If you want to eat something that has the goodness of herbs, no ajinomoto and no oil, then Ganesh Dhakal, manager of the Royal Thai Restaurant, urges you to visit the Thai food stall at the THT food fest.

Thai cuisine is explosive to say the least with the taste buds being bombarded by something sweet, sour, hot, tangy. Lemongrass, coconut milk and special Thai herbs contribute to making Thai food a gourmand’s delight.

The Thai stall is jointly being put up by the Thai embassy and the Royal Thai Restaurant.

The delicacies on offer are Satay kai, which is grilled (over charcoal) marinated chicken and served with your choice of sauce — either peanut or as Dhakals recommends for those who want to taste something hot — cucumber relish.

Tom yam kuong or a sweet-sour-hot soup will be served with khao or rice, so will the kang phad kai, which is Thai red curry chicken with bamboo shoot and egg plant.

Pad Thai is special Thai noodles stir fried and served with garlic, chopped deep fried tofu, chai pau, egg and beans. For salad one can taste the Som tam Thai or young papaya salad. The papaya is grated in a special grater and the spices and herbs that go into making this salad is ground in a special mud mortar and pestle. The grated papaya, dry shrimp and sugar is added and ground again and finally served with cabbage.

If you are looking for some vegetarian dishes at the Thai stall, you’ll probably be disappointed but you could ask for the soup and the salad to be made without the shrimp.

Thai fare

• Satay Kai (5 pieces): Rs 200

• Tom yam kuoung and khao: 150

• Pad Thai: Rs 190

• Som tam Thai: 180

• Sang phad kai and khao: 210

• Thai dessert: 50