Khanom Cheen Is arguably Phuket’s most famous dish. This popular Chinese breakfast is a plate of rice noodles covered with a spicy fish flake curry and served with plate of fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit.
Som Tam (papaya salad)
A northeastern Thailand specialty that many consider the national dish of Thailand. Thin slivers of green papaya combined with peanuts, dried seafood, and vegetables all mixed into one spicy salad that is eaten with sticky rice and fresh grilled chicken. It’s very tasty but can be very spicy. Ask the cook to make it my pet (not hot) if you are concerned about the chili content.
Khao Mok Khai
fragrant yellow rice served with chicken. It is a Muslim specialty usually served for lunch, consisting of roasted chicken on a bed of saffron rice, mixed with ginger which has been fried lightly to make it crispy. Khao Mok Khai is not spicy unless you dip the chicken into the sweet hot sauce provided.
Nam Prik Kung Siap
Dried prawn on a stick. It is grilled and served with chilies, kapi (a pounded shrimp paste) and lime. This is a very popular dish and must be tried to be appreciated. The Tung-Ka Caf� in Phuket and the Kang Eng Restaurant both serve excellent examples of this specialty.
Khao Yam
Rice with kapi (shrimp paste) is another example of a dish you just have to try to appreciate. The Kaw Tyam Restaurant in Phuket town specializes in this dish.
Hokkien Mee
Yellow noodle soup served with shrimps, a Chinese specialty.
Can be served as a dry noodle dish or as a soup. Also served as Hokkien Mee Phat or fried noodles.
Po Pia Tot (Spring roll)
A regional variation found only in Phuket Town.
Can be found in several of the small Chinese restaurants you will encounter if you take the Phuket Town walk-about, and also at the Night Market.
Thai Fruit
Phuket Island is a tropical fruit version of heaven. Every day all year long a variety of sweet succulent delicious fruits are in season and ready for you to enjoy. Thais traditionally finish a meal with a serving of fruit and save the sweeter Thai desserts for snacking between meals. Many tropical fruits are grown right here on Phuket Island. Pineapple grown here is famous throughout Thailand for being particularly sweet and crunchy and is a major export product.
Rambutan is a cute, small red oval fruit with hair. On your first encounter you may not know if you should eat it or pet it; but inside is a sweet taste treat that is unfortunately too fragile for export.
Bananas are small and sweet and are available all year.
Papaya – has a sweet orange flesh is a favorite dessert. Like many tropical fruits, it is also eaten green, served in the famous Som Tam (papaya salad).
Durian is perhaps the king of tropical fruits. It has a bit of an odor problem, but definitely is a taste treat you don’t want to miss. Available in the spring months only.
Rose Apples are a bell-shaped, green, waxy-looking fruit available most of the year, the flesh is sweet and crunchy -- a favorite with children.
Guava is a round yellowish-green fruit taste somewhat like an apple, it can be eaten with salt and dried chilies as a snack.
Mango the national fruit is delicious, sweet and juicy when ripe, but can also eaten green -- dipped into a blend of sugar, salt and chili. Eating fruit is not only delicious but helps take out the fire of some of the more spicy dishes of Thai food.
Water
Tap water is not safe for drinking. Drink only bottled water or from a flask supplied by the hotel. Water provided in restaurants is safe for drinking, but avoid all shaved or crushed ice particularly from roadside fruit venders.
