Burning Bangkok in Frozen Park City
====================================
Wolran Kim
February 2014
Park City is the place where my husband and I enjoy taking in the air, drinking beer in an open cafe, and window-shopping with our dog, Toby. We left Toby at home, to eat at a restaurant. Various ethnic restaurants stand closely together on Main Street in Park City. I had tasted Thai food only a couple times before because I prefer Korean food whenever I go to other cities. Actually, all Asian fusion dishes: Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai food, all tastes very similar to me. (My tongue must be too lazy.)
I have never been in Thailand, and my Thai friend’s food looks the same as Chinese food. The reason for our visiting Bangkok Thai on Main was just because my husband had a coupon. I call my husband, Mr. Coupon, because unlike me he is diligent with economizing. He is used to looking through online websites and gaining knowledge about restaurants before we visit them. This place was a little more costly than what we are used to when we normally eat out.
Park City has an exotic mood, different from downtown Salt Lake City. Bangkok Thai on Main was easy to find because we located it based on the name. Half of the building was underground, so I could see inside the dining room through the window on the stairway. The atmosphere of the entrance was European rather than Thai, because there were no colorful Asian decorations.
However, there were a few Thai ornaments inside, but still were not disorderly and matched well with their wooden interior. There was no waiting line in spite of it being the weekend. I liked their table settings with linen cloth, shiny silverware, and wine glasses. Usually, with the price range of $10 to $20 per entree, restaurants never use cloth or wine glasses on the table. As expected, people eat food through their eyes, ears, and mood.
Our waiter was an Asian guy with a ponytail, and he sincerely answered all my husband’s questions about the menu and the special of the day. We were starving and had no patience. We ordered drinks and our main dishes without an appetizer. My husband ordered a Thai Singha beer and Pad Thai, and I ordered a coke and the Honey Ginger Duck. Strangely, we usually only drink water when we eat Korean food, but we drink soda or alcohol when we eat American or other types of food. The reason is that other foods have an unclean taste, not as refreshing with water to our Korean tongues.
According to our waiter, Pad Thai is the most popular dish from Thailand. It was described in the menu as rice noodles, stir-fried with green onions, egg, and an exclusive pad Thai sauce, topped with ground peanuts. My husband likes rice noodles but not ground peanuts, so he requested to exclude the peanuts. He is a seafood lover, so he ordered Pad Thai with shrimp out of the options: Shrimp and Chicken $20.99, Chicken $17.99, and Vegetarian $15.99.
I ordered the Honey Ginger Duck, which was described in the menu as crispy, yet moist duck with a honey ginger glaze for $27.99. My husband was a little upset from my order, because he does not like duck, and we always share our food, but I like duck. I asked the waiter not to use too much honey because I don’t like sweet meat. The waiter asked about the level of spiciness at last, and we just said “hot.” How could we know this was the beginning of a tragedy?
One of the special features of Thai food is that it has many kinds of noodles, seafood, curries, and peppers historically influenced by India, China, and Portugal. In addition, it mainly has a sour taste from the influence of the weather, and uses a variety of unique spices. Spices are well-being elements for a long life, other than their increasing flavor and aroma. Interestingly, spices had a very high cost for trading with slaves, and also became the causes of war throughout history.
Duck meat has protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, and unsaturated fatty acids, so the risk of disease is low. Duck also is good for stamina in men and menopausal women. My husband does not like duck because he thinks it is too greasy, and I like it because duck has mixed flavors of chicken and pork. Our food came out pretty fast, but my husband was shocked because his food was too spicy. I am used to spicy foods, but it was even too spicy for me. If it is spicy for me, it would be burning hot for him.
Every restaurant has different levels of pungent sauces, and fusion restaurants never have this spicy of foods. Thai Bangkok must be real authentic Thai food. How could we know that ‘hot’ means ‘terribly hot’ before we tasted it? Compared with the price, the taste (of what we could tell despite our burning tongues) we were not satisfied. After visiting this authentic Thai restaurant, I realized again why all fusion restaurants easily become popular with good prices.
====================================
Wolran Kim
February 2014
Park City is the place where my husband and I enjoy taking in the air, drinking beer in an open cafe, and window-shopping with our dog, Toby. We left Toby at home, to eat at a restaurant. Various ethnic restaurants stand closely together on Main Street in Park City. I had tasted Thai food only a couple times before because I prefer Korean food whenever I go to other cities. Actually, all Asian fusion dishes: Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai food, all tastes very similar to me. (My tongue must be too lazy.)
I have never been in Thailand, and my Thai friend’s food looks the same as Chinese food. The reason for our visiting Bangkok Thai on Main was just because my husband had a coupon. I call my husband, Mr. Coupon, because unlike me he is diligent with economizing. He is used to looking through online websites and gaining knowledge about restaurants before we visit them. This place was a little more costly than what we are used to when we normally eat out.
Park City has an exotic mood, different from downtown Salt Lake City. Bangkok Thai on Main was easy to find because we located it based on the name. Half of the building was underground, so I could see inside the dining room through the window on the stairway. The atmosphere of the entrance was European rather than Thai, because there were no colorful Asian decorations.
However, there were a few Thai ornaments inside, but still were not disorderly and matched well with their wooden interior. There was no waiting line in spite of it being the weekend. I liked their table settings with linen cloth, shiny silverware, and wine glasses. Usually, with the price range of $10 to $20 per entree, restaurants never use cloth or wine glasses on the table. As expected, people eat food through their eyes, ears, and mood.
Our waiter was an Asian guy with a ponytail, and he sincerely answered all my husband’s questions about the menu and the special of the day. We were starving and had no patience. We ordered drinks and our main dishes without an appetizer. My husband ordered a Thai Singha beer and Pad Thai, and I ordered a coke and the Honey Ginger Duck. Strangely, we usually only drink water when we eat Korean food, but we drink soda or alcohol when we eat American or other types of food. The reason is that other foods have an unclean taste, not as refreshing with water to our Korean tongues.
According to our waiter, Pad Thai is the most popular dish from Thailand. It was described in the menu as rice noodles, stir-fried with green onions, egg, and an exclusive pad Thai sauce, topped with ground peanuts. My husband likes rice noodles but not ground peanuts, so he requested to exclude the peanuts. He is a seafood lover, so he ordered Pad Thai with shrimp out of the options: Shrimp and Chicken $20.99, Chicken $17.99, and Vegetarian $15.99.
I ordered the Honey Ginger Duck, which was described in the menu as crispy, yet moist duck with a honey ginger glaze for $27.99. My husband was a little upset from my order, because he does not like duck, and we always share our food, but I like duck. I asked the waiter not to use too much honey because I don’t like sweet meat. The waiter asked about the level of spiciness at last, and we just said “hot.” How could we know this was the beginning of a tragedy?
One of the special features of Thai food is that it has many kinds of noodles, seafood, curries, and peppers historically influenced by India, China, and Portugal. In addition, it mainly has a sour taste from the influence of the weather, and uses a variety of unique spices. Spices are well-being elements for a long life, other than their increasing flavor and aroma. Interestingly, spices had a very high cost for trading with slaves, and also became the causes of war throughout history.
Duck meat has protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, and unsaturated fatty acids, so the risk of disease is low. Duck also is good for stamina in men and menopausal women. My husband does not like duck because he thinks it is too greasy, and I like it because duck has mixed flavors of chicken and pork. Our food came out pretty fast, but my husband was shocked because his food was too spicy. I am used to spicy foods, but it was even too spicy for me. If it is spicy for me, it would be burning hot for him.
Every restaurant has different levels of pungent sauces, and fusion restaurants never have this spicy of foods. Thai Bangkok must be real authentic Thai food. How could we know that ‘hot’ means ‘terribly hot’ before we tasted it? Compared with the price, the taste (of what we could tell despite our burning tongues) we were not satisfied. After visiting this authentic Thai restaurant, I realized again why all fusion restaurants easily become popular with good prices.