I’d actually been recommended Chiang Mai by my gym trainer David McGinley, who had first come here when it was unlicensed – which should have alerted me to the longevity of the place. Without missing a beat he replied “24 years”, thereby scuppering my hopes to reveal Chiang Mai as a secret discovery of mine (in my defence I was living in London when it opened in 1997, and I’ve subsequently driven past this site many times without realising it was a Thai restaurant). The first thing to say about this place is that I embarrassed myself by asking our waiter how long they’d been open. I thought of this when we visited the excellent Chiang Mai Thai in Monifieth this week. This is why I try to remember to pack hankies before going out for an Indian or Thai feast.Ī good thing to tell your date as you cry and sniffle at the restaurant table is that your exaggerated emotional display is merely your body reacting to the hot chilli by releasing endorphins as a natural defence and pain-killer. The scale measures the amount of capsaicin in each chilli which reacts with receptors in the skin, most notably in the mucous membranes. The pungency of chillies is measured on the Scoville scale, with a jalapeno pepper measuring about 8,000 against the zero of a sweet pepper. That the writers don’t remind you not to touch your eyes or any other essential organs after handling chillies is probably the starting point for a thousand lawsuits in America right now. The heat in a chilli comes from a family of chemicals called capsaicinoids, which are mainly found in the seeds – this is why a lot of recipes will advise you to remove the seeds when chopping chillies and adding to a dish. Having chilli and chocolate together, as you might enjoy in Lindt’s Dark Chilli Bar, might raise your spirits to such ecstatic levels that you’d need to listen to Leonard Cohen or Nico for a month to bring you back down to Earth. Many of us who dread the winter months know that a good hot curry can transport you into the Valley of the Dolls quicker than a valium, an SAD lamp or a couple of tumblers of Glenrothes single malt – how hot you like your curry could either be a test of your fortitude or an admission that chillies are probably the ultimate instant feelgood food.Ī jumbo-sized bar of Dairy Milk is, of course, the exception to this rule. The non-pharmaceutical feelgood factor that a good curry brings isn’t just from the pleasure of great food brought to your door, of course. If there is then please do let me know, but it must involve swift delivery to Fife, keeping your clothes on and no comedown on a Saturday morning.Ī curry is a pretty instant legal high, and a relatively cheap one. Just how celebratory is a weekend curry?Īt the end of a cold, dreich day, when you’ve finally downed tools, poured that first glass of wine and stopped cursing at Reporting Scotland, is there anything better on Tayside than dialling up Dil’se or the Taj Mahal and waiting for that special aromatic delivery signalling instant entry into a brighter world? I’m writing this on a Friday, which is traditionally curry night in this house – just as it is in so many other households in Scotland. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle.
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