How do you guys choose the wine you bought

Wizz · Post by **Wizz** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:41 pm

103 points for the photos.

hmmm · Post by **hmmm** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:15 pm

is that thai red curry i see??? i was there for the last half of july and loved the curry... wow was it amazing...

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:19 am

hmmm wrote:is that thai red curry i see??? i was there for the last half of july and loved the curry... wow was it amazing...

The second pic is one of the many sets of market food bought at roadside stalls or little local markets. We tend to alternate the cheap take-away market food with restaurants at various price levels. In most cases the vendors don't speak much/any English and try to steer you away from the hot dishes, but that is generally a clue that we might like it. That spread would have cost about $5 for 4 different dishes plus rice.

There are so many different variations on food that you might recognise from Australian Thai restaurants and countless that you just wouldn't see anywhere outside of Thailand. Some with good reason, the dishes made with fermented fish (and/or fish gizzards) are a taste we haven't acquired. It's hard to eat at a lot of Aus Thai restaurants after you get used to the real thing.

We go to Thailand just about every year, to visit our friends and enjoy the food (and escape Canberra winter for a while).

Here's another pic, the dishes on the bottom-right are variations of our favourite southern-thai dishes called Kua Kling. I had to get a Thai friend to find and translate a recipe for me.

lordson · Post by **lordson** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:46 am

oh wow, red chicken curry off the bone

i had the best thai green curry when i was in Bangkok, the meet just melted off the bone, it was bloody delicious

i've tired almost every thai food, its kinda hard to tell what that is in the picture

but if it is what i think it is, the Thai people got it from Laos

Laos people when they make it put this really disgusting fish paste in there, the one you were talking about, i really can't stand it. Thai substitute that with another sort of fish paste which is more palatable, kinda like fish sauce

i dont think i can drink a heavy wine with that, itll have to be a non-spicy red, or even a white

Bick · Post by **Bick** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:50 am

I hestitate the ressurect this contentious thread, but in the interests of science :wink:

, and without qualifying the observation at all with my personal opinion, I thought I'd share an obervation:

I ate at a well regarded Thai restaurant in Auckland last night (Thai Friends in Parnell). Very nice. Its a small BYO place. Maybe 30 covers crammed in on a weds night. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of wine drinkers in the place were drinking red wine (perhaps 20 of the customers). We were the only ones drinking a white wine: I took a Mt Difficulty Target Gully Riesling 07. It went reasonably well with the food, but was a bit too sweet really - I should have taken a drier wine, but wanted to try the Mt D. FWIW it is a good riesling.

Craig(NZ) · Post by **Craig(NZ)** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:16 am

fwiw i reckon thai food is over rated apart from those super tom yung gai soups or whatever thay are called.

ive given up on wine matching it and only really do thai when someone else chooses it.

monghead and the beer option seems good

mt diff target gully riesling 08 is awesome stuff imo

Wizz · Post by **Wizz** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:58 am

Craig(NZ) wrote:fwiw i reckon thai food is over rated apart from those super tom yung gai soups or whatever thay are called.

ive given up on wine matching it and only really do thai when someone else chooses it.

monghead and the beer option seems good

mt diff target gully riesling 08 is awesome stuff imo

You are just asking for trouble arent you? :twisted:

lordson · Post by **lordson** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:31 am

i'm the exact opposite

i love all kinda of thai food, just a flavour extravaganza in the mouth

excpet i dont like that Tom Yum soup, never liked it, not matter how good it's made

Craig(NZ) · Post by **Craig(NZ)** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:10 am

You are just asking for trouble arent you?

Nope, im quite happy and aware some people love thai. Nothing wrong with that. I just personally don't (at the moment)

i love olives, anchovies, mushrooms, raw oysters, vegemite

im aware there are plenty of people in the world that dont like some of those foods - no worries that's life

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:11 am

Craig(NZ) wrote:fwiw i reckon thai food is over rated apart from those super tom yung gai soups or whatever thay are called.

tom yum gai is the one with chicken and coconut milk
tom yum goong is the one with prawns and without coconut milk

Craig(NZ) · Post by **Craig(NZ)** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:17 am

tom yum gai is the one with chicken and coconut milk
tom yum goong is the one with prawns and without coconut milk

yeah, both of them. If they are well made they are stunning with the fresh coriander and Kaffir lime leaf

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:17 am

Bick wrote:I hestitate the ressurect this contentious thread, but in the interests of science , and without qualifying the observation at all with my personal opinion, I thought I'd share an obervation:

I ate at a well regarded Thai restaurant in Auckland last night (Thai Friends in Parnell). Very nice. Its a small BYO place. Maybe 30 covers crammed in on a weds night. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of wine drinkers in the place were drinking red wine (perhaps 20 of the customers). We were the only ones drinking a white wine: I took a Mt Difficulty Target Gully Riesling 07. It went reasonably well with the food, but was a bit too sweet really - I should have taken a drier wine, but wanted to try the Mt D. FWIW it is a good riesling.

We had a pre-opening gathering to test out the kitchen etc at our Thai friends' new restaurant, 3 farang, 7 Thais (one under drinking age), at the end of the night there were 5 empty red bottles (one sparkling), one white (Oyster Bay SB, not empty I think) and a few Singha beer bottles.

Tonight we go back for the opening with about 40 other people, it's byo, so I'll try to do a count on what people are drinking.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:10 pm

I've posted a brief write-up and some pics of the Thai dinner in the Food & Wine Forum.
http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=8725

There seemed to be about 65% red wine, but there were at least 6 out of 40 there who only ever seem to drink white wine. Given the fixed menu and diverse group, the level of chilli heat was pretty low and those that wanted more heat were amply provided with extra chopped chilli to use on those dishes that needed it.

Amongst the reds shiraz was predominant, but I saw a sprinkling of Cabernet blends and a merlot.

Craig(NZ) · Post by **Craig(NZ)** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:41 pm

(Oyster Bay SB, not empty I think)

seeing empty bottles of this is rare! pub plonk imo :lol:

Cabernet blends

Im not commenting, im just thinking it

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:56 pm

Craig(NZ) wrote:
(Oyster Bay SB, not empty I think)

seeing empty bottles of this is rare! pub plonk imo

Yeah, sending it all to Aus and getting people here to buy it by the truck load is a master-stroke of marketing and a sad commentary on the people that buy and apparently drink it.