Don't you have to doubt the veracity of anyone who claims to be "real"? Like Splenda, made with "real" sugar -- except that Splenda tastes like sugar, oh, NOT AT ALL? Unless you compare it to ass-flavored Nutrasweet? Or ReaLemon®, that reconstituted lemon powder in a lemon shaped plastic squeeze bottle, a completely pointless product for people who are too lazy to cut open a lemon and squeeze it? Jenny from the block lip-synching "I'm Real" while rocking a fox bolero and Jimmy Choo nutbusters? "The Real World", where pretty nubiles hump each other like they're the last seven rabbits on earth in their RENT-FREE LOFT?
I'm going to cut Pam Real Thai Food a little slack -- their fried beef jerky was pretty good, and the sticky rice was nice and soft. Pad kee mao chicken was greasy, but tasted pretty good, if a little light on the hangover-remedy chili and basil. Chicken with garlic used plenty of golden fried garlic, always a plus in my book. Chicken larb was made with chopped white meat chicken, just as I like it, but the bland-ish, pale, onion flecked dish really could have used a dose of color in the form of dried chili powder and maybe a little fresh mint.
But I measure the "realness" of a Thai restaurant by their som tam, and Pam Real Thai Food's som tam was a Real Tragedy. It tasted like it had been doused enthusiastically with that sugar shock sweet, syrupy chili sauce that usually gets poured over fried fish. And a peanut-allergy person could have gone into anaphylactic shock from being in the same room as that dish.
For the Manhattanites who insist Pam Real Thai Food is authentic as an excuse to avoid hopping the train to Queens, I pat you on the head and nod patronizingly. And then I'll catch the E to Roosevelt Ave. to get my fermented crab som tam on at Sripraphai.
Pam Real Thai Food
404 W 49th St between 9th Ave. and 10th Ave.
C or E to 50th St.
P.S. Just because a cook in a Thai kitchen is willing to put enough chilies in your food to make your brain run out of your nose doesn't automatically mean you're getting real Thai food. Or good food, for that matter.
This reminds me of going to Hong Kong, and seeing a restaurant with a big English sign advertising "Authentic Chinese Food!" What a weird thing, i thought. We're in fucking Hong Kong, isn't all the food here authentic by definition? I avoided that place, but my guess is that it probably was the only restaurant in Hong Kong that wasn't authentic.
That's hilarious! You know what else I don't get? When you want to go to eat Chinese food (or any other kind of food) and people respond, "Oh, I can't have Chinese today, I had Chinese last night." People in China eat Chinese food every day, and it's good enough for them, so why isn't it good enough for you? If I could eat Thai food every day every meal, I would. In fact, I'm trying to eating rice at least one meal a day. I don't think my body does bread well.
Too much information?
LOL! I've got too agree with Ganda on this one! The best dish there had to be the gossip! Hunny, ears were burning! Ahhhhh, Ganda... my only real thai friend!
Come home to Thaitown for real Thai food, your mae's som thom is good food. I have become a bit of a Thai food snob thanks to your family. LOL
I think Pam real Thai uses too much of MSG in the foods. I'm so thirsty when I have food at Pam.