Trying out the new Khao San Thai Restaurant in Bin Mahmoud-Doha!

For few days now, we’ve been planning to visit this restaurant. Today, being a Thursday and the end of a tiring work week, I made sure there’s no escaping this hot Thai resto that’s lately becoming popular online.

We know this side of Bin Mahmoud as the little Korea of Doha for some Korean restaurants and a grocery that has opened in the area. But lately, we learned that a new Thai resto has just opened – making it the second Thai restaurant to open along Al Jazeera Street (the first was Thai Cuisine).

wp-image-91205519 — ***Entrance of Khao San Thai Restaurant (dining is only at the first Floor)***

wp-image-1711555784 — *A host of international restaurants along Al Jazeera Street in Bin Mahmoud*

Why is Al Jazeera Street becoming popular for Doha foodies?

Due to its proximity to the CREW CITY (Qatar Airways crew’s accommodation), restaurants which cater to a diverse nationality has become more popular and accessible, including those from South Korea and Thailand. They draw a large following especially those with attachment to their culture or may have visited these countries before.

What is Khao San?

With reference to our friendly- wikipedia, Khaosan Road or Khao San Road (Thai: ถนนข้าวสาร) is a very short street in central Bangkok located in the Banglamphu area of (Phra Nakhon district) about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.

“Khaosan” translates as “milled rice”, a reminder that in former times the street was a major Bangkok rice market. In the last 20 years, however, Khaosan Road has developed into a world-famous “backpacker ghetto”. It offers cheap accommodation, ranging from “mattress in a box” style hotels to reasonably priced 3-star hotels. In an essay on the backpacker culture of Khaosan Road, Susan Orlean called it “the place to disappear”.

The Restaurant’s Best Sellers?

We followed what seemed to be a reliable suggestion/review on their facebook account and it says that they offer authentic Thai menu that’s not available in other Thai restaurants in Doha.

However, since most of them are a bit spicy, we initially settled for the less fiery ones – ergo, the standard Thai orders.

I don’t like it Spicy!

I hope that foodies out there will forgive me for this since i have to follow the doctor’s recommendation to veer away from spicy foods. Though I wont be enjoying the authentic experience of the dish… it will surely be appreciate if a restaurant would grant some customer’s request to adjust the spiciness level as well as offering other non-spicy recommendations. This for me should have been a plus!

We ordered this HOMOK (steamed fish curry custard) as it was recommended as one of the authentic dish in the restaurant. It took 45 minutes to serve and what surprised us even more is that it was really, really spicy. But since it was already served, we still tried it and it was actually good, except that for someone who has less tolerance to spices, i couldn’t count the number of times i have to drink water. But it was worth the try. They said it will loose its authenticity if it will not be that spicy, and i couldn’t agree more!

We will definitely come back to try the other food on the menu. It was the first time i really enjoyed eating something spicy (like you’ll complain at first bite but will crave for the next one). I was just glad it didn’t had a bad effect on me afterwards (considering it wasn’t only spicy but it was actually seafoods).

For those who already travelled to Thailand, it could be a great place to relive the memories. Those foods will surely bring back the wonderful experience of ones sojourn to the Land of Smiles.