I went for a meal in Siam Thai in Dundrum recently, a chain restaurant which serves, as you would expect, Thai food…but not the kind of Thai food I remember having in Thailand. To say the experience was underwhelming would be to understate things to the point of underminding all credibility. The good news is that it wasn’t a long meal, as my friends and I only had a main course.
We ordered two Green Curries (warned on the menu as being hot hot hot) and one Jungle Curry (only for a madman, says the menu, and I was feeling somewhat devoid of sanity at the time). What came lacked the spice of a Mills and Boon and when we said it to the, admittedly very nice, waitress, she was told by whatever faceless gauleiter she works for to tell us that both dishes were in keeping with European standards of spiciness. You what now? Maybe in the 80s. But there’s been a lot of traveling since then and there are other, better Thai restaurants in this country. Maybe not many, but they’re there, aren’t they?
Because we hadn’t been approached while we were eating by anyone asking us how our meal was, we left it until the end to bring up the matter of the blandness so I fully understand why there might have been a bit of suspicion surrounding our complaint but I’m still annoyed. Because that’s my right. I don’t mind paying €20 for some chicken, vegetables and rice if it’s put together in such a way that it is both pleasing and lightly eye-watering, even when – especially when – I have no clue how it gets to that head-melting state. Most of all, I really hate when menus lie. And when restaurants spout nonsense in respect of such lies.
I had heard quite good things about this place so maybe it was just an off-day or they had their Plan B chef on. Do say, by all means, if it’d be worthwhile giving it another try or, better yet, tell tale of better and better value Thai restaurants.