How to Order Pad Thai

On our first day in Chiang Mai, Brandon and I were searching for dinner and found a place with Pad Thai. The restaurant consisted of huge woks near the sidewalk where mass orders of Pad Thai were being freshly made. Beyond the cooking area was a huge, plain warehouse filled with plastic chairs and metal tables. We didn't know what to expect, but it had a lot of Thai people in it, so we figured it would be good. 

We found out afterward from our host, Alana, that the place we happened to stumble upon was a popular Pad Thai specific place. The Thais have favorite restaurants where they go just for Pad Thai. They also have favorite market stalls for each of their favorite dishes and regularly return to these places. Without knowing it we had participated in a very Thai activity. 

The first time we went to this restaurant we did not know the usual process of ordering or paying. Since our first experience, we have returned a couple times. By people watching we have uncovered the process and finally followed the system successfully! Hurrah! 

How to order Pad Thai: 

1. Pick a table, sit down, and note what number is painted on your table top
2. Find a basket on the table that has a pen, mini menu, and blank sheets of paper in it
3. Write your table number on one side of the piece of paper
4. Read the menu and decide what you want
5. Attempt to write out the name of the dish you want in Thai by copying the lettering on the mini menu
6. After the name of the dish, write out the lettering for the meat you want added to the dish--chicken, pork, shrimp, squid, seafood
7. Walk up to the wok station in the front and hand your paper to a worker
8. Return to your table and wait for your food to arrive
9. While you wait for your food locate the table in the back of the warehouse that has cups and straws for water and a "salad bar" . 
10. Take however many bean sprouts, cucumbers, and green onions from the salad bar you want for free
11. Take cups and straws back to the table and use the water pitcher on your table to fill the cups. Don't worry, the water is clean. Using the straw helps you fit in. For some reason Thais use straws in all beverages. 
12. When your Pad Thai arrives, jazz it up Thai style by adding your salad bar toppings and the condiments on the table--sugar, chili flakes, sweet chili sauce, fish sauce
13. Open the little box on your table to find silverware. 
14. Use a spoon in one hand and fork in the other to eat your amazing Pad Thai (the fork is used to shovel food onto the spoon). 
15. Finish every last bit of your delicious Pad Thai
16. Leave your dirty dishes on the table and find the desk near the cooking station to pay
17. The woman at the desk will have your original paper order and will have added the prices of the food up on it 
18. Pay the amount specified, probably about 70 baht total for two meals. 
19. Leave the restaurant and find your way home with your stomach full and wallet more full than you expected. 

Mini menu, pen, and blank sheets of paper. The big menu on the right is given to foreigners, but the last time we went out for Pad Thai we were able to order it before someone came over and gave us the big menu. 

I wrote out our order for Pad Thai with chicken (top) and plain Pad Thai (bottom) in Thai! I must have been successful, because we received what I had written down! 

The salad bar of water, bean sprouts, cucumbers, and green onions

Sugar, sweet chili sauce, red pepper flakes, and fish sauce condiments with the water pitcher hiding behind them all 

Enjoy both your success in ordering and the delicious taste of your doctored up Pad Thai!