Royal Thai restaurant in south Salem has a great Pra Ram entree

I love Thai food. But I’m picky when it comes to what I order.

Being a health-minded vegetarian cuts out a bunch of Thai dishes. I don’t like green or red peppers, so that’s another no-no. And while I like curry dishes, I prefer entrees with rice.

So Pra Ram usually is what I order at Thai restaurants. Googling its origins just now, so I could sound knowledgeable in this blog post, I was surprised to learn from a seemingly reputable source — Claude, my favorite AI model — that Pra Ram is viewed by some like Chop Suey, a Americanized dish that isn’t common in Thailand.

The answer is a bit nuanced — it’s genuinely Thai in origin, but the version most Americans know has evolved considerably outside Thailand.

The dish has disputed origins within Thailand itself — some accounts trace it to the reign of King Rama III, others to King Rama V, with it becoming more widely known during the reign of King Rama VII. It was actually introduced into Thailand by Chinese immigrants in Bangkok, making it a Thai-Chinese fusion dish.

The name “Pra Ram” refers to the protagonist of the Ramakian epic — Thailand’s version of the Indian Ramayana — who is traditionally depicted with green skin. The green vegetables in the dish represent Rama, with everything else “swimming” on top of them in the sauce.

That said, Pra Ram Long Song is popular in American Thai restaurants but is not often found in Thailand today. It’s a dish that has become hard to find in Thailand, though it’s still served in many Thai restaurants overseas.

One food writer compared it to chop suey — a dish with genuine Asian roots that got heavily adapted for Western tastes. It appears to have taken on its current American form largely on this side of the Pacific, made with locally available ingredients.

So the short version: the dish and its concept are genuinely Thai (with Chinese immigrant influence), but what you typically get in a U.S. Thai restaurant is an Americanized interpretation that’s more common here than in Thailand itself.

Regardless of how it came to be, I love Pra Ram. The best Pra Ram I’ve ever had comes from the Royal Thai restaurant in south Salem at 1130 Royvonne Ave SE.

The description is “Stir fry choice of meat with peanut sauce, served with steamed vegetables bed: broccoli. Zucchini. cabbage and carrots.” By meat, they mean either actual meat (beef, chicken, squid, shrimp, duck, seafood), tofu, veggies, or nothing. I always get tofu and jasmine rice. The Pra Ram comes in various degrees of spiciness.  I choose mild.

Last Saturday I got a take-out order of Pra Ram. There was plenty for two dinners, so I had it yesterday and today. The peanut sauce is what distinguishes Pra Ram. It’s absolutely delicious. Not only that, I feel really good eating the Pra Ram. It isn’t just the taste of the dish, it’s also the fresh ingredients. Plus probably some other quality that I can’t identify, yet leaves me with a sense of culinary satisfaction that’s hard to put into words.

My wife and my daughter’s family have had other dishes from Royal Thai that they enjoyed about as much as I like the Pra Ram. The Google Reviews for Royal Thai average 4.8 out of 5, testimony to what a great restaurant this is. Try it, and I’m confident you’ll like it.