TS: VIETNAMESE FOOD V THAI FOOD

But heck, show some nice Vietnamese. Or thai for that mat.

Cor any London ILXers fancy a Viet in Shoreditch? (Or whereever has all the Vietnamese food I can't say I'm too knowledgable about this myself)

You know, if I wanted to look for a picture like this, I wouldn't have been able to find one ...

Oh I HAVE had vietnamese food from that takeaway in the Stow haven't I! Sadly all I can remember from that somewhat hazy night was Pete eating his curry with a corkscrew...

I do adore Thai but it's not my first love, is it?

Funny... but my experience has been the opposite, though I think it is unfair to not consider the fact that there are more than one regional styles of cooking in each of these countries. I have not had really spicy Vietnamese cuisine though I would love to try some.

I love the crisp vegetables that accompany Vietnamese main and side dishes... especially when dipped in fish sauce and lemon juice!
Rolling a hot spring roll up in a cool and crisp lettuce leaf accompanied by cold bean sprouts then dipped in the lemonized fish sauce is an amazing taste sensation, especially if the dipping sauce has a few sliced chili rings floating in it.

i think vietnamese is better, but i like thai too.

Punkum does a fantastically authentic Thai meal, much better than the more westernized Busaba. Right down to the mega sweet iced coffee (strangely not on the menu) made with condensed milk.

But Thai food, at its own considerable best, kicks equal ass. Winner: a tie!

Recent Vietnamese eats:
--hot boil... thinly sliced beef strips cooked by dipping them in very hot steaming broth served on the table top; served with peppered rice and lemon grass

My current Favourite - Ga Lui - rice pancakes which you make into a pouch filling them with spit grilled chicken, bean sprouts, lemon grass and this peanut water sauce!

destroy: vietnamese lemongrass dishes... i think i od'd on this.

thai searches:
panang curry, yellow/green/red curry, spicy basil/eggplant (gai kai prow?).

destroy: pad thai, hell maybe even tom kha gai (although it has its occasional merits).

Ned, the "local's choice" for thai is Thep Phenom and it is in my neighborhood.

http://www.d1.dion.ne.jp/~michinh/s_Aut_3431.jpg

minced beef with chilli and lemon grass served with rice crackers (the capi di tutti capi of the menu - orgasmic)

char grilled pork cutlet with rice (pork = lovely but not enough of it and loads of rice so I made my own chilli and fish sauce gloop)

chicken with pickled vegetables and rice

all in all very nice, but disappointing that they've stopped doing the Thai iced coffee.

Death's grip evaded for yet another day.

The Vietnamese restaurant Spencer refers to is Le Cheval and it is one of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. And they have the 7 course beef for like $35 for 2 people!

Ned, the "local's choice" for thai is Thep Phenom and it is in my neighborhood.

updates:
le cheval is now $19.99 for the bo bay mon (7 course beef) per person ($50 for 2 incl. tax/tip). still excellent, and probably my favorite overall restaurant in the bay area.

i was taken to thep phenom on thursday night, they have this underripe papaya salad appetizer that must be eaten to be believed... the papaya is the consistency of slaw/spaghetti squash. it is highly recommended.

...and dude, the food courts in those Vietnamese shopping malls in San Jose are INCREDIBLE!

imma just lay it out right here: bun bo hue is the absolute #1 best soup of all time.

Will have to try that at Eden Center, the Vietnamese shopping center in the Washington DC suburbs

Seemed to be a lot of Vietnamese places cropping up in Dublin. Don't think I've noticed tehm before but may have had less focus on eating out on previous visits.
Only seems to crop up as occasional items on Asian fusion menus here in Galway. BUt did love the dish I had on my one visit so far. So will have to try more.

would kill for a good banh xeo right now. only place w/in an hour's drive that had one stopped selling it :(

As someone who went to school in the midst of several Vietnamese expat communities, Thai cuisine >> Vietnamese cuisine. I loved Phở soup and rice-paper spring rolls, I liked Bánh mì sandwiches, and Vietnamese are some of the best French bakers on the planet. But the breadth and depth of flavors in Vietnamese cuisine are a pale comparison to Thai food, which manages the flavor complexity of Indian cuisine, while using mostly fresh ingredients. In less well-known dishes, made for Vietnamese tastes, there's little of the anise, cinnamon, or other spices, and the fish/shrimp sauce taste dominates. Variations on dishes involve whether some relatively tasteless protein is added, the piling of cooked egg or unmarinated tofu atop the noodles.

For dietary vegans, Thai cuisine is more attractive than Vietnamese foods. What Thai food loses when one omits the fish/shrimp sauce from dishes with a half dozen flavor components is minor compared to what Vietnamese dishes lose when dispensing with bone broth *and* fish/shrimp sauce from dishes with fewer flavor facets.

Maybe someone should introduce kaffir lime, galangal, lemongrass, cumin, coriander seed, and especially dried red peppers into Vietnamese food.

Note that both cuisines are better than those of nations further from the Indian influence, such as Malaysia or Indonesia. I'm rather curious about Burmese cuisine, as in my imagination it is intermediate between Indian and Thai.

I literally just watched the Ugly Delicious David Chang on crawfish/shrimp where he spends a lot of time talking about Vietnamese food and VietCajun food. I still vote Thai.

Thai food seems to have more influence from India than Vietnamese food has. This is a good thing imo. Vietnamese food shows a bit of influence from France, but not enough to tip the scales in its favor. I favor Thai.

But the breadth and depth of flavors in Vietnamese cuisine are a pale comparison to Thai food

from what I know, I agree with this but still prefer Vietnamese food. it's very comforting for me.

vietnamese rn only because i've thai holds no more surprises for me

i eat both almost weekly anyway tho

meant to say "i've got the point that thai ..."

In my area it's much easier to find boring Thai food than boring Vietnamese food, I think. I love when I get the chance to eat traditional/regional Thai stuff though.

unlike vietnamese cuisine, thai cuisine does include a dish called "the evil jungle prince" ... so ...

i eat both almost weekly anyway tho

hell yeah

Note that both cuisines are better than those of nations further from the Indian influence, such as Malaysia or Indonesia.

― It's because I'm human, isn't it?! (Sanpaku), Sunday, March 4, 2018 3:47 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is incorrect, Indonesian food is delicious (there was an Indonesian restaurant in Hell's Kitchen but it closed so it's back to trekking out to Queens)

(also my vote would be for Vietnamese food -- one thing I miss about living near Greensboro)

ranking things by india-centricity is a way to qualify things, I guess

I want a Vietnamese sandwich so bad, haven't had one in years. Almost forgot it existed as a thing I like.

i understand if this was the best vietnamese food thread to post this in but really vietnamese and thai are very different

i eat thai every week

i don't think i could eat vietnamese food weekly, probably maybe a few times a year

I could eat a good bahn mi weekly at least

and pho a few times a month

Vietnamese food is really interesting in that as far as casual eater are concerned it is really only pho/noodles/spring rolls... and restaurant-style Saigon food. The seafood, northern and other regional styles are super different but hard to find outside of Vietnamese enclaves.

true!

I mentioned those two things because the place I frequent the most is in a mall and I grab a quick, light lunch there. I've had some excellent noodle dishes and seafood variations at other local spots. Being in an area that had a large influx of refugees in the 70s/80s means I have a lot of options.

also: good iced coffee w/condensed milk