one word: gorgeous
Beautiful layout, & photography
Amazing recipes and stories makes this a must-have book for travelers and foodies alike

A great book to explore Thai cuisine ............Great recipes to try.........

TITLE: If you are dedicated and mean business, this book will give you true Bangkok Thai

The recipes in this book are very authentic. Only the very dedicated should venture into this book if the intent is to re-create the dishes included. Otherwise, delve into this book simply for the pleasure of reading it and looking at the photos. The photography is awesome. While I enjoyed reading through the book, I'm not dedicated enough to Thai cooking to make it a favorite in my kitchen. I like cooking all kinds of foods, and think a less intricate Thai-themed book, (admittedly shallower book content-wise), is better suited to the time I want to spend cooking Thai.

Ingredient lists are (for the most part) long, but recipes are still approachable if you decide to give this book a go. Depends on your experience level, your dedication, (as I mention above), and on the time you are willing and able to spend.

I think that the ingredients can be gathered and prepped fairly easily and quickly--if you are near a big city with a large Thai or Asian population. If not, you may find it difficult to locate some important ingredients. If you are not willing to make special trips and extra effort to gather ingredients, you may want to pass on this book.

Many recipes do include sauces and those are separate recipes, but you can always take a short cut and buy the more intricate and involved ones from an Asian store or online instead of making your own.

There is plenty of personal and intimate information on Bangkok. It makes for an interesting read. There is no dullness here. Stories, interspersed here and there between the recipes, are stimulating and well-written; so are short essays on Thai ingredients and favorite Thai foods.

Creating egg nets for wrapping parcels of filling is one of my favorite take-aways from this book.

I found “Set Meals and One-Plate Meals” to be my favorite chapter. It contains many recipes that are ideal for an extravagant weekend-day of cooking, resulting in a gorgeous super-duper meal, including sides and accompaniments. But it's not for the faint-of-heart.

*I received a temporary download of this book from the publisher.

No one can deny the authenticity of the recipes that fill this book. Unfortunately, in "Bangkok's" main role as a cookbook, that is where this book falls short. Readers will be able to learn about a whole range of genuine Thai dishes, but whether they'll be actually be able to make them is a completely different story. The recipes could have been altered a little in order to make them easier to come alive in the kitchens of those who wish to expand the horizons of their cooking skills out into the unique Thai style. Instead, the recipes confront readers with an array of ingredients that many of them will have to go to great troubles to get, if they can get them at all.

I would love to score this book higher. However, "Bangkok" seems to do far too much teasing and tempting than providing its readers enough ability to make the tastes and aromas of Thailand come alive in their kitchens.

I was really looking forward to this book as I love Thai food, and wanted to know more about cooking it. The book is a very personal one. Interspersed between the recipes are sections on the author’s family and their traditions, and how her life was moulded by them. The articles deal with her relationship to the food of Thailand (especially of Bangkok) and the places where she would eat (home, particular restaurants, street vendors, on trains). She compares the food to be found in Bangkok (where rice predominates), to that of Central Thailand (where rice vermicelli is more commonly used), and describes a variety of different noodle types found in Thai cuisine, each type given with its accompanying history, stories, and personal recollections. I found the section labelled “Rice Accompaniments” particularly interesting. For me (and probably most Westerners), rice is the accompaniment for the main dishes of meats and vegetables: that bit of starch that is added to fill your stomach. But it is made very clear in this book, that to Thais, rice (or in later sections noodles) is the important part of the meal, and the rest is akin to garnish. Quite a change in cultural emphasis.
A number of the recipes are not what you would immediately associate with traditional Thai food. Especially in Bangkok, there are strong influences from Chinese, Portuguese and Indian immigrants, and these are reflected in the variety of recipes.
I tried about twelve of the recipes – with differing degrees of success – which may be more of a consequence of my cooking and the availability of the ingredients, rather than the recipes. Some were very good indeed – such as the Grilled River Prawn Relish, which I served on top of a fresh salad, the Meatballs, made with chicken, and the Chicken and Banana Pepper Curry with toasted Peanuts. Others, such as the Steamed Dumplings with Chicken-peanut Filling, and the Egg Net Parcels with Pork-peanut Filling, had excellent fillings (you may have noticed a predilection for peanut recipes), but the casings were not a success. In particular, the Egg Net parcels were very frustrating, and next time I would just serve the wonderful filling with a light French omelette or crêpe. None of the meals that I tried were a disaster – I would describe each as being at least good. However, I often found the recipes disjointed, and difficult to follow. I frequently had to read them through several times before getting started – and then again during the preparation and cooking to make sure I was on the right track.
So, although I found the book a fascinating portrayal of Thai cuisine and food customs, I was not entirely grabbed by the election of recipes given. Some, I will definitely make again, and there are others that look worth a try. But, unfortunately, this will not become one of my favourite recipe books.

Bright, thorough, and fun - a great read with promising flavors.

An excellent resource for anyone wishing to make their own Thai food - I cannot recommend the index to this cookbook highly enough: if you've ever been confused and/or curious about Thai ingredients, definitely get this book.

Now I am absolutely desperate for Thai food.

I love this book so much! I've been to Bangkok before and I really enjoyed all the food there, especially the street food. I picked this book up so that I could see and learn to make the food. Now I realized the recipes are difficult to replicate and some of the ingredients hard to find, but I still enjoy the vibrant pictures and the story of the culture. Very recommended, especially if you are really interested in Thai cooking.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a great cookbook! The recipes, the pictures, and the stories that went along with them were fascinating. And the recipes look so delicious. I will have to try a few out. The author does a great job in presenting the food and the stories of their culture. I really liked that, as it gives you more of a feel for the Thai people. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone interested in their food and culture.

I enjoyed this cookbook, there were a lot of interesting recipes and I loved the gorgeous pictures. The only problem for me was that a lot of these recipes are not easily reproducible. Some of the ingredients are not commonly found. Still I really enjoyed reading through the recipes, but there were a lot of stories that went along with the recipes some full of joy, others not so much. There were a lot of stories and I felt that they distracted me from the cookbook (yes, I know the title said recipes and stories but there were a lot more than I was anticipating). Overall a good cookbook though depending on the area you live in the ingredients may be harder or easier to find.

This was very out of my usual wheelhouse of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. That being said, there were veggie options.

First, the cookbook is beautiful. The recipes seem to have great flavor profiles and for someone wanting to learn to cook Thai food it is an easy 4/5 stars.

The only drawback is really only a problem if you live outside of an urban area with access to some of the more difficult to find ingredients. In most recipes there were a couple ingredients that would absolutely have to be chased down.

Admittedly that is an expectation when looking at learning to cook food specific from a region but it is something about which a reader should be aware.

What a wonderful colourful book this is. Filled with anecdotes of a life lived in Bangkok, it has a wonderful diverse collection of recipes crammed into this book. I love this book, it is so full of life, colour and life as it should be led through food.
The recipes are easy to follow and beautifully photographed, a real pleasure to the senses.

Cookbooks have changed over the years, in that many contain much more than recipes. Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand is one such book, and it contains, history, essentials on ingredients and cooking utensils, beautiful pictures, information on the people and customs, and, of course fabulous recipes.

Thai food has been trendy for several years, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be diminishing. Most of us place Thailand in the “exotic” category, and this book proves that we are right. The flavors of Thailand are quite distinct, and, luckily, because it is trendy, the ingredients are easy to find in Asian grocery stores as well as some larger mainstream grocery stores. So, there is no excuse for not making this exotic and luscious cuisine at home.

The book contains curries of all kinds – who doesn’t like Thai Curry – and the directions are easy enough for even beginning cooks to understand. Preparing the dishes in the book will require a trip to pick up ingredients, but many can be frozen or can stay in the fridge indefinitely. Although many of the recipes in the book are ones that are found on Thai menus across the country (like various curries, papaya salad, hot and sour soup, and chicken satay), there are dozens of mouthwatering dishes that are most likely only prepared in Thai homes. Spicy Beef Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Basil is a winner, as well as Omelet Roll with Crabmeat Filling. Barbecued Pork with Sweet Gravy on Rice, and Coconut rice with green papaya salad, sweet shredded beef, and chicken red curry are both excellent. Included in the book are several appetizers that are different from the ubiquitous satay (although there is a great recipe for that, too).

This is not a cookbook for those who don’t want to spend time in the kitchen. The ingredient lists are long, and many of the recipes are time-consuming. However, so far every recipe I have made has been worth it. There are dozens of recipes in the queue, and my family is enjoying new and innovative Thai dishes that are requested often.

This book is pretty enough to use as a coffee table book, and has enough information on Thailand to keep even the non-cooks occupied and fascinated.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I wanted more recipes than history of Bangkok but maybe my fault for not reading into the blurb more.

Definitely a book that will be added to my bookshelf - a wonderful and fresh approach for a Thai cookery book. Beautiful pictures, quippy reminiscences, and interesting historical and cultural facts. A great book for those new to the region as well as seasoned chefs - many unfamiliar regional feasts, and other famous classics are given the author's personal touch.

I love d the ideas in this book. Great picture s and creative ideas. Very addicting to look at and wanting to try everything.

This is a lovely book giving an interesting background to Bangkok, it's food, culture and people. Loved it. I will definitely be trying the recipes.

Great book. Easy to follow recipes. Loved the personal touch, info and history as well.

I have to remind myself it's okay not to like every book I read. And with this cookbook, it wasn't so much that I didn't like it, more that it was too advanced for me. I was daunted by the scope of the recipes and the ingredients contained within many. The recipes seem so complicated. The flip side of that is that I have no doubt they are thorough, authentic, and delicious. The pictures are gorgeous and I did note a few of the more familiar dishes to try, mostly curries and noodle dishes. I am glad I had the chance to learn more about common ingredients and techniques in the traditional dishes of Bangkok.

Unfortunately this was not the book that I was hoping for. It reads as a wonderful history of the food in Bangkok, it's history, etc. I was hoping for some history and more of a cookbook! Since I did not finish the book I don't feel that it would be fair for me to rate it. I'm sure it's a wonderful book for someone who wants to know more about the history of the food of Bangkok and less recipes.

thanks for the opportunity