Palytt Team · 2026-09-24

What to order if you love spicy food, cuisine by cuisine

If you love spicy food, order mapo tofu or boiled fish at a Sichuan restaurant, larb or som tam at a Thai restaurant, vindaloo at an Indian restaurant, and buldak or jjamppong at a Korean one. These dishes are built around heat rather than topped with it. Different cuisines also deliver different kinds of heat, so knowing which kind you like matters as much as how much of it you can take.

What kinds of spicy are there?

"Spicy" covers several different sensations, and most people prefer some over others:

• Fresh chili heat. Bright, sharp and fast, from fresh bird's eye, serrano or jalapeño chilies. Common in Thai, Vietnamese and Mexican food.
• Dried chili heat. Deeper, rounder and often a little smoky, from chilies that have been dried, toasted or fried in oil. Think Sichuan chili oil, Korean gochugaru and Mexican chile de árbol.
• Numbing heat. Sichuan peppercorn isn't hot on its own. It makes your lips tingle and buzz, and paired with chili it creates the famous "mala" (numbing and hot) flavor.
• Slow, building heat. Curries and stews where spice is cooked into the sauce, so the heat builds over the whole meal instead of hitting at once.
• Sinus heat. Wasabi, horseradish and mustard go up your nose and fade quickly. They're sharp but short.

If you love the tingle of mala, a Sichuan menu will make you happier than a Thai one, even at the same heat level. If you love heat with lime and fresh herbs, it's the other way round.

What should you order at a Sichuan restaurant?

Sichuan is the best place to start if you like dried chili and numbing heat together.

• Mapo tofu. Soft tofu in a red, oily sauce with fermented bean paste, ground meat and Sichuan peppercorn. Rich, hot and numbing.
• Boiled fish (shui zhu yu). Tender fish slices served in a big bowl of broth under a layer of chili oil, dried chilies and peppercorns.
• Chongqing chicken (la zi ji). Crispy fried chicken pieces tossed with a pile of dried chilies. You pick the chicken out of the chilies.
• Dan dan noodles. Noodles with chili oil, sesame paste and seasoned pork. Hot, but softened by the sesame.

What should you order at a Thai restaurant?

Thai heat tends to be fresh and bright, paired with lime, fish sauce and herbs.

• Larb. Minced meat salad with lime, fish sauce, chili, toasted rice powder and mint. Sour, salty and very hot when made traditionally.
• Som tam (green papaya salad). Shredded unripe papaya pounded with chili, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar. Crunchy and fiery.
• Jungle curry. A curry without coconut milk, so nothing softens the chili.
• Drunken noodles. Wide rice noodles stir-fried with chili and holy basil.

Green curry is usually hotter than red, and tom yum brings chili and sour together in a soup. For the full menu, see our guide on what to order at a Thai restaurant.

What should you order at an Indian restaurant?

Many Indian restaurants in the US cook mild by default, so ask for your dish hot.

• Vindaloo. A Goan curry with vinegar, garlic and plenty of dried red chili. Tangy and hot.
• Laal maas. A Rajasthani lamb curry that gets its deep red color from dried chilies.
• Chettinad chicken. A dark, peppery curry from Tamil Nadu with black pepper, dried chilies and roasted spices.
• Chicken 65. Crispy fried chicken tossed in chili, curry leaves and garlic, often served as a starter.

What should you order at a Korean restaurant?

Korean heat comes mostly from gochugaru (chili flakes) and gochujang (fermented chili paste), which add sweetness and depth along with the burn.

• Buldak. "Fire chicken," grilled or stir-fried in a very hot, slightly sweet chili sauce, often with melted cheese to take the edge off.
• Jjamppong. A red, spicy seafood noodle soup.
• Tteokbokki. Chewy rice cakes in a sweet, hot gochujang sauce.
• Sundubu jjigae. Soft tofu stew in a spicy broth, often served still bubbling.

Spicy-glazed Korean fried chicken is a milder, crunchier way in.

What about other cuisines?

• Mexican. A lot of the heat is in the salsas, so ask for the hottest one they make. Aguachile, shrimp "cooked" in lime juice with chili, is one of the spiciest dishes on most menus.
• Ethiopian. Doro wat, a chicken stew made with berbere spice, has a deep, slow heat. Kitfo is often served with mitmita, a hotter chili blend.
• Caribbean. Jerk chicken gets its heat from scotch bonnet chilies along with allspice and thyme.
• Southeast Asian. Malaysian and Indonesian dishes often come with sambal, a chili paste, on the side. Khao soi and curry laksa are rich coconut noodle soups with a steady burn.
• American. Nashville hot chicken is fried chicken coated in a cayenne-heavy paste, usually ordered by heat level.

How do you ask for more heat without regretting it?

• Start one step below your limit at a new place. Heat scales aren't standard. One restaurant's "medium" is another's "hot."
• Say what you want in plain words. "I like it as spicy as the kitchen makes it for itself" usually gets you further than "extra hot."
• Ask for chili on the side. Many Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants will bring chili oil, fresh chilies or chili flakes so you can add more yourself.
• Order a cooling side. Plain rice, sticky rice, cucumber, raita or a lassi gives your mouth a break between bites.

How can Palytt help?

Heat is personal, and a dish that's perfect for one person is too mild or too much for another. The Palytt app learns your taste, including how much spice you like, from a short quiz and the dishes you rate, then gives each dish on a restaurant's menu a 0–100 match score with a one-line reason. Each restaurant's order guide sorts its dishes into get this, add on, popular here and maybe skip, and your friends' verdicts show up next to dishes they've tried. If you're eating with a group that has mixed spice tolerance, Rooms let everyone vote on where to go. Palytt is free on iPhone and iPad, and it covers fewer restaurants than the big review apps, so you won't find every place yet.

FAQ

What is the spiciest cuisine to order?

It depends on the kind of heat you like. Sichuan, Thai and some regional Indian cooking are known for very hot dishes, but Sichuan heat is numbing and oily while Thai heat is fresh and sour.

What should I order at a Thai restaurant if I like spicy food?

Try larb, som tam or jungle curry, and ask for it "Thai spicy." Green curry and drunken noodles are also good picks.

What does "mala" mean on a Chinese menu?

Mala means numbing and hot. It describes Sichuan dishes that combine Sichuan peppercorn, which makes your mouth tingle, with dried chili heat.

What Indian dish is the spiciest?

Vindaloo is the best-known hot curry on most menus, and laal maas and Chettinad chicken are also very hot. Many restaurants cook mild by default, so ask for your dish hot.

How do I ask a restaurant to make food spicier?

Tell the server you want it as spicy as the kitchen would make it for themselves, or ask for chili oil or fresh chilies on the side. At a new restaurant, start one step below your usual heat level.