Thai Restaurants

[lynne502]

I heard that Thai restaurants are a good option for people eating gluten free since the noodles are usually made from rice flour and most of the suaces are gluten free. When you call a restaurant, what specific questions do you ask? I tried calling a local thai place yesterday, but I don't think the manager really understood what gluten was. Any advice? It would be great to have another option for eating out.

[ebrbetty]

we eat Thai about once a week, had it last night..the manager didn't know what gluten was either, but once I said flour, wheat etc. he understood. we get the house special rice, pad thai and a chicken and broccoli dish with a yummy garlic sause.

I would go into the restaurant and speak with them, there are a lot of food you can eat.

[NJKen]

Avoid any thick, flat noodles; these often have wheat as well as rice in them.

Some Thai restaurants in North America will use soy sauce in many of their dishes, even though this is not traditional in Thai cooking. Although wheat-free soy sauce exists, it is not usually found in restaurant kitchens.

Oyster sauce is also used in some Thai dishes, and oyster sauce contains wheat.

Fish sauce, on the other hand, almost never contains wheat (or any other gluten source), and it is a common ingredient in traditional Thai cooking. If they say they use fish sauce for most of their dishes, then you're in luck.

[Nancym]

My Thai dining card says to check fish sauces, soy sauces, noodles, fish cakes, boullions.

I've never found a fish sauce that has wheat, so you should be safe. But make sure they know you can't have soy sauce.

[Daxin]

Our Thai place here in town tell uson the menu to let them know if we have wheat/gluten problems. She will then adjust the recipies to ensure they are safe. I eat there a couple time a month, and have never had a problem.

Just make sure you explain as well as you can what you food limitaitons are, and if they are still un clear, try somewhere else.

[jdp364]

According to the chef at our local Thai restaurant, all Thai curry dishes are gluten free, including red, green, massaman and panang (my favorite). I'm not sure if the gluten free aspect varies from restaurant to restaurant. As a bonus, I find the coconut milk in these curry dishes to be very soothing to my GI tract. Avoid anything with a brown sauce.