> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://easythailandvisa.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # You Do Not Need to Read Thai to Order in a Thai Restaurant - URL: https://easythailandvisa.com/reading-a-thai-restaurant-menu-without-reading-thai/ - Published: 2026-07-31T13:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T12:27:34.000Z - Description: Six words on a menu will get you a full meal. Not six hundred. Here is the actual working vocabulary of a Thai kitchen, and what to do when the menu has no English on it at all. - Author: Somchai Jaidee - Tags: Street Food, Practicalities I once spent four minutes pointing at a menu in a Chiang Mai restaurant while a very patient waiter nodded encouragingly, and in the end we both said *kin krap* and neither of us knew what the food was. We ate. It was good. But that was luck, and the fix is about twenty words long. Last verified 1 August 2026. ## The six words that carry a whole menu **Kin means eat. It also means rice.** This single ambiguity is the engine of the entire language and of the entire restaurant, because a dish called *kin* anything is a rice dish, and ordering *kin* on its own is a polite way of saying give me the rice. **Phet means flavoured with, or flavoured for,** and it appears on almost everything. *Phet prik* is [chilli](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-chilli-heat-and-how-to-eat-spicy-food/) heat. *Phet nam pla* is [fish sauce](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-seafood-pla-tha-and-fish-sauce/). You do not need to know the base dish to use it. **Sam, song, si, nam, ha are the numbers five, two, three, six, five.** Combined with *tua*, which means piece or slice, they let you order a portion. This is how you ask for one plate instead of two, and it is the difference between a sensible dinner and a leftover. **Nam pla is fish sauce. Phet nam jim is soy sauce. Phet nam pla pla is a sweet soy.** These three appear in enough combinations to rebuild most of the menu from memory. **Jai means heart. K gai is chicken. Moo is pork. Neua is beef.** Once you can name the protein you can order almost anything. **Pla means fish, and it is also the word for banana,** which is a genuine trap that catches people in a market and never in a restaurant. ## The two words on every menu that you should not skip ***Phet* and *nam* together are the whole heat and salt structure of the dish.** Anything with both is going to be strongly flavoured. If you want gentle food in Thailand, ordering by absence is easier than ordering by presence: say *mai phet*, not spicy, and *jam yen*, little salt, and you have asked for something mild before the food arrives. ***Yam* means any cooked vegetable dish,** stir-fried or boiled, and it is the easiest order in the country when you have eaten a lot of rice and need something green. ## Ordering when the menu has no English on it **Point. This works, it is culturally normal, and the pointing method is a complete communication system.** Point at a dish on another table and at the menu. Most restaurants have photographs of something. **Use the numbers, not adjectives.** Saying *ha phet* and holding up five fingers while making a mild face communicates an order for five portions of something not very spicy, and it is understood perfectly. **Ask for the menu photo.** A large restaurant will have a photo book or laminated sheet. This is not a favour to ask for. It is normal. **And use the one sentence that breaks the ice in every Thai restaurant:** *Phet tam maak phet, khrap.* Not too spicy please. Every waiter in Thailand can respond to this, and a surprising number will take it as a compliment and adjust the dish for you rather than just making it milder. ## What is not on the menu **Most tourist restaurants in Thailand are not a complete picture of the food.** The dishes a local eats on a Tuesday are often not the ones printed for visitors, and the best food in a town is frequently somewhere with no menu in any language at all. **Ask what the kitchen is good at today.** *Mai gin ahan?* If the answer is a dish you have not heard of, order it. That has been my best heuristic for fifteen years and it has a very high hit rate. ## What to point at **Tom yum for the soup,** [**khao soi**](https://easythailandvisa.com/northern-thai-food-khao-soi/) **or** [**khao man gai**](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-street-breakfast-jok-and-khao-man-gai/) **in the north, massaman if you want something sweet and mild,** and anything with *khao* in the name if you want rice. Those four cover most of a first week in the country without any risk. **Avoid ordering three things at once in a small restaurant.** Thai kitchens are small and cook to order. Three complicated dishes at once arrives in a sequence, over about forty minutes, and you will have eaten the first one cold. **More on this** - [Chatuchak Is Not a Market, It Is 15,000 Shops and a](https://easythailandvisa.com/chatuchak-weekend-market-guide/) - [Getting a Tattoo in Thailand, and the Part That Hurts](https://easythailandvisa.com/getting-a-tattoo-in-thailand/) - [The Stall With Four Hundred Customers Is Safer Than the One](https://easythailandvisa.com/street-food-safety-in-thailand/)