There is a ginger soup that I really enjoy from this Thai restaurant and it has this stuff in it that looks?!
Answers: like rice, but I know it isn't rice. What could it be?
Maybe it's a naam biak, or rice soup. The rice would be glutinous or jasmine, and so would be bigger and more flavorful than other rice. Slow, long cooking would also make it more tender than other rice.
Hmm...possibly tiny slivers of julienned ginger. Thai ginger soup usually contains coconut milk, lemongrass, scallions, fish sauce...but no rice nor anything that looks like rice.
What do they taste like? It's not tapioca (sago) is it? I would ask the waitress the next time you eat there.
My friend's Thai restaurant serves a catfish/ginger soup with rice. Are you sure it isn't rice?