The third season of The White Lotus, Mike White’s luxury-holiday-turned-murder-mystery juggernaut, has landed in Thailand, and viewers are doing what they always do after an episode: booking fictional spa retreats in their heads, googling the filming locations (this season’s reportedly shot around Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok), and wondering if that suspiciously charming concierge is about to kill someone.
But back in the real world, something else is happening. Sales of pad Thai are soaring, fishcakes are flying off shelves, and Waitrose has the data to prove it – demand for its chicken pad thai ready meal for one is up 44 per cent, and Thai salmon fishcakes have surged by 188 per cent. Why? Because the only thing more transportive than HBO-grade cinematography is a really good curry paste.
