Eating authentically prepared food lets you taste the very essence of a country and draws far fewer angry glares than chewing on its national flag. Respectably expand your horizons with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of Thai fare and drink at Siam Cuisine.

Siam Cuisine's menu fuses fresh ingredients with the piquant spices of Thai taste traditions. Chefs marinate a starter of chicken satay ($9.95) before proudly dressing it in peanut sauce and cucumber salad to allow diners to bask in ever-changing flavors without roasting a kaleidoscope. Som tum salad refreshes palates with green papaya, tomato, and a spicy lime sauce ($9.95), and the pad thai interweaves its rice noodles with crushed peanut, egg, and a choice of chicken or shrimp ($11.95–$14.95). The extensive menu lets patrons swap out any meat in favor of tofu, and the kang ped coconut curry swims with eggplant, mushrooms, and a host of other garden jewels ($13.95–$16.95). Siam Cuisine's meals never depend on MSG, and each carefully balances spices and chilies to enhance character without masking the dish's underlying ingredients or unpopular film cameos.