Dining by guidebook -- Thailand VIII

When you eat where your guidebook suggests, you’re bound to find others with your guidebook dining there too. That’s what we found out at Aroon Rai on Thanon Kotchasan. Karen’s Lonely Planet had describe Aroon Rai as authentic Northern cuisine that’s a favorite among the local Thai, although the expatriates fail to see it as such due to its popularity with foreigners.

When we arrived, there was one table of Thai folks and several others with foreigners. Sitting in the corner was one man with his copy of Lonely Planet face up on his table. Karen and I ordered what Lonely Planet suggested: the kaeng hang-leh, the kaeng awn, and the kaeng khae. There were no English translations in the book, so we had written the names down and showed it to our waitress. She looked slightly perplexed but she amused us, told us what those dishes were, and brought them out.

These were dishes my weeks of stomach training were prepping me for. Two of the dishes were Northern style curries, which is more like a soup than a curry. One had green vegetables and chicken and the other had bamboo shoots and chicken. They were both making me sweat. But when our waitress came around to ask if they were too spicy, I wiped the sweat from my face and replied, “Nope, it’s perfect.” I knew I would feel the effects of the spicy curry working through my body throughout the course of the next day. We also had a pork dish, which, gladly, wasn’t spicy at all but tasted sweetly of stewed pork and was delicious.

As we ate, more and more foreigner flooded the restaurant, squeezing every last Thai diner away. We also saw a blond haired couple walk in with their copy of Lonely Planet. The man with his on the table noticed the couple as well and turned his book over. I was glad ours was in Karen’s bag.