I don’t know why I have this weird understanding of Thai food. When I hear the word ‘Thai,’ two things instantly come to my mind: Pagoda houses, and the background music of Takeshi’s castle!

I was clearly wrong. Lavanya and I were going to binge-eat during the Thai Food Festival at Four Points Sheraton. The festival continues until the end of September, and OMG the food!

In Lavanya’s words, “Aise to ho gaya weight loss.” Wrong again. Turns out Thai food is healthy and not fattening.

To tell you the truth, I’d never eaten Thai food earlier; it was going to be my first time. And, being a picky foodie, I didn’t really know what I was walking into.

A friend even sent me a message asking me not to return without trying the Som Tam salad. I mentally wrote that down. We walked into The Eatery at the hotel along with our photographer Akshit, and as we walked in, the Thai aroma was already giving us the feel of the festival.

Chef Ganesh, behind the scenes, was preparing the meals for us and was the star of the show! Chef Arun explained us a little about the essentials of the cuisine: Lemongrass, honey, LOTS OF SEA FOOD, coconut milk, Thai basil.

Supposedly, Thai food is a perfect mix of lemony, sweet and spicy. And so, we were about to find out!

We were first served with sweet and salty peanuts (would make good chakna for you) Teheheh. I picked up the menu card and tried to pronounce the names of the dishes and Lavanya noticed something interesting, a lot of the dishes had the word “Khao” in them, maybe they understand a little bit of Hindi.

We're enjoying #ThaiFood NOW at Four Points Sheraton! . . #Peanuts #Appetizer #CantWaitForFood #FoodBlog #FoodReview

A photo posted by Jaipur Women Blog (@jaipurwomenblog) on Sep 13, 2016 at 1:38am PDT

Lavanya and I finished the peanuts within minutes. We crunched and munched on the peanuts. A little too well, I suppose. I didn’t realize that I had peanut salt all around my mouth. Thank you, Lavanya, for forgetting to point that out and stealthily chuckling at me. *Argh*

The soup was next. Hmm, okay let me describe it for you. It had a lot of vegetables, so I wasn’t sure how I’d work on that! Mom, if you’re reading this, I’m going to come home and then you can scold me, ok?!

#NowEaring – Chicken #TomKha!

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The Chicken Tom Kha soup was delicious. It was richly cooked in coconut milk. I could taste the lemongrass, the chicken, and the mushroom. I ate all of the bits of the soft and succulent chicken along with the soup, though. Tehe.

The next dish will be your desi version of Thai food. Like honey chilly potatoes? Ever tried crispy lamb? Tastes almost the same, except LAMB! Of course, some of the ingredients were more on the Thai side (haha that sounds funny). Lavanya said, “This is mine. MINE!” Remember those birds in Finding Nemo? Yes, that.

The #lamb is delicious!!!! . . . #ThaiFood #FoodReview #Jaipur #Nonvegetarian

A photo posted by Jaipur Women Blog (@jaipurwomenblog) on Sep 13, 2016 at 1:56am PDT

 

Okay, then we were served with my favorite dish of the day: Kai Phad Nam Phrik Phao. I don’t even know how to pronounce it, but when I stuff my face with it, I can probably say it right. It’s like chilly chicken, only better. I loved how the chicken was so succulent.

#NowEating: Kai Phad Nam Phrik Phao . . . #ThaiFood #FoodReview

A photo posted by Jaipur Women Blog (@jaipurwomenblog) on Sep 13, 2016 at 2:14am PDT

I’ve never tried flat noodles, except this one time when a friend had made my favorite chicken Pasta. But, the Khao Pad Goong or Phak is a reminder why noodles were invented. They were lemony, spicy and a little sweet. In short, they were definitely the essence of the Thai food.

But, while I uploaded a picture on Twitter, guess who took away all the noodlessss!

The Thai curry was a wee-bit sweeter than I’d expected, but then again, I’m so used to chicken curry at home that of course my taste buds aren’t used to that. The curry came along with steamed rice and the SOM TAM salad. Okay, now, my friend had already created hype about that, so I wanted to find out how that tasted.

Lavanya called this her favorite. “Okay, I’ve eaten the salad before this, and it wasn’t the best thing that happened to me, but I can safely say that things changed today.”

It was really FANTASTIC. Hey, Jaipur, I think we need to push up our Thai intake. Apart from being so healthy, it is also incredibly delicious.

“I can’t eat anymore,” Lavanya said. “Neither can I. I guess the food-drunk mode is back on.”

Lavanya and I both knew that it was time to get under the covers and fall asleep.

We shared the dessert with Neha and the F&B manager, Mr. Anuj Mazumdar. He told us about another mini-fest happening in their bar Best Brews. It is called the Ola Mexicana. You get great combos on your Mexican meals, and if you’re just visiting the Bar, you’d definitely not want to miss out on this.

#SangKhayaOb #ThaiFood #FoorPorn #Jaipur #FoodFestival #TeamJWB #dessert #WhereToEatInJaipur

A photo posted by Jaipur Women Blog (@jaipurwomenblog) on Sep 13, 2016 at 2:36am PDT

The dessert was oh so good, they called it Sang Khaya Ob, it is kinda like an egg custard, and the snap basket is made from ginger and honey. They also gave us baked coconut balls on the side, and since Lavanya and I love food, we basically fell in love again.

Well, our tummies were hoity, and the green tea sitting on my desk was screaming at me cuz I betrayed it. I burped and decided to move on with my life.

Photo Courtesy: Akshit Agarwal