04 April 2011

Thai Street Food Tour ~ 24 Hours of Eating in Trang, Southern Thailand


24 Hours in Trang, Southern Thailand - Changovers, crispy pork, banana roti, angry dogs and more.




We arrive in Trang, a mid sized town in Southern Thailand, on a Sunday afternoon. What's going on in Trang on a Sunday arvo? Absolutely bugger all.



Vicious attack hound. Might be related to Mr Oof Oof, our furry friend in Hong Kong.



Coconut Charlie. Plastic tubs of coconut husks.



On Thanon Ratchadamnoen the other side of the Central food markets we find what seems to be the only joint in town open for coffee.



Iced coffee - love the swirls of condensed milk.



Roast pork with rice, the house specialty. Very Chinese.



Dim sum served with a chilli side sauce. A fellow diner, a Singaporean retiree and his wife who were slowly driving to China, told us the dim sims are optional extras, not presents, you eat you pay. Who can resist?



Pepper corns drying on the footpath.



We walk around the block and end up on Thanon Kangtang. This mystery meat noodle soup vendor is too hard to resist.



We take a seat inside this groovy old Chinese coffee shop. Drinks are ordered inside from a lovely ladyboy, food comes from the various hawker carts parked outside. We used the traditional 'point to someone else's plate and order' method. This photo does not quite capture the glorious grunge of this place. There's a few of these joints in Trang.



A sensational noodle soup with famous Trang roast pork in a rich, sweet dark broth with thick rice noodles that curled back on themselves as little scrolls.



We are fortunate to have a night market right outside our hotel, the Sri Trang Hotel, originally built in the 1950's. This is the view looking out to the markets from our table outside the hotel restaurant, the 1952 Cafe.



We grab our dinner from the night market and eat it in the hotel restaurant, they don't mind as long as we keep chugging beer. Twist our arms...

A few hours and many Beer Changs later the markets are getting blurry. The next day we discover the meaning of the word Changover, a beer Chang hangover. This stuff bites, rumours abound as to what impurities it contains. It tastes good though :-)




Freshly shucked oysters, dressed with fresh herbs, crunchy fried shallots and a sweet, light chili sauce. Shawn's eyes roll to the heavens as he swallows one whole, this is 'oh my god' food.



Fried fish paste, like Chinese fish balls but with a little more flavour, served with a sweet chilli sauce.



Chicken biryani. Our stodge filler for the evening. A tiny pussycat munched the remaining bones in a feat of crunching endurance.



Prawns deep fried in batter and Thai basil into a sinful crunchy mess. 10/10.



The next day our Changovers demand grease, what better than roti?



Love the toothey grin on the bloke behind.



In go the nanas mixed in with beaten egg.







Breakfast! Banana roti with sugar and condensed milk dippings.



Even the roti bloke provides complimentary tea.



After we ate we walked back around town, which was far more alive on a Monday morning. Mystery dumplings in the market.



Fruit vendor selling mangos and green papaya.



Must be the wrong time of day for this restaurant.



We spot this gorgeous old tea house complete with old blokes nattering. Alas we don't have the time to drop in.



Trang roast pork, a specialty, sweet with a crispy crunchy skin. This lady saw us gawking at us and gave us a whole handful for free. This happend to us a lot, folks just seem happy when you take an interest in their tucker, some even refused money when we offered.

We bought some more pork for takeaway, wrapped up in butcher's paper for snacks on our afternoon boat trip. Who needs junk food?



This joint appears to be a combined mechanical workshop and restaurant, and has our favourite poster of the King in a cowboy hat. We love Thailand.

3 comments:

  1. OMG.. That Trang roast pork looks divine! Im guessing it tastes just as good. You're both doing wonders for Thai tourism.... heading there soon! (Oh and a few places in Hurstville that I have now become a regular thanks to your blog!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm headed to thailand in about a month for a few weeks. How many days should I allocate for Trang? It sounds like an interesting place but it's hard to find much about it in English on the internet and in books. Interests- outdoor stuff, water activities, food, more food, and other culutres- like about normal everyday life kind of stuff. THanks for your insites!

    CC in Houston TX

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).