In recent months we've been frequenting a Thai restaurant called Chilli House, on the waterfront two minutes walk from our apartment. We took The Family there when they were in town, in fact both Families, and a good time was had by all. Like all Thai restaurants, the Chilli House is staffed by a posse of cute, compact Thai girls who look innocent but probably aren't, and who make Singha Beer materialize with unnatural efficiency. Also, there's a pleasant ocean view, especially in summer.
Growing up in metropolitan New Zealand, and taking into account limited cultural awareness, so-called 'ethnic' food was nowhere near as prevalent as it is today. Chinese is the only foreign cuisine I can recall being readily available; apart from that it was all post-colonial european staples, hamburgers, steak and overcooked starchy carbs. What a tedious culinary existence we as a nation must've led... but then, I was a kid, what the hell did I know. I liked beef.
Anyway, all that changed. The world got smaller, the immigrant populace got bigger, and many of them opened restaurants, with or without the appropriate skills and/or permits. I heard once (but have not confirmed) that Auckland's premier Thai establishment, aptly located in a gentrified, overpriced annex of the downtown core, was started by Some Young Guy, 21 or 22 perhaps, or so they say. The place was jumping everytime I went because Thai food tastes great, and westerners who've never dared to venture beyond the California sushi roll can expand the boundaries of their own cultural awareness without actually having to eat anything too exotic, like insect eggs or the internal organs of marsupials.
And once you've had that first encounter, you never look back. As in:
Trent: So where to eat? You like Thai?
Homer: Tie good. You like shirt?
Homer brings home Thai food from Thai Palace Restaurant.
Homer: Marge, this is Thai food. From now on, I want it morning, noon, and night.
That's what Thai food does to people. I wonder if their women have the same effect.
I read once that there's something like 2000 restaurants in Vancouver alone, and praise be to Allah, most of them serve food from other countries. Canada, like New Zealand, has failed to develop its own culinary signature, so we get to enjoy everyone else's. That's pretty much how I like it.
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