Delicious in Thai: à-ròi and the taste words

Delicious in Thai is อร่อย (à-ròi), and it may be the word that earns you the warmest smile in the country. Both syllables are low tone, and the first is short: à-ròi, not "ah-roy". You will see it written aroi or aroy. On its own, with a particle, it is a complete sentence: อร่อยครับ or อร่อยค่ะ, it's delicious.

Very delicious: à-ròi mâak and à-ròi jang

อร่อยมาก (à-ròi mâak) is very delicious, the safe compliment for any cook. อร่อยจัง (à-ròi jang) is so good, warmer and more spontaneous, the one you say with your mouth still full. Among friends you will hear อร่อยสุดๆ (à-ròi sùt-sùt), absolutely delicious. From the north-east comes แซ่บ (sâep), delicious with a kick, the word for a good som tam or larb; Thai slang you will actually hear has more on it.

Asking if it tastes good

อร่อยไหม (à-ròi mǎi) is is it good?, the question a vendor or a host will ask you before you have finished the first bite. Answer with the word itself: อร่อยครับ, อร่อยมากค่ะ. To ask for a recommendation, อะไรอร่อย (à-rai à-ròi), what's good here?, works at any stall.

Taste words in Thai

Thai cooking balances flavours, and the words are short and worth having: เผ็ด (phèt) spicy, หวาน (wǎan) sweet, เค็ม (khem) salty, เปรี้ยว (bprîao) sour, ขม (khǒm) bitter, and จืด (jèut) bland, not seasoned enough. They combine freely: เปรี้ยวหวาน (bprîao wǎan) is sweet and sour. For spice, ไม่เผ็ด (mâi phèt) is not spicy and เผ็ดนิดหน่อย (phèt nít-nàwy) is a little spicy, and it is worth saying before you order rather than after.

How to say it is not to your taste

ไม่อร่อย (mâi à-ròi), not tasty, is grammatically fine and socially blunt; said to the person who cooked it, it lands hard. The polite way is ไม่ค่อยถูกปาก (mâi khâwy thùuk bpàak), literally not quite right for my mouth, which puts the problem on your taste rather than their cooking. If a dish is too hot for you, เผ็ดไป (phèt bpai), too spicy, is a fact rather than a complaint and nobody will mind it.

After the meal

อิ่มแล้ว (ìm láew) is I'm full, the polite way to stop a host refilling your plate. Pair it with อร่อยมาก and a ขอบคุณครับ or ขอบคุณค่ะ, and you have said everything a cook wants to hear. The food pages on this site cover the dishes themselves, one by one.