"Owner spices up choice by ditching coriander
ALICIA NALLY
FOODIE: Mai Sal Pak Chee Thai restaurant owner Shaun Lim has a strong dislike of coriander.
A VISIT to a Lake St Thai res- taurant is meant to be for Far North coriander haters.
Mai Sai Pak Chee means "do not add coriander" in the South-East Asian language.
Manager Shaun Lim, who is Korean and runs the restaurant with his wife, has made a big deal about trying to love the aromatic garnish but finds it too offensive.
"I don't like it because of the strong smell," he said. "Our chef is Thai and he loves it. He's trying to use more but I'm stopping him."
Mr Lim said there were two main reasons he gave the restaurant such a comical name.
"The first one is people here love Thai food but a lot don't like coriander so I wanted to help them be able to make sure their food didn't include coriander if they travel over there," he said. Second, while coriander was essential in Thai food, it would be cooked in Cairns to a customer's liking."