Shopping for Phuket Specialties
Had enough tourist food and want to try real Phuket specialities? When visiting Phuket Town, if you have a bit of time and are curious about Phuket’s real local food, you have to stop by Lor Rong Market. This little food place might just look like any other, but it is, in fact, a very well-known and popular venue for Phuket people and very few long-time residents. I drove many times in front of Lor Rong without paying much attention to it… until recently. I thought it was just a regular Thai food place, so just like many, I just went on.
Once you know about it, the food on display looks a lot more interesting. It’s not very big and looks very basic, but some of the sweets and dishes prepared here are real specialities, and some can’t be found anywhere else. People are very friendly and will be very pleased to see you trying the food they are very proud of.
Some Sweets:
Kao Maow Tod
Banana is deep-fried with a special young rice crumbs coating. It is very nice but certainly not diet-friendly!
Kanom Krok Phuket Style
Small sweet made with coconut milk and rice flour, cooked in this fun-looking pan with little clay lids. Phuket people eat it with sugar.
O Eow
Jelly is made from bananas with shaved ice and syrup.
Salty Dishes:
Poh Pia Phuket Style
Fresh spring rolls served with a sweet brown sauce, stuffed with red pork or shrimp, crispy pork, a bit of lettuce and turnip.
Mee Hoon Kradook Moo
Fried vermicelli topped with fried shallots and spring onion, served with a clear soup and pork ribs. Excellent.
Mee Thai
Same as above but with fried with brown sugar and coconut milk, topped with sliced omelette and served without soup. Try it, this is the only place where you can have it!
Loba
Deep-fried pork giblets: intestines, ears, and fat belly. They are also served with sweet brown sauce and cucumber.
Where is the market?
Lor Rong Market is located past the local bus station, after the famous Jui Tui Shrine, on the way leading to the Central Festival. If you have your transportation, it is fairly easy to find. So you should stop over to sample some of these Phuket specialities. If you really can’t make it to this area, some of these dishes can also be found in the middle of town at Loktien Restaurant, but it is always more fun to go out off the beaten roads and sit among locals.
