A Guide to
Thai Food

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Thai Food, Without the Jargon

Thai food has a reputation for being either impossibly spicy or a mystery of unfamiliar names, and neither is really true. It is one of the friendliest cuisines to get into once someone explains how it fits together. This guide does exactly that, written by the kitchen team at Charm Thai Cafe in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Rin, our Head Chef, has spent over 10 years cooking Thai across South Yorkshire, and the explanations below are how she talks customers through the menu when they ask.

Use the list to jump to whatever you want to know, or read it straight through. By the end you should know your green curry from your massaman, what Pad Thai is, how to handle the spice, and what to order on a first visit.

What is Thai food?

Thai food is the cooking of Thailand, and its whole character comes from balance. A good Thai dish holds salty, sweet, sour and spicy in tension at the same time, so no single taste runs away with it. That balance is built from a small set of fresh aromatics used again and again: lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, chilli, coriander and Thai basil, lifted with fish sauce, palm sugar and lime.

Most of it is cooked fast and to order in a wok over a fierce flame, which is why a plate of Thai food tastes brighter and fresher than a slow European braise. The cuisine spans curries, stir-fries, noodle dishes, sharp salads and clear soups, with rice almost always alongside. It is meant to be shared, with a few dishes in the middle of the table rather than one plate each.

What are the different Thai curries?

There are six you will see most often, and the easiest way to think about them is by heat and by whether they contain coconut milk. Green, red and yellow are the everyday trio, all built on coconut milk. Green is herbal and fragrant from fresh green chilli, red is a touch bolder and slightly sweeter from dried red chilli, and yellow is the mildest, with turmeric and a warmth closer to a South Asian curry.

Then come the two rich ones. Massaman is sweet, nutty and barely spiced, with potato and roasted peanuts, influenced by southern Muslim Thai cooking. Panang is thicker and creamier than red, with ground peanut and very little broth. The odd one out is jungle curry, the only one made without coconut milk, which makes it thinner, fierier and the choice for people who want real heat. We break all six down in detail on our dedicated Thai curry in Doncaster page if you want to go deeper.

What is Pad Thai?

Pad Thai is Thailand's most famous noodle dish and the one most people order first, for good reason. It is flat rice noodles stir-fried with a tamarind-based sauce that is sweet, sour and savoury all at once, tossed with egg, beansprouts, spring onion and crushed peanuts, with a wedge of lime to squeeze over. It is not a spicy dish by default, which is part of why it travels so well.

The thing that separates a good Pad Thai from a flat one is the sauce, which should be balanced fresh rather than poured from a sweet bottle. We mix ours per order. You can have it with chicken, prawn, tofu or vegetables, and we do a fully egg-free vegan version too. There is more on it on our Pad Thai in Doncaster page.

What are the other Thai noodle dishes?

Pad Thai gets the headlines, but it is one of several. Pad See Eew is wide rice noodles stir-fried in dark soy with egg and Chinese broccoli, savoury and gently sweet rather than sour. Pad Kee Mao, the so-called drunken noodles, is the spicy cousin, loaded with chilli, garlic and Thai basil. Then there are the noodle soups, where noodles sit in a deep broth rather than a dry stir-fry.

Rin's signature here is the dark noodle soup, a slow, savoury broth that regulars come back specifically for. If you want the full range laid out, our Thai noodles in Doncaster page covers the lot, dry and soup alike.

What is tom yum and tom kha?

These are the two classic Thai soups, and they sit at opposite ends of the spectrum. Tom yum is the hot and sour one, a clear, punchy broth sharp with lemongrass, galangal, lime leaf, chilli and lime, usually with prawn or chicken. It is bracing and aromatic, the soup that clears your head. Tom kha is its mellower sibling, the same aromatic base softened with coconut milk into something creamy and soothing.

If you like a bit of zing, tom yum is one of the most satisfying things on any Thai menu. If you want comfort over kick, tom kha is the one. Both work as a starter to share or as a light main with rice.

Is Thai food spicy?

Some of it, yes, but a great deal of it is not, and that surprises people. Because Thai cooking is about balance, heat is just one of four tastes in play, not the point of the dish. Massaman and yellow curry are mild and sweet. Pad Thai and Pad See Eew are not spicy at all. The soups and salads can be fierce, but they do not have to be.

The practical answer is that nearly everything can be cooked to the heat you ask for. We dial the chilli back by default so the whole table can enjoy it, and we are very happy to take it up to the full Thai kick for anyone who wants it cooked the way it is in Thailand. If you are spice-cautious, just say so when you order. Nobody will think less of you.

Is Thai food good for vegans?

It is one of the better cuisines for it. Thai cooking already leans on vegetables, tofu, coconut milk and fresh herbs, so the building blocks are plant based to begin with. Coconut milk, which carries most of the curries, is vegan, so green, red, yellow, massaman and panang all adapt cleanly. The two things to watch are fish sauce and oyster sauce, which appear in a lot of traditional recipes.

That is exactly what a proper vegan Thai menu handles for you. Ours leaves fish sauce out and uses a mushroom-based vegan oyster sauce, with a Pad Thai that drops the egg entirely rather than swapping it. So you get the real dishes, not a sad substitute version.

Is Thai food gluten free?

A surprising amount of it is, naturally. Thai food is built on rice and rice noodles rather than wheat, so the starch base is already fine. The catch is in the sauces: standard soy sauce and oyster sauce usually contain wheat, and they turn up across the menu. Swap those for gluten free versions and most curries and many stir-fries become safe.

We can do that gluten free soy swap on request, which opens up a good chunk of the menu, and we lay out exactly what works on our gluten free Thai page. One honest caveat: we are not a dedicated gluten free kitchen, so if you have coeliac disease please tell us when you order so we can take extra care. Coeliac UK has a clear, sensible guide to eating out safely that is worth a read if you are newly diagnosed.

What are the classic Thai starters?

Thai starters are made for sharing, and a mixed plate is the best way to start a meal. The usual suspects are spring rolls, fish cakes, chicken satay with peanut sauce, and dumplings. Satay is grilled skewers with a rich peanut sauce, fish cakes are springy and fragrant with red curry paste and lime leaf, and spring rolls are the crisp, familiar opener everyone knows.

At Charm Thai Cafe the spring rolls, dumplings and fish cakes are made fresh in-house, and the satay sauce is our own. They are the kind of thing a Doncaster table works through fast while the mains cook. The full spread is on our handmade Thai starters page.

What should I order first?

If it is your first proper Thai meal, keep it simple and share. Start with a mixed starter plate, then pick a mild curry such as green, red or massaman with jasmine rice, and add a noodle dish like Pad Thai so the table has some variety. That covers fragrant, rich and savoury in one go, and none of it will catch you out on heat.

Order a couple of dishes between two people rather than one each, because Thai food is built to be passed around. Tell your server how you feel about chilli and they will steer you right. From there you will quickly work out what you like, and the rest of the menu opens up.