Dining in Krabi was way less exiting than Bangkok, but still very delicious.

The thing is, the southern provinces are more accommodating towards tourists which means less deep fried chicken intestines and more cocktails. Fine with us 🙂

Debeli marked several places to visit based on their good reviews. Some proved to be excellent, while some not so much as they were simply not there where they should have been 🙂

Out of a bunch of small dining places, we have discovered one that we’ve turned back many times.

Boat noodle is a medium size open kitchen restaurant with a whole bunch of seating places on the second floor, but we have always stayed at the bar as it was fun for us to watch the kitchen crew working our meals. They were like the winners soccer team. Each of them had its own task and the things were done. Fantastically.

The prices were affordable and the food excellent. Especially the deep fried bananas with caramel or chocolate sauce that we got hung on it. We would grab them in the morning for breakfast and later in the day, like a snack before night time. I’m still struggling with food overweight that I’ve brought back from Thailand 🙂

My day would start with deep fried spring rolls and fresh mango salad over a cold ice green lemon tea.

The A-one restaurant was Debeli’s choice for our first dinner in Krabi. Great one. Cheap cocktails (around four bucks) that we have decided to try all. Or almost all.

We’ve enjoyed the soups and fried rice with pineapple. Probably my favorite lunch / dinner choice over our time spent in the South 🙂

The best pad Thai in Krabi, and maybe the only one as no other vendor seemed to have a decent one, we had in a small square with several food stalls.

It was just like back in Bangkok on the street; plastic dishes and small tables and chairs 🙂

The Krua Thara seafood restaurant was a random choice that we have stumbled upon getting back from Noparatharra beach. Situated an hour away on foot from our bungalow it had a free drop off service  after dinner so we took the offer and enjoyed our fish dinner.

We had some shellfish and seafood dishes that turned out to be quite fine, although the service was not in their best form. If they have any.

My main course came before the appetizers, while Debeli’s food arrived all at once. Never mind. We were hungry and we ate it all. Except for the toooo spicy soup. You always have to be careful with those small chili peppers. The smaller, the deadlier.

The Last Fisherman restaurant was our last and final decision while looking for a place that was wrongly put on a map by google. We ended up in a private resort with no sign of a restaurant, but a nice private beach that we took advantage of and had a nice dip.

I mean you can’t blame us, right? Look how beautiful it was

The Last fisherman restaurant served some average food. Nothing special, but tasty and it had a spectacular view over the beach, so we took some time to enjoy the sunset after the dinner as well.

Good massaman curry and tasty fried rice with an awkward salami decoration 🙂

Lae Lay grill was Debelis choice for our 10th anniversary of eating together 🙂

Great reviews, beautiful sunset view from the hill and a drive from and to the bungalow. It couldn’t get any better from that? Or?

Well, when you count good food and cheap cocktails, it was definitely a nice experience.

I enjoyed the cocktail with a rather appropriate, although wrongly spelled name name, Love never die made of all the good ingredients; gin, vodka, banana cream and milk with pineapple and grenadine juice.

Mister Debeli was sipping a Singapore sling while mixing our own personal dinner menu and leaving both waiters and chefs in disbelief.

What kind of disbelief, you’re asking?

Well, we had four main courses for just the two of us. 🤣

But we started simple, with only two appetizers:

 

The main dishes were just a small selection of the most interesting things on the menu, so we had lobster, grilled squid and sea bass together with prawns steamed in oyster sauce and crab cured with salted eggs.

Very delicious combinations, especially having in mind the whole concept of Thai cuisine that it super infused with spicy things, so even bland, tasteless fish meat when seasoned with garlic, onion and chili has a very jummy taste.

Exiting our comfort zone when traveling has been a quite interesting way of experiencing local dishes and comprehending ones customs.

I’m not sure if the spiciness helps you with surviving the heat and humidity in east Asia, like everybody says, but I’m definitely positive that crushed ice comes in handy, even if in the dessert.

Tub tim krob red ruby balls in coconut milk with crushed ice was something that caught my eye, although I do enjoy a good tirami su when I see one on the menu 🙂

The small balls are made of water chestnut plant, grown in abundance in this part of the world. It’s a grass-like sedge plant with an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, under water, in the mud, but it resembles to a chestnut. Hence the name.

The red color comes from food coloring and coconut milk is there to give a bit, not too much of a sweetness while ice helps cool you down. Very interesting and tasty combination, although my vote goes for the fried bananas from the Boat noodles any time.

 

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NJUPANJE U KRABIJU

Gastro ponuda u Krabiju nije ni do koljena onome što smo okusili u Bangkoku, bez obzira radi li se o fine diningu ili o street foodu. Jednostavno, južne provincije okrenute su turistima i količina egzotičnih stvari zamijenjena je onim jednostavnima i manje uzbudljivijima, ali i dalje vrlo ukusnim.

Debeli se potrudio pa napravio opsežno istraživanje što se tiče ponude restorana i obilježio je nekoliko lokacija u okolici našeg smještaja. Od brda zalogajnica i restorana, Boat noodle nam je postao omiljena lokacija za doručak ako bi se kasnije ustali jer se otvaraju od 10 ujutro i ostaju otvoreni do 9 navečer.

Smješten na ulici koja vodi do grada, s otvorenom kuhinjom i dovoljno sjedećih mjesta na katu restorana i uz sam šank, Boat noodle je omiljena destinacija za niskobudžetne putnike koji cijene domaću ponudu.

Hrana je ekstremno ukusna, a osoblje vrlo ljubazno do te mjere da su nam se jedno jutro ispričavali jer nisu još otvoreni, a mi došli sjesti.

Eh da, Debeli bi redovito dobio porciju svježeg voća uz svoju narudžbu. Ja bih se zadovoljila svojim prženim proljetnim rolicama, svježom mango salatom i pohanim bananama s čokoladom. Ili karamelom.

Banane bi redovito uzeli svako jutro za doručak ili na navečer za pred spavanje na povratku u bungalov. Ili oboje. Kako koji dan.

A-one restoran bio je Debelov izbor za prvu večeru u Krabiju. Sjajan odabir.

Pogotovo kad se u obzir uzme bogata i povoljna ponuda koktela (cc 30 kn) koje smo obilato nalijevali u sebe 🙂

Sjajne su bile i juhe s galangalom i kokosom (tom kha) te zelenijem curryjem i kokosom te pržena riža s piletinom i ananasom. Moj najčešći izbor u Krabiju i razlog mojih nekoliko kilograma viška s kojim sam se vratila doma.

Najbolji pad thai jeli smo na malom trgu s nekoliko štandova punih ulične hrane. Nikakav pretjerani zbor, ali sjajan odabir kad su u pitanju mohito u bambusu, Debelovo omiljeno Chang pivo i rezanci s piletinom, povrćem, soja sosom, sjeckanim oraščićima i limeticom. Aman taman

Krua Thara restoran s bogatom ponudom morskih plodova bio je nasumičan izbor kad smo se vraćali s Noparatharra plaže. Smješten bogu iza nogu, sat vremena hoda od bungalova nije se činio kaj najsretniji izbor ali politika restorana je ako večerate kod njih, vozač vas besplatno odveze do grada. Kupljeno!

Kad kažem najsretniji mislim na bogatu ponudu jela na jelovniku koja u ničemu nije odgovarala stvarnoj ponudi, a neću ni spominjati osrednje pripremljenu hranu i bože dragi, nikakvu poslugu. Jela su dolazila kako se kome sprdnilo. Moje glavno jelo došlo je prije predjela, a Debelova su stigla sva odjednom. Pojeli smo, nije da nismo, ali…..

Za početak smo se osvježili koktelima, jer užasna sparina i sve to, a onda smo navalili na kuhane školjke s prženim lukom i ljutu juhu s prekuhanim lignjama (pae sa).

Debeli se tužio da su mu školjke bile suhe, dok sam ja ostala ugodno iznenađena prženim ribicama koje sam umakala u sos od luka i ljutih papričica. Posvuda su. Što manje, to više peku 🙂

Restoran znakovitog imena, Posljednji ribar, bio je naš očajnički potez jedan dan kad smo se vraćali s otoka i krenuli u, kako je Debeli tvrdio, najbolji restoran na istočnoj strani Ao Nanga. Nažalost gugl ga je krivo locirao i mi smo završili u ekskluzivnom resortu gdje nismo našli restoran, ali smo se usput bacili u more 🙂

Posljednja šansa da se ne poubijamo od gladi na licu mjesta bio je restoran smješten na obali mora.

Divan pogled na plažu i zalazak sunca, fini koktel i osrednje jelo.

Prosječan curry i pržena riža s nevjerojatno maštovitom dekoracijom.

 

Restorani diljem jadranske obale s kraja 80ih godina manji su od makovog zrna kad se usporede s ovim ukrasnim rezancima od salame na riži.

Laelay grill bio je Debelov prijedlog za desetu godišnjicu naše veze. Odlične preporuke, pogled s brda na more u zalazak sunca i prijevoz od i do bungalova. Bolje nije moglo biti. Ili ipak je?

Naravno da jest. Pogotovo kad su u pitanju kokteli za 190 bahatih bahta (40 hrk), pa sam vođena činjenicom da smo na Tajlandu, na moru i da su nam najtragičniji momenti u vezi kad smo ili gladni ili žedni ili umorni, večer započela sladunjavim koktelom pogrešno napisanog imena Love never die umjesto dies (Ljubav nikad ne umire). Ali finom koktelu od gina, votke, kreme od banana, soka od ananasa, grenadin sirupa i mlijeka ne gleda se u zube, fini koktel se pije.

Gospodin je pijuckao Singapore sling dok nam je slagao meni. Njemu je bilo prejednostavno uzeti već napravljenu riblju platu, pa si je chef složio nekaj po svom izboru. Malo je falilo da si ode u kuhinju i skuhat 🙂

Dok su se jadni konobari snalazili s našom narudžbom glavnih jela (ne dva jer nas je dvoje nego četiri jer nas je eto samo dvoje) grickali smo duboko pržene kuglice od rakovog mesa s ljutim umakom i duboko pržene rižine tortice s mesom od kozica.

Jastoga, divovske lignje, brancina, škampe kuhane u umaku od kamenica i rakove konzervirane u jajima bio je naš skroman izbor s bogatog ribljem menija. Debeli je izabrao najbolje od najboljeg, a ja sam mu bila nevjerojatno zahvalna, jer bilo je to prvi put da jedem jastoga i rakove.

Tajlandskom kuhinjom dominiraju začini koji se obilato koriste bez obzira o kojim glavnim namirnicama ili jelu se radi. Probali smo najnevjerojatnije kombinacije (rižine rezance i pečenu ribu ili kamenice s ljutim umakom i prženim lukom u Bagkoku) i uvijek ostali iznenađeni činjenicom da soja ili čili umak dosta dobro pristaju i morskim, a ne samo kopnenim životinjama.

Za vrijeme naših putovanja često se trudimo izaći iz svoje komfort zone i uvijek nastojimo probati nešto novo i neobično. Ako je na meniju nešto za što do tad nismo čuli svakako ćemo to uzeti. Tako da sam teška srca odustala od tirami sua i odlučila se za tub tim krob ili crvene kuglice u kokosovom mlijeku s drobljenim ledom.

Crvene kuglice boje rubina i okusa po kestenu zapravo su sjeckani komadići kineskog vodenog kestena, koji raste u izobilju posvuda po Jugoistočnoj Aziji. Iako nosi ime orašastog ploda, radi se zapravo o vodenom povrću koje raste u močvarama i jestiv je njegov gomolj ili lukovica. Ime je dobio samo zbog sličnosti s kestenom i zapravo nije crvene već bijele boje. Crven je od jestive boje koja mu se doda da se nekako razlikuje od bijele boje kokosovog mlijeka.

Ako ste se pitali koji vrag drobljeni led radi u desertu, niste jeli vodeni kesten na +30 i 80% vlage. Dobro dođe za osvježenje. Ni preslatko ni prezasitno, zapravo vrlo osvježavajući i lagani desert.

 Vodeni kesteni

Ali ni do koljena prženim bananama iz Boat noodla kojih se i danas ih rado sjetimo 🙂