FOOD GALORE @ KRABI TOWN

Krabi didn't disappoint me, in fact, it was way OUT of my expectation. Our first two nights were spent in Krabi town and the last night in Ao Nang, a coastal town in Krabi province. I shall talk more of Ao Nang in later post. Initially we were booked into Sripet Hotel as in its' website, it claimed to be in Krabi town within walking distance to the night market. We found exactly the opposite and checked out within 2 hours by paying 300 Baht cancellation fee. We went into Krabi town itself and got ourself a cozy clean room at City Hotel for only 950 Baht, even cheaper than our first hotel.

One can't miss this cool traffic light. Obey the traffic rules or else the caveman will swing the traffic light at you. Nah..kidding!


I was so glad we changed to City Hotel as the night market was just across the road. There were rows after rows of stalls here offering Thai delicacies and mostly patroned by the locals.


I am a really lucky girl as further down the road, the whole street was lighted up to celebrate Loy Kratong Festival which falls on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai calendar. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft with flowers and incense on a river. The festival falls on 12 November this year. Sigh, if only I knew earlier before I booked my ticket. Anyway, to celebrate the festival, many stalls were put up along the street for a few days. Yes, that means many many FOOD stalls! And about 5 minutes walk away from this street, we found another Night Market...yes, even more FOOD!!!


Strolling along the street is like visiting food exhibition. Piles after piles of food calling out to me, I just didn't know where to start. I took many photos of the food, however I will just select a few that I tried or worth mentioning to put up here.

We have been craving for Khau Kham Moo or Braised Trotter with rice that we enjoyed during our Bangkok trip. We were delighted to find this in Krabi too. Our first meal, we shared a plate of white rice drizzled with the tasty gravy, topped with soft succulent trotter meat with gelatinous skin plus some sourish veggie to balance the fatty pork. One bite of the fiery hot chillies together with one spoonful of the tasty rice at a time. Ahhh...I was very contented with our first meal in Krabi.


From the same stall, I spotted noodle soup too. I love noodle soup in Thailand as it's clear and laden with fish sauce, my favourite! The fish sauce in Thailand is very different from those here; less salty and more aromatic. A few dash into the soup...ahhh...yummy! Doing the same with the fish sauce here, you will end up asking for a glass of water to add into your soup. That is why I always stock up fish sauce whenever I go to Thailand. Back to my noodle soup, I ordered meehoon or vermicelli with braised spare ribs. This is something unique as those I had before normally served with pork or fishballs. The soup was excellent and the spareribs were soft and literally fell off from its bones. I spotted a local having the soup with spareribs to go with white rice. We love this stall and ended up coming back the next day for the same thing. The soup, sadly, was slightly sweet on the second day. The owner was very happy to see us and as we were walking out, he happily said "See you tomorrow!"


I love glutinous rice in Thailand too (psst, I sneaked 2kgs home). Very different from those we find in Malaysia. Theirs is pure glutinous rice whereas ours have been mixed with normal rice to maximise profit. I was happy to find a stall selling Mango with Glutinous Rice at the night market opposite our hotel. Each plate costs 30 Baht. If you fancy eating only the glutinous rice, you can buy it separately at 20 Baht for small, 30 Baht for medium and 40 Baht for large. Tummy space was very precious and I cannot afford to fill it all up with the glutinous rice, hence only small portion for me. It was seriously good. The rice was soft yet chewy. I have no idea what they sprinkled on top, the texture was like rice bubbles. When eaten together with the coconut milk, HEAVEN! And needless to say, I returned the next day for more too!


From my photos, you will see a few women wearing tudung or shawl. For a moment, I thought I was back in KL but later I was told majority of the people here are Thai Muslim. Anyway, we spotted stalls after stalls offering skewers of various meatballs, sausages and fried chicken. We were looking for grilled chicken but seems like people in Krabi prefer the deep-fried version. And even those that we found grilled were drenched with red gravy, not appetising at all.


I once tasted the yummiest grilled pork pattie in Chiang Mai but I couldn't find it again elsewhere. I mean, I do find similar looking pattie elsewhere but usually they are fermented with sourish rice in the middle. I spotted the pattie again and decided to try my luck. I was told no rice in the middle so I was optimistic. One bite and goodness..it's sourish and it leaves an awful aftertaste that keeps lingering in your mouth. Yes, it's fermented minus the rice. Sigh..


So pretty aren't they? Thai crispy crepe? I have no idea what it is called but this seems to be a common street food in Thailand.


Apom! It came with various kind of fillings. It sure look interesting but they are selling it in a stack of 3. This would easily fill me up quick, so I made a pass although I was really tempted to give it a try.


From a distance, I spotted this man busy flipping a piece of bread back and forth using two bamboo 'fork'. It looked like a piece of thin soft bread and within seconds, it hardens and turned golden brown! A friendly customer told me that it is made of rice (she must have meant rice flour) and it is like crackers. So I guess it's Rice Cracker? Sold in a packet of 3. Ahhh...if only that customer allowed me to have one bite from her purchase.

29 Baht for one whole cake. Cheap cheap!! And it looks good too. Immediately I thought of my dad as I knew he would not be able to resist if he was there with us.


Hubby's eyes were glued to this pot of beef tendon. He was drooling over it, actually so am I! We ordered a bowl to try.


We were stunned when we saw our bowl of tendon. From the pot, the broth looked clear but when served, it was filled with chili flakes, lime leaves and lemongrass. It tasted almost like tomyum and extremely salty. The tendons weren't soft enough so after a few bites, we gave up.


Next to the beef tendon stall, I spotted a noodle stall. I saw a big pot of boiling starchy soup and it was loaded with fish maws. If only they didn't add in the pungent bamboo shoots, I will definitely give it a try.


From the same stall, I ordered a bowl of Kuey Teow soup with chicken feet and braised egg. The Kuey Teow (flat rice noodle) was surprisingly very soft and at the same time chewy. The soup was nothing fantastic though if compared to the spare ribs noodle soup I had earlier.


There are many mixed rice stalls too. I love to browse at the dishes but never have enough courage to try it because of the pungent bamboo shoots they added in certain dishes. They are packed into individual plastic bag and I noticed that many local buy it to go with rice or glutinous rice.


I was jumping with joy when I found this pandan flavoured layer kuih. It wasn't as flavourful as the one I ate in Bangkok as they probably used colouring and flavouring. The one I had in Bangkok was lighter in colour and you can actually taste fresh pandan juice extract.


The blue version is something new to me. It tasted a little bit like jasmine and if not mistaken, they must have used butterfly pea flower to get the lovely blue colour.


I am confused, are you?


Or Chien or Oyster Omelet...Hubby almost ordered it when I put up a stop sign using my palm. Gosh, it was drenched with oil!!!


Phad Thai, a common stir fry noodle dish that I didn't quite enjoy cos of its sweetness.


From afar, the aroma of freshly grilled squid was too inviting! One stick please!!

The squid was good but the lady seller made me cry. Not only that, she caused my lips to be swollen for 10 minutes and my tongue dangling out like Pumpkin (my dog) as I walked along the street. Do you see what she dipped those skewers in? A big pot spicy concoction of finely chopped birds eye chillies, fish sauce and lime juice. Of course it tasted good, until the heat starts to kick in. Phewwwwwwwww!!!


Apart from food, I also love exploring local beverages when I travel. But I guess Green Spot is nothing new but isn't it a rare find nowadays in Malaysia? It is sentimental to me as I used to drink Green Spot when young till we don't find it anymore in our supermarket shelves. The orange flavour still taste as good but wait, the Honey Lemon rocks!!! It tasted so homemade. Pure honey taste with just the right amount of tanginess! Ahh....refreshing. Only 10 Baht, yes, less than RM1!


Next to the festival night market, an empty plot of land has been temporarily transformed into a mini funfair. And guess what? Yes, more food stalls!!! Am I in paradise or what? We saw many seafood here, even fresh oysters but I was 'sensible' enough to control my gluttony. But food here looked really interesting especially this stall selling fish and squid steamed in Thai style. Colourful and appetising looking.


I walked pass a grilled meat stall and reversed when I saw a plate of light pinkish grilled pork. One look at the meat and I could tell how tender it was. The seller saw me struggling to decide if I should give it a try and he was smart enough to immediately cut one small piece for me to try. I put it into my mouth and that's it, one plate please! So tender and juicy, I suspect it was grilled pork neck.


Pork Satay! 50 Baht for 10 skewers. It was tender but I didn't quite like the taste. It was slightly wet as it was dipped with starchy marinade before grilled. Hubby find it good though.


Grilled Chicken Drumstick didn't fare that well as compared to those we had in Bangkok. But still acceptable.


There are many stalls selling Thai pancake in Thailand which is actually roti with sweet and savourish fillings. I also discovered most or at least those that I came across are owned by Muslim. There is one particular stall, manned by husband and wife team that caught our attention. There are quite a number of tables but they are always occupied with customers. I was persistent enough to coax Hubby to be patient and give it a try. While the Husband is in charge of the drink stall, the wife continously dishing out the pancakes at extreme speed. We were amazed the way she worked, almost like a pancake machine! Despite being a fast worker, we waited quite a while for our pancake cos the order kept coming in, both eat-in and takeaway.

To go with our pancake, we ordered a cup of coffee to share. Our half-filled cup of coffee came with a tiny teapot of hot water. If you find it too sweet and thick, just add in the hot water and adjust according to individual taste. Brilliant isn't it?


On our first night, we ordered Banana Pancake. It was drizzled with condensed milk and a sprinkle of sugar before served. It tasted different from Roti Pisang served in Malaysia. This version is very much thinner and crispier. It has got rich buttery taste and I can conclude that this is a very sinful supper to have before going to bed.


We returned for more the second night. This time we had the Jackfruit pancake. Served exactly like the banana version, we were surprised to find that this is so much better and crispier. I guess this is because jackfruit doesn't go mushy under heat as compared to banana.

I find the Chocolate Pancake the best among the three. The pancake was served in a row instead of one flat piece. It was the crispiest amongst the three and the most delicious! The sweet chocolate sauce complimented so well with the salty buttery pancake. Next time, I shall try Nutella and Raisins.


With so much food surrounding us, it was hard to resist the temptation. There are more yummy food picture in my next post...or shall i spoil your appetite with some creepy crawlies? Your pick!