歡迎光臨高雄市新聞局

Thai Cuisine：Wang Brothers' Thai City & Ya Ho Thai Foods

◎Text by Fu-Ju Lin
◎Photos by Wei-jen Yang

   As the blazing sun dominates these lazy summer days, our appetites often wilt under the unrelenting heat. There is nothing that can better revive our taste buds than the delicious taste of Thai food. Wang Brothers' Thai City and Ya Ho Thai Foods are two of Kaohsiung's most popular Thai restaurants. Thai food is famous for its potent hot and sour taste and wondrous seasonings.

Wang Brothers' Thai City

　In the past, Thai restaurants in Kaohsiung City were mostly owned by Chinese people that had come from Myanmar. Since Myanmar is geographically close to the Yunnan province of China, the cuisine served in these restaurants has become a crossbreed of Burmese, Yunnan Chinese and Thai cuisine. Wang Brothers' Thai City is still serving up this extraordinary mixture of cuisines.

　The restaurant was opened when Thai food was relatively new to Taiwan. Wang Brothers' Thai City is now one of the oldest Thai restaurants in Kaohsiung. When the restaurant first opened, the restaurateur hired an authentic Thai chef to head up their kitchen. The unique and exotic Southeast Asian gourmet cooked up at Wang Brothers' Thai City has become famous in the restaurant community.

　Wang Brothers' Thai City serves Thai style curries packed with Southeast Asian flavor. Thai curries are the restaurant's most popular dishes and unlike Indian curries, are seasoned heavily with fennel, Sichuan peppercorns and star anise. Thai curries are considerably milder than other curries, and therefore highly favored by Taiwanese customers. There are two types of curries in Thai cuisine, which include red and green curries. Wang Brothers' signature dish is a homemade green prawn curry. The dish includes fresh tiger prawns coated lightly with flour and deep fried. The dish is then sauteed in a hot wok with onions, scallions, celery and chili peppers. The dish's most alluring characteristic is the mouth watering fragrance of fried eggs. The heat level is professionally controlled and with expert timing the prawns and eggs bind together perfectly. The signature dish is a must, when visiting Wang Brothers' Thai City.

Ya Ho Thai Foods

　Located near Kaohsiung's Fine Arts Museum, Ya Ho Thai Food is a new establishment dedicated solely to Thai cuisine. However, although it is a new restaurant, it is headed up by a veteran Thai chef, Ann. Anne originally hails from central Thailand and is married to a Taiwanese man. Ann now shares the culinary delights of her homeland with Kaohsiung.

　One of the main characteristics central to Thai food is a dash of refreshing sweetness with a predominately hot and sour sauce base. This delicious combination has delighted local patrons. Ann is an expert at cooking with herbs and every dish is turned into a unique Southeast Asian culinary experience. She believes the secret to Thai cuisine is the highlighting of natural sweetness and spices that come from the ingredients. Ann emphasized,"Thai food is not just about hot and sour".

　Central Thai food is slightly on the sweet side, and only mildly spicy. Chef Ann's signature dish, Crispy Striped Bass with Thai Tamarind Sauce is one of the most common dishes in her hometown. Tamarind sauce uses tamarind fruit as the base. After the tamarind fruit has been fermented it divulges a unique fragrant sourness. The taste resembles a local Taiwanese sauce made with blackened dried plums. It is this Tamarind sauce that creates the sour flavor that is so predominant in Thai cooking. The Crispy Striped Bass dish features a whole striped bass, fried until crispy and topped with tamarind sauce. The sweet and sour flavor of tamarind sauce and crunchy fried fish is a dish that will never cease to delight your taste buds.

泰國料理 新泰城&雅禾

◎文．攝影／楊為仁

　時序入夏，天氣一熱，胃口似乎也變差了，這時泰國料理是來提振食慾的好選擇。「新泰城」和「雅禾」是高雄市兩家口碑、風評都很不錯的泰國餐廳，酸辣夠勁的泰式口味，將使您的味蕾如久旱逢甘霖般地得到最大的滿足。

新泰城

　高雄市早期泰國餐廳大多是緬甸華僑開的，由於緬甸靠近雲南，因此，菜色多少帶點緬甸和雲南風味，「新泰城」就是這類型泰國餐廳的代表。

　「新泰城」起於泰國菜在台灣市場剛起步時，算是高雄市老字號泰國餐廳，開店初期，業者還聘請泰國當地的大廚來台傳授廚藝，獨特的南洋異國風味，讓「新泰城」一炮而紅，時至今日，「新泰城」仍執南部地區泰式料理牛耳地位。

　南洋風味十足的泰式咖哩，向來為「新泰城」的老顧客稱道，業者表示，泰式咖哩沒有印度咖哩加茴香、花椒、八角等食材後的那種強烈辛香感，口味較被台灣人接受。泰式咖哩有紅咖哩和綠咖哩兩種，店內招牌─泰式咖哩蝦，用的是偏家庭口味的綠咖哩，新鮮草蝦沾薄粉炸約7分熟，再與洋蔥、蔥段、芹菜、辣椒一起用熱油炒，這道菜的重點在於雞蛋香氣的滑嫩口感，火候和時間控制恰到好處，使草蝦、醬汁和蛋香融合為一，來到「新泰城」千萬別錯過。

雅禾

　位於美術館園區附近的「雅禾」，是一家開幕不久的泰國餐廳，雖然是新餐廳，但掌廚的可Ann，是位來自泰國中部的泰國新娘，以酸辣中透著鮮甜的家鄉菜，帶給饕客截然不同的全新感受。

　Ann擅長各式香草的選用與搭配，每道菜都散發出獨特的南洋風情，她認為，泰國料理最重要的，就是要讓食材的鮮甜與各種香料及調味充分融合，否則只是酸辣，怎會好吃？

　泰國中部料理口味偏酸甜，辣度屬於微辣，酸枳鱸魚即主廚Ann的家鄉菜，酸枳是羅望子的果實，經過醃製後，帶有特殊酸味，用酸枳做成的酸枳醬，有點類似我們的烏梅醬，是泰國料理的主要酸味來源，而這道酸枳鱸魚就是在油炸的鱸魚身上，淋上酸枳醬，在酥脆軟嫩的口感中，帶有獨特的酸甜味，值得您細細品嚐。