David Hammond wrote:

BR wrote:I was absolutely blown away by the street food in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and found the "Thai" food at Next to be pretty, but quite timid and not authentic.

Me, too, blown away, but ingredients at Next were of a vastly higher quality with a cost that was also much, much higher than anything you'd buy on the street in Bangkok. But I'm not sure it's even an appropriate comparison. I believe Next is doing their "interpretation" of Thai, etc., and not really trying to replicate, so authenticity is maybe not even an issue.

It's also very hard to generalize about the quality of street food of any country as it is so various and differs so much seasonally and geographically even within the same country.

I've very rarely been able to find Thai food that I would really consider authentic. I always go for Thai hot and very seldom do I actually get it. Although I went to a place in Florida a while back that had it right. In fact I couldn't even finish it was so hot. Loved it!