Thai food is very popular around the world, but it is equally exotic in Thailand’s Southern province of Phuket, which is also home to some of the country’s most popular beaches. The Thai cuisine served in Phuket bring together hot, salty, sour and sweet flavors with perfection, so it would be a shame if you do not try the following ten best Thai foods that are available in Phuket.

Tom Yang Goong

Tom Yang Goong or Tom Yum is perhaps one of the most popular soups that originate from Thailand. It is a clear, spicy and sour soup that contains galangal root, kaffir lime leaf and lemon grass for flavoring. This soup is an herbal mixture with potent medicinal properties and traditionally, it is not supposed to be bland.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai or Phat Thai is one of the leading examples of traditional Thai cuisine, despite its apparently southern Chinese origins. Pad Thai is rice noodles that are stir fried in a pan or wok. After being stir-fried, the noodles are seasoned with a sauce that always contains the principal ingredients of fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind. Finally, traditional protein like firm tofu and prawns and garnishes like Chinese chives are also added.

Kuay Tiew

Kuay Tiew is also known as boat noodles because traditionally, boat vendors in the canals and rivers of Bangkok used to sell them there as they floated along. Now these noodles are also among Phuket’s best Thai cuisine, although not sold along canals or rivers. Considering all of the full range of elements that go into this dish, locals rarely prepare it at home.
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Som Tam

Som Tam or green papaya salad is a red-hot little Thai salad rumored to have migrated to Thailand from Laos not so long ago. This crunchy and hot salad is one of the fifty most delicious foods in the world. This crunchy and fresh salad tends to consist primarily of green or unripe papaya covered in a liberal amount of cilantro, dried shrimp, fish sauce, lime, peanuts, and Thai basil.

Gai Med Ma Moung

Gai Med Ma Moung, known as Gai Pad Med Ma Muang, is not a Thai dish. Rather, it is inspired from and is a variation of “Kung Pao Chicken,” which is a Sichuan Chinese meal. This dish tends to be a combination of chicken and cashew nuts instead of peanuts used in Kung Pao Chicken.

Geng Kheaw Wan Gai

Geng Kheaw Wan Gai or Green Chicken Curry, as its translation suggests, is a Thai green curry with chicken as its main ingredient or protein. It is also somewhat regarded as a temple curry since it was offered to monks at temples by their patrons, although that Curry also contained chicken blood and bones. However, the modern day Geng Kheaw Wan Gai is a fiery hot curry that tastes a tad bit sweet too.

Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai or Chicken Coconut Soup is a coconut milk-based, spicy soup, which usually contains chicken but can also contain shrimp. While there are quite a few Americanized versions, the Tom Kha Gai served in Phuket is, of course, the traditional dish with its authentic ingredients. The key elements that distinguish Thai Tom Kha Gai are fish sauce, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass.

Massaman Curry

Massaman or Mussulman curry happens to be a Southern Thai curry, which has considerable Indian and Persian influence. Back in the days, Muslims were referred to as Mussulman and early Muslim traders known for introducing dry spices in Thailand, which is the reason this is called Massaman or Mussulman curry. This very aromatic curry contains lots of dry spices served with rice.

Roti Nam Geang

Roti Nam Geang happens to be an alternative, spicier form of the relatively sweet flatbed or “roti” that is quite prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. It is quite genuinely a favorite amongst the locals of Phuket and Thailand in general. Much like the above, the Muslim spice trade served as an influence, which is probably the reason this roti has spicy curry served with it.

Khao Pad Kai

Khao Pad Kai or Thai fried rice refers to the fried rice traditionally prepared by street vendors in Thailand’s central region. Unlike Chinese fried rice, Thai jasmine rice is used to make this dish, combined with ingredients like egg, garlic, onions, some meat like chicken or shrimp, and tomatoes. Khao Pad Maphrao is another variant of this dish, which is coconut fried rice.

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