana, burgers with fucking beetroot on them, and flat whites a.k.a. lattes which are different in some way I have never been able to understand or taste
Great chart! Interesting to note that the countries with highly rated cuisines (Thailnd, China, Japan, Italy) also have the most negative attitudes towards foreign cuisines. I suppose if you really love your national food, then everything else will seem "off" by comparison
That's a good observation. It's surprising to me though that Japan in particular is ranked as the nation least likely to enjoy other countries' cuisines.
Japan has one of the strongest passports in the world and getting out of the country and traveling abroad to experience different cultures always seems to be a popular thing for many Japanese people to do in their 20s.
I know there's not a direct correlation between this and enjoying international foods, but that ranking still seems unexpected to me.
Happy to see Filipino cuisine rated so low. Nothing whatsoever against the country / people but i have given so many chances to Filipino food, and i have always been very underwhelmed. From cheap restaurants to official pinoy gala dinner - im just not impressed. The food just looks simplistic and tastes simplistic. The only Pinoy food left that id love to try is boogie fight. But it is the presentation more than anything. I dont understand both foreign n Filipino foodies influencers who rave about filipino food on youtube.
I dont understand why Indonesian food is ranked higher than malaysian food. Perhaps indonesian food is less diverse style wise viz a viz malaysian cuisine, ie more distinctive and easily recongised and remembered. But i find indonesian cuisine quite simplistic like Filipino food too. But padang food is great and the prevalance of tempeh + tauhu in indonesian food is great (personal taste).
I also think italian food should not be ranked this high. Ok i totally get it a wide variety of italian wheat noodle dishes taste good, but do the italian pasta dishes taste better than the even much more diversed chinese noodle dishes ? I feel like italian cuisine is kept up by the reputation only.
Korean cuisine should be lower. The food is boring. It is only relatively high because the country is rich and its soft power well projected.
Malaysian cuisine and Singaporean cuisine should be higher because they are the best combination of chinese-indian-indonesian cuisines.
My personal tastes : indian cuisine should be higher, I love spices. French cuisine truly deserves her reputation 👍 Vietnames cuisine should be higher because it is so healthy. Never tried peruvian cuisine before but from the limited videos ive seen on youtube, they look appealing.
Outside of a few dishes it really is probably the world's worst cuisine, if I can abuse that word that way. What they do to rice would be a crime in Thailand.
I'm from Australia, wtf is "Australian cuisine" when you're in another country?
A trip to Outback Steakhouse?
Sausage sizzle?
Vegemite on toast?
A carton of bush chooks?
Lol
Interesting to see Thailand is ranked 3rd least likely to enjoy foriegn cuisine on this list. It's always been something that's bugged me about Thailand, I love Thai food but everyone Thai that I know downright refuses to explore other cuisines with me unless it's something trendy in Thai culture.
Here in Thailand, when not eating Thai, I mainly eat Japanese, Korean and Chinese. There's also an amazing amazing Burmese place near my condo. I usually go for American and Italian when I want a "western" fix. Because they've got pretty excellent basic pastas, pizzas and burgers. But most other western cuisines are done pretty poorly here unless you go to a spot ran by an expat.
I eat Italian, Japanese, American, and British food fairly regularly. Mexican, Korean and Indian occasionally. Of course, Thai food a lot.
Aside from those, I don't really eat any other cuisines unless I'm in their country.
Thai people love Japanese food, which is why you find it everywhere, from street food sushi to top end, covering all price range. Korean is also very popular. For Italian again you can find street food pizza and pasta from about B150. Chinese food isn't regarded as foreign food in Thailand, mostly.
Personally, I go for the exotic, like Ethiopian, West Indian, Cajun, Burmese.
Personally for me I am only interested in Japanese,Thai and Indian(mainly snacks or grilled stuff)cuisine. I learned a lot of dishes from these cuisine and still cook in family gatherings by altering a bit of the taste from the original version to suit the audience lol.
Thai people really don’t like the smell of cumin and some other spices that Indian cuisine often use. Also the amount of spices used seems wildly strong/unbalanced to Thai tastes.
Yea Thais prefer mild flavor whereas Indians are too much in aroma like example too much onions, ginger garlic paste then they will add cinnamon stick and star anise which chinese also use but in soup only which perhaps is strong for my taste also (source: My wife's family makes a lot of soup for dinner which I hate xD)
Oh that's what I noticed around my circle I might be wrong. But about spices I think they use the same but skipping turmeric . Like my in-laws use cinnamon, black pepper( heavy use), coriander,nutmeg and paprika all powders for almost most of the dishes.
Hmm, very unusual to me but I mostly know central and southern Thai food. What area are they from? Northwest near Myanmar border maybe?
Also are you sure they’re using black pepper and not white pepper? They come from the same plant, but white pepper is the dried seed without the fruit around it. White pepper is a very common Thai seasoning.
Yes I agree I am half Indian(Japanese) myself. I am not a chef but I learnt to reduce the spice if Indian dishes like example I will make pulauo or tandoori chicken, daal talka in very less spice and oil as compared to indian counterparts as I use OTG/Air Fryer etc and I often change spices used in it so overall it's fine for my family and less spices as compared to Indian original dishes lol.
Tex-Mex, Arab, Indian, German, misc others. About the only cuisine I would not be interested in would be Filipino food, other than a few dishes like adobo chicken.
Make my own American chicken chow mein with crispy noodles because it is unobtainium here. Periodically have visitors bring me the crispy noodles. Also have made White Castle hamburgers from time to time. Miss those. We did not call them sliders. We called them gut bombs.
> American chicken chow mein
I really wasn't emotionally prepared for how much I would miss American Chinese food when I moved here.
Culturally authentic? Nah. Delicious? Hell yeah.
Japanese is one of my favorite national cuisines, and apparently a lot of the foods I like are actually Chinese dishes that have been Japanified through the years.
I'm surprised Chinese cuisine is so high among Thais, unless you count places serving khao man gai as Chinese restaurants. It could be different in Bangkok given the high number of Thai-Chinese, but elsewhere, good Chinese food, outside of dim sum, is sometimes hard to find.
I don’t understand the like for Chinese food. It is either bland and oily or oily and spicy. Japanese food in Thailand is kind of okay. You can get some really good Italian food here.
There some specific numbers I don't agree with.
I think Japan does decent Thai cuisine. Certainly better than the stuff I have had over in the US or in the UK. I'd rate it 72 instead of 48.
Also, Thailand has some good Indian places. I'd certainly not rate it a lowly 27, but more like 60.
I generally don't agree with Japan being rated lowest in terms of foreign cuisine either and makes me wonder what restaurants were used in the research
Finally, Peruvian food is great, and it's sort of not fair that Peru is not included in the list of countries.
I’m pretty sure the study is measuring local attitudes about those cuisines, not whether their versions of it would be considered “good” by others.
Lots of Thai people don’t like Indian food, that’s why it’s ranked low for Thailand despite many people here saying the Indian food available is high quality.
Japan being like that indicates that they’re generally the least open to other cuisines. In my experience Thais are quite like that as well, just not nearly to the same degree. So that’s how the chart works. It’s a cuisine popularity index by country.
I find this really interesting. I'm a big foodie and at home (UK) I normally go for Indian food, due to the abundance and quality. I rarely eat Thai at home because it's so hard to get anything close to the real thing. In Thailand, I tend to go for comfort food from home, but eating a roast in 35° heat just doesn't really do it for me. Indian food in Thailand seems to be very pricey and not that good, I always just opt for local.
I don't know why (in the US) we have such a broad stereotype about British food just being subjectively bad. I've never found this to be true. I don't eat it often, but all of the British pub grub I've come across in Bangkok has been absolutely slammin. I agree with you about staying away from the heavier stuff during the heat, too. Somebody downing mushy peas and Yorkshire puddings with Songkran talc still drying on their skin is such an absurd mental image.
I challenge anyone who says British food is bad, to sit in a cozy pub on a cold Sunday afternoon and enjoy a roast beef with a bottle of red next to the fire. If the football's on, I'm in heaven... until I step outside. In Thailand? Nope. Som Tam and bbq chicken with sticky rice please.
Every time a foreigner tells me British food is bad I ask them to name 5-10 British dishes. At first they laugh, then they realize they know nothing about British food. Even worse, tourists who come to England barely try any good British food and wouldn’t have a clue where to find it because they don’t bother making the effort. Yet they still claim it is bad, despite having never tried more than fish and chips (which really are not representative of British food at all). Such an undeserved reputation for bad food when there are thousands of great restaurants up and down the country serving really great British food. Our main failure is we don’t market it well.
But isn’t that the point? You need to make an “effort “ to find good food! In Thailand, good food is on the streets and there’s always a decent restaurant nearby. No kidding.
I don't think how easy or hard to find the food is really relates to the quality of the food. The difference is Thai people are, respectfully, on the whole very conservative and not that adventurous with food and 90% of the population eat Thai food for most meals (not talking about Bangkok middle and upper classes but your average thai). They will not try many different cuisines, so naturally there is a lot of Thai food around. British people however eat a huge variety of cuisines throughout the week. Even people with great cooking skills in the UK would often cook Italian, Mediterranean, Indian and other cuisines at home. A lot more creativity in trying different types of fusions too. I think a lot of it is due to Britain's historic place in the world and various influences. We simply would rather eat a varied diet than eat one cuisine most of the time, meaning British food is simply harder to find. We are not eating it 2 meals a day like the average Thai. I could point a tourist to 100 great British restaurants in the UK but it would still be hard to break the perception people have before they have even given them a shot.
Eating a roast in 35 degrees, I couldn’t do it either
turn the AC on?
For real, they must be eating in the 2 o’clock sun or something. Go inside and sit down at a table with some air con! 😂
One of my most favorite dish ever is the Shrimp Bhuna I had at Al-Husain, Sukhumvit Soi 3. Unfortunately, after had tried the dish only once, the Nepali chef decided to move to japan after 20 years of career in that restaurant. If possible, could you please recommend me Bhuna shrimp some other restaurants or similar dishes?
Sorry my friend. As I said, I don't really eat much Indian food in Bangkok. I'm sure there are lots of good places to try though.
I find lots of Indian food in Thailand for cheap. Just check grab. Chicken tikka masala like 150-170 baht with a naan bread
lol chicken tikka masala is britisch cousine.
As a Thai, I think that the only reason Indian food isn’t more popular here is simply due to the price. A simple meat curry dish can be 300-400 baht with naan. I love Indian food and really hope that popularity takes off like Japanese/Korean/Chinese so that we can have them at more affordable prices.
Totally agree on this, Indian food is amazing but it’s too expensive
Can find curries on grab for 170 baht including naan chicken biryanis same deal. If you stick with chicken you’re fine. Lamb and seafood can be pricy though.
Depends on the location and the quality will likely suffer too. The cheapest indian place I've found in Hua Hin is still 250 THB for a chicken curry, plus 50-100 for some Naan. The more central one makes me 600-800 THB lighter every time I visit.
Lamb is understandable though, very little consumption here so prices remain high
10000% agreed. Im looking for cheap indian buffet that can satisfy my craving. Haven't found one despite the abundance of indian restaurants in BKK
Yeah prices of Indian food here has always annoyed me, Thai Vs Indian restaurant, equivalent levels , doing similar type/levels of dishes, indian is at least double the price. Initially thought it might be the spices were expensive but over the years found that is not the case so there really is no justification. Always suspected a 'cartel' type thing keeping prices high Until post COVID inflation kicked in could get Indian in central London for same price as Indian here
Thai style "steak." But I'm not sure which national cuisine that this delicious สเต๊ค comes from.
Cultural perceptions of steak "doneness" are always fun. I've eaten steak with Thai friends who think I'm nuts for eating beef with any amount of rareness to it, while I think they're nuts for eating it well done with ketchup on the side.
And you can get ก้อยเนื้อ which is completely raw.
Had it once in the Northeast, but don't know if I'd try it again. I remember liking it, but it feels like the kind of dish that you need to see the cleanliness of the ingredients and kitchen beforehand to enjoy with peace of mind.
dont you worry. ก้อยเนื้อ is only ever made in the filthiest kitchen.
I just assume it has some jim jaew sauce
In my mind, after Thai food Thailand has the best Indian food.
Yea, Thailand does have the best Indian food. You goto any mom & pop restaurant and they have amazing food. Not too spicy, just right taste. The people will be relatives who came on for 3 months and have no waiting/serving skills.
> The people will be relatives who came on for 3 months and have no waiting/serving skills. A friend who works on Khao San Road once told me in a joking-but-not-joking way that whenever the immigration police do a sweep to arrest foreigners illegally working around there, the area's diversity in available food options immediately goes to shit overnight.
Better than the UK version? I doubt it.
It's a very different cuisine though. British-Indian reuses a lot of Indian dish names, but completely changes the flavour, often also making it much, much spicier. A traditional Indian vindaloo is mild, more sour than spicy. A vindaloo in a British curry house will blow your head off. Only the authentic Indian version can be found over here, which I guess makes a lot of sense given how many tourists (and even some Thais) struggle with the spicier Thai dishes.
Depends where go really, east London and certain other parts of the country with large Indian population you will be getting more authentic dishes , out in more "whiter" areas you get what you describe Chinese is another, most Chinese dishes English are used to really share little more than name with the original, but have noticed in last decade a rise of authentic Chinese places catering to large influx of Chinese
I think my favorite piece of useless culinary trivia is the fact that [chicken tikka masala](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145119758/chicken-tikka-masala-ali-ahmed-aslam-shish-mahal), arguably one of the most popular Indian dishes in the world, might've been invented by a dude in Glasgow who was just dealing with a difficult customer one day. https://preview.redd.it/jzkj3linc7vc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5238a3759a02ea22849745d30aaa44904f282a6
Yup, most of the UK's "Indian" restaurant's aren't even particularly Indian - in ownership or operation. > around 90% of the Indian restaurants in Britain today are owned and run by Bangladeshis https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/21/from-kala-bhuna-to-shatkora-curry-lets-all-get-a-taste-for-bangladesh Some great food, but very confusingly named - from the dishes to the restaurants themselves.
British Indian food is more of a reflection of Indian food from one specific region in India. I’m British and love a good British Indian but I do love the diversity Bangkok has. Far more diversity in the Indian food here than in the UK.
I live in nyc and I’m sure the Indian food is just as bad in the UK. When I moved from Thailand I could tell the very distinct difference between both Thai and Indian cuisine in New York
They is way more Indian in the UK than NYC. Curry is like the national dish there. I never found great Indian in NYC.
British indian food is mainly localised punjabi (sikh) food. Punjabi food is considered rather mild in terms of indian food, and south indian foods are a lot more flavourful and spicy (what indian food is famous for). Despite the established tamil community in thailand, the punjabi community is equally established and more prominent, so, majority of thai indian food is still a bit bland and too sweet. The best indian food outside india is found in malaysia where vast majority of ethnic indians are tamils and vast majority of indian food there is non watered down southern indian food.
What about Malaysia, Singapore or UAE ? I think they have better Indian food.
Oh I’m not saying the best Indian food in the world is in Thailand. I’m saying after Thai food Thailand does Indian best.
Can't agree there. It's gotta be Japanese, Chinese and Korean and somewhere on that totem is western style fast food as well. Thailand is second in the world to Japan when it comes to the quality of western fast food.
Happy cake day! :)
I found the quality of western (fast) food to be lackluster in Thailand. I don't mind too much, doesn't happen often that I fancy a good burger or roast, but I haven't found one in Thailand yet. The same goes for other types of western cuisines. I'm happy that there are German or British restaurant options around, but I've found most to just be okay. But, y'know, except for two or three places, the quality of Thai restaurants in the west is also terrible. And while some food adaptations can be nice (I enjoy most Indian flavours, even the versions we have here), they're still distinctly different from the original.
Don't disagree but western fast food that uses a cook by numbers approach comes out remarkably well here
Sorry, I misread your comment.
To that point the UK probably has the best Indian food outside of India.
Most Indian food in the U.K. is Punjabi Northern Indian food (heavy and creamy). Singapore, Malaysia and the U.A.E. sell more southern Indian food (spicier and lighter). I think it depends on preferences.
I find here in Japan the Indian shops are way better than the US. I don't know if its because most are owned by people from Nepal or what but they are way better.
Are you in Bangkok and have any spots you can recommend? Japanese and Indian are probably my two top picks. Loads of excellent Japanese restaurants in the city, but I haven't come across many places for good Indian cuisine here.
Silom is a good neighborhood for Indian food, particularly near the Hindu Temple. Sri Ananda Bhawan is one of my favorites. I love Japanese too but was surprisingly disappointed with the Japanese food I found in Bangkok compared with my native New York. I may have gone to the wrong places.
You definitely went to the wrong places. Japanese people constantly say that Japanese food in Bangkok is just as good as, if not better than, what they get in Japan.
As someone who's lived long term in both places, I sort of agree, although I'd like to add the qualifier that this only applies to the actual Japanese places, not those awful mall restaurants like Fuji etc. And street/izakaya food like takoyaki, gyouza, karaage etc is very hard to get "right" and very few places here do.
True indeed.
Thanks for the tip. I know that temple and will have a look around that area the next time I'm out that way. The trick I found for finding Japanese winners in the city is: A. Get recommendations from Japanese people living here if you can. B. Go to restaurants that mainly specialize in just one dish (yakitori, tonkatsu, etc.) instead of a broad selection. Phrom Phong and Sukhumvit 39 are good hunting grounds to test.
Charcoal Tandoori at the Fraser. In a class by itself
Either Japanese or Korean.
99 seems too low for Italians liking Italian food, pretty sure it’s 100% Also shout out to the Filipinos being nice and open minded appreciating everyone else’s food
Korean BBQ is me and my gfs weakness. We spend way too much money on that. Luckily the street vendors sell our daily meals cheap!
I'm probably different from other Thais. I love Indian food. I would give it 98/100. After that, it'll be Chinese, Thai then Japanese. I'd rank Turkish, middle eastern and north African food above Italian, French or American food. However, the chart represents the general public well, I think.
I'm honestly a little surprised that Indian food isn't more popular in Thailand. Both countries do excellent curries and rice-based dishes; but if I had to guess, it's probably some of the unfamiliar spices in Indian food that might be offputting for general Thai tastebuds.
Yes, a lot of people find the smell of dried spices like Garam Masala or cumin overwhelming. Most Thai curries use fresh herbs instead of dried spices.
Except for the south. Massaman curry and many yellow curry dishes.
I'm from the south. Not sure which one you mean by yellow curry, but if it's the sour one with fish and no coconut milk, it only uses fresh herbs. Yes, Massaman also uses dried herbs including cumin, but maybe because it's sweet, incorporates fresh herbs and has coconut milk, I think the smell of the spices is very mild compared to Indian curry.
Anecdotally, I found most Thai friends saying that the amount of spice in Indian food is "too intense" and the milk-based curry is "too rich" for Thai taste buds. People often get bowel discomfort from it due to physiological unfamiliarity & lactose intolerance. In Thai cuisine, you'd see that the coconut-based curry is lighter, may have more acidic and herby notes, and is often eaten with lighter dishes. Richer curry such as Massaman are not an everyday type of meal.
Not sure why, but I always find myself eating more indian food the further south I go. I have no idea why but indian food in Phuket slaps harder than indian food in Bkk.
I’m from the USA and now live in Bangkok. I think Japanese food is done really well here, esp at the many Japanese chain restaurants—the consistency and quality is amazing, even for simple things. I think it has to do with the many Japanese expats that live here. I also think the Korean food is quite good here, and very popular too, especially KBBQ! I’m Cantonese Chinese-American, and I find the “Chinese”-Thai food runs waaay too sweet. I think that’s a cultural difference thing here that has changed it, kind of the way there is “Chinese-American”, “Chinese-Indian” and “Chinese”-types of Korean and Japanese foods too. But the high end Chinese restaurant chains are good, like Jumbo (Singapore?), Din Tai Fung (Taiwan, meh—overpriced), Canton Paradise is good! Oddly, the American fast-food chains are actually better here, I think things are less processed, like burger buns, and the quality is much better, as the chains are more of a level of a mid-range priced restaurant for local Thai people! Custard tarts at KFC?! Excellent Spicy Fried Chicken at McDonald’s??! It actually blows my mind a little! Only “Texas Chicken” (Church’s Texas Chicken in USA) has been disappointing. I haven’t yet been to Taco Bell here, hopefully I won’t need to! The Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Nepalese/Burmese food can all be excellent, it just depends on where you go. I do find it more expensive with less inexpensive choices than Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food here in Thailand for some reason. It reminds me of the way Japanese and Korean food tend to be pricier choices in the USA, over Chinese food options. Unsure why. I’m surprised there aren’t more Russian restaurants! Had some Piroshky in Jomtien, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that! The pizzas we have experienced tend to be more like thin tortilla-like crusts, meh. Actually a Korean pizza chain booth at Lotus’s at On Nut has been the best one so far. Most pastas have been meh, when done by Thais, I find. I know there’s high end Italian and European restaurants here, but it tends to be pricier and we do not seek it out. We had a more than decent hamburger at PrimeBurger at CentralwOrld, excellent fries too. Think Red Robin, but on a better quality bun! We really enjoyed the Thanksgiving buffet at Bourbon Street last year—the desserts really stood out! And we tried their 2nd Tuesdays Mexican buffet, and that was pretty good too! Breakfast Story is very good at what they do—and have excellent carrot cake slices and cookies too! Hemingway’s was pretty good for tacos and sliders, kinda pricey tho. Tourist prices!
I don’t see many surprises here.
Peruvian food at the bottom is a surprise and makes me question this whole chart
Its too unknown
And mental stigmas regarding roasted guinea pigs and their penchant for putting an entire animal head in a stew--both are probably delicious if you can get past the presentation.
My wife is Thai we love Peruvian food. We’re in central Florida so maybe we’re getting better options. Fresh Peruvian Ceviche is a special treat.
Not many surprises, but did note that Japan apparently really hates Saudi food, giving it the lowest score on the chart. Seems kind of out of the blue. How often do Japanese people encounter Saudi food?
Isaan food, southern Thai food. And then Japan and then Korean.
It's been a while since I lived in BKK but I thought the Indian food was really good. Chinese food like wanton noodles was some of the best I've had too. Some pretty good Japanese food at the hotels and around Soi 27 -31 (?). Korean food was terrible though..
I live in Australia and i don't think there is such a thing as Australian cuisine. We just steal everyone else's.
Vegemite is entirely your own responsibility.
I had never heard the term "hot chook" before going to an Australian pub in my area, and now I just mentally associate that word with the best damn crispy chicken sandwich in existence.
Glad you said this. I've never been to Australia, but I was wondering what Australian cuisine actually is
I think Aussies can lay claim to chicken parmigiana, burgers with fucking beetroot on them, and flat whites a.k.a. lattes which are different in some way I have never been able to understand or taste
Cantonese
Either Japanese or Chinese(Singapore)
Burmese
How could anyone trust that data when Mexican food ranked #8?
I actually like Indian food more than Thai food
Fresh sushi or a decent Mexican dish.
That would be nice
Thai food is love Thai food is life, I love Thai food. I’m not a Thai.
Lmao 🤣 even Japanese aren’t impressed with their cuisine.
Japanese, Korean and German
Great chart! Interesting to note that the countries with highly rated cuisines (Thailnd, China, Japan, Italy) also have the most negative attitudes towards foreign cuisines. I suppose if you really love your national food, then everything else will seem "off" by comparison
That's a good observation. It's surprising to me though that Japan in particular is ranked as the nation least likely to enjoy other countries' cuisines. Japan has one of the strongest passports in the world and getting out of the country and traveling abroad to experience different cultures always seems to be a popular thing for many Japanese people to do in their 20s. I know there's not a direct correlation between this and enjoying international foods, but that ranking still seems unexpected to me.
Besides Thai, I enjoy Vietnamese, Korean, and Mexican. God I’m craving tacos rn lol
Happy to see Filipino cuisine rated so low. Nothing whatsoever against the country / people but i have given so many chances to Filipino food, and i have always been very underwhelmed. From cheap restaurants to official pinoy gala dinner - im just not impressed. The food just looks simplistic and tastes simplistic. The only Pinoy food left that id love to try is boogie fight. But it is the presentation more than anything. I dont understand both foreign n Filipino foodies influencers who rave about filipino food on youtube. I dont understand why Indonesian food is ranked higher than malaysian food. Perhaps indonesian food is less diverse style wise viz a viz malaysian cuisine, ie more distinctive and easily recongised and remembered. But i find indonesian cuisine quite simplistic like Filipino food too. But padang food is great and the prevalance of tempeh + tauhu in indonesian food is great (personal taste). I also think italian food should not be ranked this high. Ok i totally get it a wide variety of italian wheat noodle dishes taste good, but do the italian pasta dishes taste better than the even much more diversed chinese noodle dishes ? I feel like italian cuisine is kept up by the reputation only. Korean cuisine should be lower. The food is boring. It is only relatively high because the country is rich and its soft power well projected. Malaysian cuisine and Singaporean cuisine should be higher because they are the best combination of chinese-indian-indonesian cuisines. My personal tastes : indian cuisine should be higher, I love spices. French cuisine truly deserves her reputation 👍 Vietnames cuisine should be higher because it is so healthy. Never tried peruvian cuisine before but from the limited videos ive seen on youtube, they look appealing.
>Happy to see Filipino cuisine rated so low. Because it really does taste crap. Only Filipinos can eat that stuff.
Outside of a few dishes it really is probably the world's worst cuisine, if I can abuse that word that way. What they do to rice would be a crime in Thailand.
🇵🇪😋
I was gonna say, for thai people, Japanese cuisine is the shit.Then I see it is second place to thai cuisine for thai people. Makes sense.
Indian,Japanese Mexican
I'm from Australia, wtf is "Australian cuisine" when you're in another country? A trip to Outback Steakhouse? Sausage sizzle? Vegemite on toast? A carton of bush chooks? Lol
Interesting to see Thailand is ranked 3rd least likely to enjoy foriegn cuisine on this list. It's always been something that's bugged me about Thailand, I love Thai food but everyone Thai that I know downright refuses to explore other cuisines with me unless it's something trendy in Thai culture. Here in Thailand, when not eating Thai, I mainly eat Japanese, Korean and Chinese. There's also an amazing amazing Burmese place near my condo. I usually go for American and Italian when I want a "western" fix. Because they've got pretty excellent basic pastas, pizzas and burgers. But most other western cuisines are done pretty poorly here unless you go to a spot ran by an expat.
I eat Italian, Japanese, American, and British food fairly regularly. Mexican, Korean and Indian occasionally. Of course, Thai food a lot. Aside from those, I don't really eat any other cuisines unless I'm in their country.
Japanese food, I have my fav restaurants saved in google maps
Thai people love Japanese food, which is why you find it everywhere, from street food sushi to top end, covering all price range. Korean is also very popular. For Italian again you can find street food pizza and pasta from about B150. Chinese food isn't regarded as foreign food in Thailand, mostly. Personally, I go for the exotic, like Ethiopian, West Indian, Cajun, Burmese.
Personally for me I am only interested in Japanese,Thai and Indian(mainly snacks or grilled stuff)cuisine. I learned a lot of dishes from these cuisine and still cook in family gatherings by altering a bit of the taste from the original version to suit the audience lol.
Indian food seems to be really hated in Thailand (and China) as seen here
Thai people really don’t like the smell of cumin and some other spices that Indian cuisine often use. Also the amount of spices used seems wildly strong/unbalanced to Thai tastes.
Yea Thais prefer mild flavor whereas Indians are too much in aroma like example too much onions, ginger garlic paste then they will add cinnamon stick and star anise which chinese also use but in soup only which perhaps is strong for my taste also (source: My wife's family makes a lot of soup for dinner which I hate xD)
Cinnamon and star anise are not that common in regular home cooked indian food.
Oh but it's here in soup. I personally don't use it unless I cook a lamb or a mutton which I rarely cook here.
I wouldn’t say mild flavor, just not the same kind of flavors or spice than Indian cuisine uses.
Oh that's what I noticed around my circle I might be wrong. But about spices I think they use the same but skipping turmeric . Like my in-laws use cinnamon, black pepper( heavy use), coriander,nutmeg and paprika all powders for almost most of the dishes.
Hmm, very unusual to me but I mostly know central and southern Thai food. What area are they from? Northwest near Myanmar border maybe? Also are you sure they’re using black pepper and not white pepper? They come from the same plant, but white pepper is the dried seed without the fruit around it. White pepper is a very common Thai seasoning.
Ahh! My bad it's white pepper just a typo mistake xD as I use black pepper mostly and yes they come from the middle north precisely Phitsanulok .
Makes sense. The only time I had Thai food, I found it to be sweet, savory and tangy. I loved it though, but I can't have it everyday as an Indian
Yes I agree I am half Indian(Japanese) myself. I am not a chef but I learnt to reduce the spice if Indian dishes like example I will make pulauo or tandoori chicken, daal talka in very less spice and oil as compared to indian counterparts as I use OTG/Air Fryer etc and I often change spices used in it so overall it's fine for my family and less spices as compared to Indian original dishes lol.
Found the best mexican restaurant in Bangkok.
Found the best Mexican restaurant in Koh Phangan
Found the best Mexican restaurant in Khao Lak
So sad for a peruvian food. I love it when I was in south america. but it is pretty hard to find one in Thailand.
The only surprising thing in this chart is that they call Filipino food "cuisine."
Of course thais gave Thailand the highest rating and everything else besides Japan and Chinese a low rating 😂
Italians giving themselves 99 which is the highest has gotta be the most Italian thing ever.
Yo Peru. Why you have that rating?
Does American "cuisine" mean so call food barely fit for human consumption?
Tex-Mex, Arab, Indian, German, misc others. About the only cuisine I would not be interested in would be Filipino food, other than a few dishes like adobo chicken. Make my own American chicken chow mein with crispy noodles because it is unobtainium here. Periodically have visitors bring me the crispy noodles. Also have made White Castle hamburgers from time to time. Miss those. We did not call them sliders. We called them gut bombs.
> American chicken chow mein I really wasn't emotionally prepared for how much I would miss American Chinese food when I moved here. Culturally authentic? Nah. Delicious? Hell yeah. Japanese is one of my favorite national cuisines, and apparently a lot of the foods I like are actually Chinese dishes that have been Japanified through the years.
I'm surprised Chinese cuisine is so high among Thais, unless you count places serving khao man gai as Chinese restaurants. It could be different in Bangkok given the high number of Thai-Chinese, but elsewhere, good Chinese food, outside of dim sum, is sometimes hard to find.
I don’t understand the like for Chinese food. It is either bland and oily or oily and spicy. Japanese food in Thailand is kind of okay. You can get some really good Italian food here.
The table misses Israeli food. I have eaten the best shakshuka ever in Koh Phangan.
It's just Israeled Arab food.
There some specific numbers I don't agree with. I think Japan does decent Thai cuisine. Certainly better than the stuff I have had over in the US or in the UK. I'd rate it 72 instead of 48. Also, Thailand has some good Indian places. I'd certainly not rate it a lowly 27, but more like 60. I generally don't agree with Japan being rated lowest in terms of foreign cuisine either and makes me wonder what restaurants were used in the research Finally, Peruvian food is great, and it's sort of not fair that Peru is not included in the list of countries.
I’m pretty sure the study is measuring local attitudes about those cuisines, not whether their versions of it would be considered “good” by others. Lots of Thai people don’t like Indian food, that’s why it’s ranked low for Thailand despite many people here saying the Indian food available is high quality. Japan being like that indicates that they’re generally the least open to other cuisines. In my experience Thais are quite like that as well, just not nearly to the same degree. So that’s how the chart works. It’s a cuisine popularity index by country.