Phuket.com new interactive top ten! Vote for your
favourite item and see which one becomes the most popular!
1:
Tom Yam Goong
This is the national aroma of Thailand, thanks to the generous use of fragrant herbs. Lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal, and shallots provide the memorable smells, with chilis and fish sauce providing the kick. Substance comes in the form of jumbo shrimp (goong) and mushrooms. The flavour is a unique combination of spicy hot and sour and makes for an ideal start to a meal, or – when paired with rice – a worthy main dish.
Rank
: 1 - Total
Score : 163 votes
2:
Pad Thai
Thailand’s calling card to the rest of the culinary world, pad Thai doesn’t need an introduction. There are an infinite number of variations on this timeless tradition, but usually noodles are dressed up with tofu, bean sprouts, onion, and the brilliant final touch: peanuts ground to near dust. Pad Thai is a diner-participation meal; you put on the finishing touches of fish sauce, sugar, chili powder, and crushed peanuts to suit your taste.
Rank
: 2 - Total
Score : 98 votes
3:
Kuay Tiew (Noodle Soup)
Brush up on your chopstick skills and get your slurping muscles ready, noodle soup is a quick-and-easy staple of the Thai eating experience. Variations in ingredients mean ten different vendors could serve it ten different ways – making it nearly deserving of its own top ten list. Noodles – usually thin, occasionally broad – are served up in a broth with just about any edible meat: pork, chicken, beef, duck, and seafood being the most popular. One sample and you may not stop until you’ve tried them all.
Rank
: 3 - Total
Score : 92 votes
4:
Mc Donald's
Sure, laugh now. The longer you go without it, the more you want it. And the better it tastes.
Som tam – spicy papaya salad – comes from northeast Thailand, but it’s reached near-cult status throughout the rest of the country. Slight regional differences in ingredients means placement on the sweet-or-sour scale may vary greatly between restaurants. Common to all recipes is shredded green papaya and a healthy dose of heat. Barbequed chicken and lumps of sticky rice are the perfect companions.
Rank
: 5 - Total
Score : 43 votes
6:
Gai Med Ma Moung (Chicken Cashew Nuts)
Roasted cashew nuts. Sweet soy sauce. Honey. Garlic. And, of course, chilis – it would be Thai food without a little enjoyable pain. Three cheers for the clever soul that figured out nuts and chicken were a good mix. A dish this popular must be more than a little good. Phuket raises the standard with a vast supply of some of the world’s best cashew nuts, and they’re grown locally.
Rank
: 6 - Total
Score : 41 votes
7:
Tom Kha Gai
Possibly the world’s most refreshing soup, tom kaa gai (boiled galangal chicken) combines coconut milk with lemongrass, galangal – ginger’s Asian sister – and chicken. It’s a sweet, tame twist on tom yam goong. On a table filled with delectable Thai dishes, tom kaa gai stands out; your spoon will return to this bowl time and again.
Rank
: 7 - Total
Score : 39 votes
8:
Kang Kheaw Whan Gai (Green Curry Chicken)
So what gives green curry its colour? Green curry paste. Sorry, not an exciting
answer. But it is an exiting dish. Of all the curries, and there’s
plenty of them, the one that’s the colour of American money is among
the spiciest. It’s also the least like the curry of India; Thailand
has a way of making borrowed food distinctively Thai. The proof is in the
coconut milk.
Rank
: 8 - Total
Score : 37 votes
9:
Massaman Curry
Massaman is the Thai word for “Muslim”, which is the community to heartily thank for this concoction of coconut milk, potatoes, roasted peanuts, bay leaves, sugar, cinnamon, and tamarind sauce. The meat of choice is often beef or chicken, but because it’s been embraced by the Buddhists, pork can also be found.
Ah, good old fried rice. On first sight, kao phad appears to be little more than a big heap of rice; you call that a meal? But try it. Augmented with your choice of meat – shrimp and chicken being the most popular – and egg, onion, cilantro, garlic, and tomotoes, this is rice with hidden secrets. Spice to taste with chili sauce and enjoy.
Rank
: 10 - Total
Score : 32 votes
More Entries
11
:
Goong Preaw Wan (Sweet & Sour Prawns)
Phuket, being an island, is a haven for seafood lovers. The prawns pulled out of the Andaman Sea are big and delicious. While lots of Thai dishes have hints of sweet and suggestions of sour, it’s never more true than when the name explicitly says “sweet and sour.” The prawns are deep-fried, and served with a tasty vegetable and pineapple sauce. Seafood aficionados rejoice.
Rank
: 11 - Total
Score : 22 votes
12
:
Bai Kha Prao
Get the rice ready – things are about to get spicy. Beef and Thai basil are the cornerstone of this dish, but give the spices credit for a big assist. Garlic, shallots, peppercorns, and chilis give it the personality that makes you say, “Wow!” Of course, depending on the amount of chili, that might be an, “Ow!” Best served with a big plate of the aforementioned rice and a fried egg.
Rank
: 12 - Total
Score : 16 votes
13
:
Rad Na
Rad na is a noodle dish featuring chicken cooked with eggs, scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. But the real flavour comes from a drenching of special rad na sauce – oyster and fish sauces with vinegar and sugar. Rad na noodles are a broad rice noodle that give this meal it’s unique appearance.
Rank
: 13 - Total
Score : 15 votes
14
:
Pad See Iew
Western fast food restaurant chains take note: this is how they do a quick lunch in Thailand. Ideally, ultra-thin slices of chicken are marinated in a mile-long list of ingredients (garlic, oyster and sweet soy sauces, shallots, onions, ginger, pepper, sugar) and then stir-fried with noodles. The result is a sweet entree that isn’t served with the question, “Would you like fries with that?”
