It's difficult though, because how do you get away from this: to something authentic but not pure firewater? Is there a way you can ask for dishes to be "less sweet"? I know I am sick of Thai sauces being like a sort of sugary mild chilli syrup (here in Australia).if I don't ask for my grub Thai spicy they'll shower it in sweet sauce and peanuts, or even worse—pineapples.
I don't know. If there's a Thai place you tend to go most often, you might get to know the servers or owners a bit and see if they can recommend something that you'd really enjoy. There's a whole lot of Thai food that doesn't make it to restaurants outside of the country. It's too bad that there is such a narrow selection of cuisines in many countries. In the US, we have Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Thai predominantly for Asian (or most often, Asian-esque) food. I'd love to see more Khmer or Lao food, or restaurants representing different regions of countries, rather than the pan-Chinese or pan-Thai restaurants I see most often.