Pad krapow

If you only learn one dish in Thailand, make it this one. Minced pork (or chicken) stir fried hard with holy basil, garlic and chilli, piled on rice, with a fried egg on top. Every cook does it a little different, and every Thai person thinks their place is the best.

Ask for the egg crispy at the edges and runny in the middle. Break it over the rice and mix it all in. Want it gentle? Say mai phet, not spicy. You will still sweat. Mai pen rai.