I was told there would be cake… (Bike stomach, Thailand edition)

Okay it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I’m going to start with the good stuff, the food!

Aside from the one order of larb moo (spicy grilled ground pork) that ended up having pig entrails grilled in with it, and aside from the challenge of a farang trying to get spicy food, the food has been unquestionably amazing. From night markets, to side-of-the-road holes in the wall, to street vendors, to fancy places, we’ve been in foodie heaven.

Restaurants

We could both eat shrimp pad Thai every single day, but we are doing our best to branch out and try new things.

We rotate through the various curries, red, yellow, green, and panang. There’s also a jungle curry but we haven’t tried that one yet. Always ordered phet mak mak krap (very very spicy), but usually received phet nit noi (a little spicy)… Luckily for spice lovers in Thailand, every place has “plic nam pah”, a mixture of Thai (birdseye) chiles and fish sauce, and you are expected to doctor up your dish to your preferred level of saltiness and spiciness.

Adding a fried egg on top of your Thai food is a real thing here, and you have to try it!

Every region of Thailand has their local specialties that you can’t find easily outside. In Phuket Town, they are known for their Malaysian-inspired (formerly Chinese-inspired) noodle dishes like the Hokkien noodles at this local place, Mee Ton Poe. And of course, you can add an egg on top, and you should. The noodles didn’t blow me away but were full of flavor and really cheap.

As we were cycling near Khao Sok National Park, a woman with a small pond-side restaurant called out to us, “hello!” I asked Steve, “are you hungry?” “I could eat,” he said. So we turned around and pulled up a plastic chair. It was a small place across the street from a construction zone and several locals stopped by for a quick bite while we were there. They didn’t speak a lot of English but were all smiles and seemed tickled that we’d come back to eat with them. They had a pot of broth boiling, so I pointed at that and said, “soup?” The chef nodded and then pointed at some noodles, three different kinds. We chose the wide ones and then she motioned for us to sit. She poured the hot broth over the noodles and then added chunks of grilled sliced chicken, sliced fish cake, meat balls, and something that was either bone marrow or chicken liver. For condiments, we had bean sprouts, green onions, cucumbers, cabbage, chili flakes, and chili paste (like Sriracha). It was a perfect lunch for 30฿ per bowl ($1).

Another chance delicious road-side meal, we were leaving Surat Thani early in the morning to make the ferry to Ko Samui. There were shops and stalls everywhere with all kinds of food. In this area, it seems to have a lot of Chinese influence, and so there were lots of dim sum places. We stopped at one and the lady there waved us inside and spoke quite good English and explained we should pick out several dishes (all raw, under a glass deli case). I picked these three, pork balls with mushrooms, pork ball in fish cake with carrots, and my favorite dim sum item of all time, a pork bun! The dishes are then put in these bamboo containers and steamed. The pork bun, for me, was better than the ones you pay $5+ each at Yank Sing in San Francisco. (The other two dishes didn’t knock my socks off but were tasty enough for 50c.)

I had this whole “white snapper” deep fried with spicy sauce, and it was delicious! We’ll be leaving the Gulf of Thailand soon, so I wanted to make sure to try some of the fish while I can.

Street food

Surat Thani has an excellent night market, so we visited twice on the two nights we stayed there.

These little dough balls of octopus or shrimp are cooked through and then covered with spices and seaweed.

Skewers of meat, fish and meatballs are everywhere. You can choose a sauce to put on top.

Tasty small grilled veggie cakes. Some may have had fish or meat, not sure! You kind of just have to go with the flow and point at whatever looks good unless you can read Thai! I think this would be a lot more difficult for anyone with dietary restrictions.

Seasoned fish cakes on a spit. This time, I know it was fish because I saw “ปลา” on the sign along with a dozen other Thai letters and know that’s “plah”, the word for fish. One woman mixed and formed the fish balls, and the guy (off-picture) furiously spun and moved around the skewers over hot coals to get exactly the right level of doneness, even snipping off bits of char to keep it from burning. We waited 10 minutes for ours, and they were worth it.

The classic mango sticky rice but with colored rice was delicious but a bit pricey at 50฿. Look at us complaining about $1.65 dessert.

Convenience store food

I always like to see what’s for sale in the convenience stores. It’s usually a weird mix of local favorites plus what they think foreigners miss from home.