Today for perhaps only the third time in my adult life, I had something that was too hot.
I love Thai food. Being in Singapore has showed me beyond a doubt that Thai food is one of the few ethnic foods that is done the same everywhere – it’s the same in Durham, Sunnyvale, London, Nutley, and Singapore.
That’s a plus, because it means that ordering the same food will give you the same outcome every time. I like that kind of consistency, especially in comparison to some other ethnic foods I’ve had where the implementation varies wildly place-to-place – even in the same town or strip plaza!
So today I ordered (insert Thai name here) ginger chicken. It’s was labeled three peppers. I like hot food, so I went with it.
Turns out that while the food descriptions are identical everywhere, the pepper ratings are not. In every place I’ve had Thai before, three peppers is very spicy but not tongue-numbing. Turns out that at Thai Express in Plaza Singapura, the three pepper rating really isn;t for the faint of heart – and I definitely needed the extra rice to help mollify the effects.
Did I make it through all the [extremely] spicy chicken? Yes. Would I do it again for anything less than vast piles of green paper? Not likely.
Next time I’m going for the old standy-by: yellow curry with chicken.. at the two pepper level.