A great way to enjoy a Thai meal with a group of friend is to order a variety of dishes which covers the 4 main Thai food styles; which are “wet” curries and soups, “yum” salads, “phad” meaning stir-fried and “phet” meaning everything spicy.

At the moment, Thai street food is all the rage for lovers of Asian food, with the release of a David Thompson’s culinary adventures titled “Thai Street Food”. Adding to the feeding frenzy, a host of celebrity chefs such as Neil Perry, Anthony Bourdain and Rick Stein all have produced shows on Thai street food. But for the majority of tourists visiting Thailand; where do you go to find the best street food?

During service at Chedi Restaurant, I am often asked by customers “how big are the serves?” My standard response is that we offer quality sized portions. What else can I say? Eating in Thai should be a shared meal with a variety of small dishes and perhaps a larger fish or mixed seafood dish. But unfortunately, many Thai restaurants are now serving super size portions of muck on rice.

I never watch Masterchef Australia; due to being at the restaurant when the show is televised. However, one of our Chefs mentioned an episode on June 3rd which was an Elimination Challenge featuring Thai Green Curry. As all Masterchef episodes can be viewed on-line at the Masterchef Australia 2010 Official site; I went to my computer to view.

A customer commented on the Tom Yum Gung soup that he had just eaten. Her reply was perfect, “only canned straw mushrooms in brine are available in Australia”. And thus the brine spoils the taste of the soup; fresh is always best.

In Australia we have responded to this gastronomic trend with the likes of Neil Perry, Curtis Stone and Bill Granger. No national cuisine has been spared by the glare of the media and has been chopped, stirred and fried by the likes of Tetsuya Wakuda for Japanese, Kylie Wong for Chinese and Martin Boetz for Thai. Which leads me to ask; where are the Thais?

There are many Thai restaurants in Sydney, who proclaim to serve only Authentic Thai Food. But having lived in Thailand for 10 years, I am puzzled to define what actually authentic Thai food is?

Luckily for suffers of this disease Thai food is the perfect choice when dining out. For further information regarding ceoliac disease and gluten intolerance please visit The Coeliac Society homepage.

Below is a list of the top ten Thai dishes, as put together by the Ministry of Foreigner Affairs; who conducted a survey of a 1,000 Thai restaurants, in different countries to find out the most popular dishes. Only restaurants which employed Thai nationals as chefs and offered authentic Thai food qualified to answer the questionnaire.

Enjoying the delights of wine with Thai food is now as common as fish cakes in Sydney’s Thai restaurants.