In Thailand, there are two clearly distinctive cooking traditions: the authentically local Thai style with its many regional varieties and an International style developed to please the tourists and businessmen who come from nearby Asian countries. The International style is heavily influenced by Indian and Chinese cooking, and dishes often contain curries and cocoanut milk. The countryside cooking tradition consists of dishes that often take longer to prepare and contain ingredients that we had never tasted before. When Thai restaurants began to spring up in greater numbers in the U.S., a third tradition appeared: many local Thai restaurants feature dishes that are very sweet, with lots of refined sugar and other sweet flavors added. You won’t find dishes from this tradition at Bangkok City. Since we try to eat a healthy diet, the absence of excess sugar is a major plus. You will find a large variety of authentically prepared dishes in the local and international styles. They are absolutely delicious, and we love them all. There are precious few Thai restaurants in Boston that serve the real thing.

You will also find cooks at Bangkok City that are extremely accommodating. We love pepper, especially Asian red and green peppers. When we dine there alone, the cook will always remember to prepare our food extra hot. But sometimes when we bring guests to the restaurant, we ask them to cook the dishes without hot spices. It’s done. Remember this when you order, you can ask the cook to tone up or tone down the heat on any dish.

We love the atmosphere of the restaurant — its art work decorating the walls and corners, the willingness of the staff to teach us Thai traditions of greeting and socializing. To us, eating foreign food in a foreign restaurant is a rare and quite economical way to remember or to imagine actually being in a foreign country: an extra vicarious add-on that heightens the pleasure that comes with the eating. In no other Thai restaurant in Boston have I experienced this pleasure so deeply.

Oh yes, they also taught us that in Thailand, native people eat their food with spoons, not chopsticks or forks. The consistency of the sauces works perfectly with this implement, just as Chinese food tastes best with chopsticks. Try it, you’ll like it.

Joseph T. Leverich and Jane Gorman