Tourist Spicy

I love spicy food. So does Kenny, and I believe his tolerance for spice has risen since he started hanging out with me. And I think that the couple of Seattle Thai restaurants that we frequent are actually quite good about preparing their food to the requested level of spice – a good 4-star curry from Jamjuree or Thai Tom is really wonderful. We had a difficult time imagining that the Thai food in Thailand could actually be better.

Everyone warned us that the Thai food would be spicier in Thailand, and we were excited to see just what that meant. But so far, we’ve been disappointed – all the food we’ve eaten has been delicious, but it seems that everywhere we go, the spice has been toned down to cater to tourists. We’ve gotten into the habit of ordering anything on the menu that has “spicy” in its title, and pleading with the restaurant staff to add extra chilis, but to no avail. Fortunately we can always ask for extra chili flakes and chili oil to spice up the food ourselves after it arrives, but it’s not the same. And I know that the locals like their food spicy, we just need a way to communicate that we do too!

Obviously the answer is that we need to get off the tourist track a little more. In Phuket and Phi Phi that hasn’t been so easy, as we’ve been staying in the tourist towns near the beach. But now we’re on the lookout for side streets with food stalls where we can hopefully find some non-tourist food.

Delicious whole fish at Garden House Restaurant on Ko Phi Phi