I’m just going to summarize the eating in one article as I really didn’t get a chance for the deep culinary research I desired to do.

I had the Tom Yum seafood soup in a local eatery in Pattaya. As expected it was out of the world and the galangal and lemon grass came out extremely well in taste and flavour. The spiciness quotient was, as expected, very high as I had taken along a local person with me who made sure that there was no holding back on the spices. Apparently the combination with rice is the done thing so I carefully took in one spoonful of soup followed by a spoonful of rice as the routine. Lovely!

I experimented next on road-side pork balls which were grilled over an electric heater and dipped in various sauces and greens. Again, exemplary.

Next to our hotel was a Korean restaurant. I decided to chance it here alone and amidst much merriment from the women (the owners), I ordered a spicy beef soup wanting to try something different from the Bulgogi.

The soup arrived in a sizzling copper pot along with the usual accompaniments of greens and kimchi. I did burn my tongue as it was still simmering intensely at arrival. I ordered some steamed rice and surreptitiously threw the rice into the soup. The mixture was outstanding. The soup was more of a thick broth with cube like beef pieces along with onions, split peas, some unidentifiable greens and spicy as hell. It wasn’t as spicy as the Tom Yum soup though and despite a burnt tongue I cleaned up the concoction with some gusto. Being the only patron at that hour afforded me a lot of service overcoming the communication gap which didn’t seem to bother any of us.

To round off my oriental cuisine experience, I had the Cashew nut with Chicken at the Bangkok airport and loved the fact that it wasn’t made with any gravy and the cashews were fresh and crunchy. The chicken also was well done and after spicing it up a bit, I had a very filling dinner. They do have a good selection of dishes at the Oriental restaurants in the airport so do try them all if you’re there.