Never before on this blog have I devoted an entire post to only one single dish. But the following is completely deserving of this special treatment. After 2 months of traveling through Thailand, this is the single best Thai dish I have ever had.
On our first full day in Koh Chang, our AirBnB host, Jum, came around to our cottage to take us on a grocery run in her car. Along the way, we briefly got to know each other and chatted about our home country in a broken English conversation. As usual, the conversation steered towards food, to which we said we’re huge fans of Thai food.
“Wow! You know about Thai food?” she exclaimed, genuinely surprised. (Earlier, she had also asked if we’re from America, how come we’re so brown.)
We explained how California is a whole mix of cultures, filled with people from all over the world. We can eat food from all different countries, and Thai food is already one of our favorites.
A spark ignited in her eye, “Are you hungry now? Do you want lunch?”
“Yes!” In fact, it’s only been a couple of hours since a huge brunch, but we never turn down opportunities for eating.
“Good! I know a place!” She immediately swerved her car across the road to the other side, coming into park in front of a little roadside restaurant with a thatched straw roof.
Nothing is in English there, so we trusted Jum to order for us, telling her to get “whatever you like”. After a few minutes, our table started to fill with food: a bowl of noodle soup with blood broth, a different noodle soup for her, pad thai, and a rice & pork dish.
Indeed, I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in such a melting pot. Southern California may not have a culture of its own, but we get to borrow everyone else’s and create a place that’s pretty unique in its own right. As such, I’ve been intimately acquainted with the flavors of Thailand even before ever setting foot in the country. Perhaps this is the reason for my lack of Thailand food posts as of yet. Even though we’ve had so much good food here, there’s not much that has been super different from what I already knew.
But even with all the Thai food I’ve had, I’ve never, ever had the simple pork and rice.
After some instructions from Jum on how to prep it, I took one bite… and my tastebuds danced. I was in love.
Where has this dish been all my life?? As soon as I had a bite, I knew I wanted more and more.
A couple of days later, as soon as D and I rented a scooter, we rode to that little restaurant, looking out for the thatched straw roof. We ordered 2 orders of the pork and rice. I even pulled up the picture on my phone to make sure that we get the correct dish.
It looks so simple: a handful of stewed pork leg over a bed of fluffy white rice, soaking up the succulent stew. Oftentimes, a blanket of gelatinous fatty pork skin top the fork-tender meat. Pickled mustard greens, Chinese kale, and a hard boiled egg complete the dish on the side. Now, mix in a vinegary, garlicky sauce, and add raw garlic cloves and tiny green chilies. The final result is an explosion of textures and flavors like none other I’ve had.
As Jum originally instructed, I like to mix the vinegary sauce thoroughly into the rice and pork (though I’ve seen others just drizzling the sauce on top of the meat). The garlic cloves, I’d peel one by one, and eat raw along with each spoonful (I love any dish that allows me to eat raw garlic by the mouthful!… gross, I know…). Those braver than me can take nibbles of the green peppers for an extra kick, but be warned: they are mind-numbingly spicy.
And of course, all this is best washed down with an icy cold glass of sweet Thai tea.
and the price? a mere 45 baht, or US$1.50
all mixed up! ready to eat!
After that, we went back again and again. Sometimes, we’d skip a day, but for the most part, we went daily. After a couple of visits, the restaurant lady started to remember us.
At first, we’d say “two pork and rice” and “two iced tea.” After the 3rd or 4th time there, she would walk over and ask “two, and two?”, and we would all smile and nod in mutual silent understanding. And then one day, several more visits later, she simply brought out the little dishes of sauce and garlic/chili to our table as soon as we sat down. Words were no longer needed.
Finally, on our last visit, I asked her what this dish is called. “Khao kha moo” she told us, patiently drawing out each syllable.
So next time you’re in Thailand and see khao kha moo on the menu, just order it! Apparently, this is one of the more popular dishes in Thailand, though I have no idea how I missed it for so long!
Just don’t be kissing anyone for the rest of the day. :)
Should you ever go to Koh Chang and want to look for this place, here is the best I can tell you: I don’t know the name of this eatery (it’s in Thai anyway), but it is on the main road near the turning point between the east and west sides, about 100m across the street from Ayapura Resort. It has a straw thatched roof and wooden tables and chairs. I know this is very helpful, but there aren’t a lot of eateries there.
What is your favorite Thai dish? And if you’ve been to Thailand, what’s the best thing you’ve ever had?
This post is linked up to Travel Tuesday with adventurings and Weekend Travel Inspiration with ReflectionsEnroute.
Lovely! I’m glad that you think this seemingly simple dish is the best. I would’ve been depressed if you talk about pad thai being the best dish in Thailand because that would be very touristy LOL!
My personal favorite Thai food is khao pad (fried rice) with nam prik sauce, it’s on the next level of heat and spiciness :D
As much as I do like pad thai, it’s so over done, lol. And tourists would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn’t try anything else! I don’t know why I’ve ever heard of this dish before (even though a quick google search said it’s a popular one), but it sure is good! The raw garlic and vinegar sauce make the dish, in my opinion. :D
Oh, I love nam prik too! I loved that little breakfast vendor in Chiang Mai who had spicy prik king!
Wow, this looks amazing! I love discoveries like this on a trip, where you find something so wonderful that you have no option but to go back and eat it again, and again. Sometimes I feel a little bad when it happens that I’m no longer trying new things, but when you have something that delicious, you know that anything else you order would be a disappointment. And I love how you became a local at the place!
I love the feeling of (almost) becoming a local! I find that I like going back to the same place where I know the food is good, rather than trying a different place every day. Usually, I at least try different dishes. But this dish was just SO GOOD that I couldn’t help getting it every day!
I loved how you wrote about it! I’m not a big pork eater but the way you described it definitely made me hungry. Also: that you had lunch with your Airbnb host… it warms my heart when hosts take time to spend with their guests. You have me pretty much ready to book a ticket to Thailand now. I am confident I will love alllllll the food.
The funny thing is that I’m a big fan of pork either… but I LOVED this dish. The way all the flavors combine just makes it so good! We had a really good Airbnb experience on Koh Chang. It was the first time that we used Airbnb that our host took us out for food! It really makes the whole experience so much more special. :)
Wow this looks delicious! Haha I don’t think I could eat garlic by the clove! Raw?? I do love garlic though so might have to give it a try one day :D Jess
I know.. I’m so gross. I’m such a huge fan of garlic, and I’ll eat it raw if it compliments the food! The Thai garlic has much smaller cloves so each bite isn’t too overwhelming!
There is just nothing better than a ‘WOW’ eating experience!! I’ve had several of these during my travels and wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. This dish looks so delicious! Even though I’m not sure when I’ll be heading to Thailand, I have a few thai restaurants on my list here in Madrid! I’m going to keep an eye out! And all for 1.50 USD… and I thought Spain was cheap!
What?! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Spain being called cheap!! But that’s good to know because I want to spend some time in Spain in the future. :D And yeah! The amazing eating experiences are always some of my strongest travel memories!
Oh. my. word. Anna what were you thinking not posting this before I went to Thailand recently?! :-D This stuff sounds delicious!! I’ve had chicken rice in Singapore where the broth soaks the rice which is fab but never tried pork and rice even though I love Thai food too! I love that they knew your orders and built that rapport with you to learn your tastes in such a short time. I bet dinners no longer taste the same huh?!
I love chicken and rice too!! For about a week in Thailand, I ate nothing but chicken and rice everyday, lol. But I really do think this dish is a little more unique! It’s supposed to be a popular dish but I haven’t seen it until the last 2 weeks of our time in Thailand (and only when our host introduced us to it). I’m sorry you didn’t get to try it!! :(
Wow! I don’t think that I have ever tried this particular dish but I definitely want to now – it sounds delicious!
Yeah! I don’t know why I’ve never seen it until our host introduced us to it, even though it’s supposedly a popular dish. Even the US restaurants never have this dish on their menus. You must try it if you ever see it!
And thanks so much for visiting, Jessi. :)
I haven’t tried khao kha moo, but pretty much everything I ate while I was in Thailand was delicious. Being able to eat well but cheaply is one of my favourite things about Thailand. I’ll try khao kha moo next time I’m there!
Yeah! Thailand has definitely been the cheapest country I’ve been to so far eating-wise! I hope you do look for it next time! It’s supposed to be popular, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a typical street stall type eatery.
Holy deliciousness! This looks absolutely amaaaazing. I’m going to look for it on the menu next time I go to a Thai restaurant!!
Good luck! I don’t know why, but I haven’t EVER seen it at a Thai restaurant in the States, or even in typical eateries in Thailand. I hope you find it. It’s so good!
Yum! I have never tried this dish before and I also love Thai food. It looks simple yet so delicious and how awesomely cheap. I love how you guys just kept going back to this place until you became regulars. Hoping to make it to Thailand soon but will be looking for this somewhere in Thai town soon.
I hope you find it! Maybe I’ve never paid attention to it before (because I generally don’t go for pork meat), but I’ve never seen it in SoCal! I would love to know if you ever happen to find it!
Hi Anna, wow that dish must be so glorious to deserve a dedicated post for itself! I don’t eat pork but I bet my dollar my husband will fall in love with that one as well. I make sure to remind him to try next time we are in Thailand. I pretty much love all the food I ate in Thailand. The last time we went to a restaurant in Bangkok the specialized in crabs and it was to die for. We also did a food tour in Ayutthaya and everything we had layers of explosive flavor. I remember how they taste very well but I don’t remember the names on top of my head. I have notes somewhere that I have to dig. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this post. Lovely writing.
Thanks so much Marisol! This dish is *delicious*. If your husband is a pork eater, he’ll love it! I haven’t had crabs in Thailand yet, but we’re actually headed to Bangkok today, so I’ll see if I find any! I haven’t tried a food tour in Thailand either, but I bet it’ll introduce me to a lot of Thai food that I don’t even know about!