Hat Yai Restaurant Listings Page 3

For a general overview of the food scene in Hat Yai see Hat Yai Food and Restaurant Listings Page 1. The following restaurants are some of the places I've eaten at in Hat Yai.

Comments: First, let's get the transliteration out of the way. The restaurant refers to itself in English as 'Kaneng' but 'Gun Eng' is a more accurate phonetic transliteration. I don't like the transliteration of the road it is on either. 'Gim-bpruh-dit' is better.

This restaurant is very well known to Hat Yai locals and to the many Malaysian visitors who visit Hat Yai often. Thai and Chinese food is served, but I should remind you that Chinese food in Thailand is a little different to Chinese food as served in Europe or North America.

This kind of eatery is much favoured by the Chinese: large with big, round tables. The Chinese tend to eat in large groups. I often eat alone and restaurants like this are totally unsuitable for solitary diners.

I have only eaten there once, and I was taken as a guest. I am not fond of Chinese food in Thailand so had a few doubts but the food was very Thai and very good. Without being ungrateful or disrespectful to my hosts, it wasn't too expensive either.

The nearest landmarks are the two BP hotels - the BP Grand Tower and BP Grand Suite (Map 3) - and the restaurant is opposite a Chinese temple.

Comments: Asians like to eat in big groups but most large restaurants in Hat Yai intended for Malaysian tourists cater to those of Chinese ethnicity. This one, however, caters to Muslims.

There are a number of Muslim restaurants in Hat Yai but this one is a little more upmarket and is located in the prime tourist area of Lee Gardens Plaza. It's a stone's throw from Lee Gardens. Because of its location - and because the restaurant tends to attract tourists rather than locals - the prices are a little high.

There is a good selection of food on the menu including Western, Thai and Malaysian dishes. Naturally, everything is prepared to Halal standards so this is not the place to go if you fancy a bacon sandwich.

The staff are very friendly - I know because I often chat to them as I walk past if they're not busy.

Comments: Hia Kui, a long-standing seafood restaurant in Hat Yai, had a change of ownership about half-way through 2009. It is now called Samila Seafood and belongs to the same people who run the Samila Sea Sport restaurants.

The restaurant looks exactly the same, apart from the sign outside.

Comments: There is plenty of Chinese food in Hat Yai but a lot of it is not to my taste. This restaurant is an exception. The choice of food is extremely limited - duck or duck - but it tastes great. I normally just go for the straightforward duck on rice which they serve with a delicious plum sauce. It's really cheap and worth seeking out.

Comments: I have included this place for no other reason really than to help dispel the myth that vegetarian restaurants are lacking in Hat Yai. There are quite a few if you look.

It's located on Thamanoonvithee Road directly opposite Pracharom Road, close to Saengthong boys' school.

Comments: If you have taken a look through these pages about Hat Yai restaurants you may have noticed a theme emerging. Many of the restaurants tend to be fairly large and have large, round tables intended for groups of people eating together.

Menus are in Thai and Chinese (no English) and there is just as much Chinese writing around the place as there is Thai. Dishes are those favoured by Southeast Asian diners of Chinese ethnicity, with lots of pork and other Chinese favourites.

If you have spent time in Singapore and Malaysia, and seen what kind of food is popular with the Chinese communities in those places you will understand why Hat Yai has a good reputation for food among Chinese Malaysian and Singaporean visitors.

If you like that kind of food yourself you are in for a treat if you visit Hat Yai. However, although I enjoy the Westernised version of Chinese food, I am personally not that keen on the Southeast Asian variety.

Therefore my view of Hat Yai as a gourmet mecca is slightly different to the majority of visiting tourists. There are times when I just don't fancy anything that is available anywhere in Hat Yai and would give anything to eat good Indian food or to have an authentic Italian meal (not a Pizza Hut pizza). If you live in Bangkok that's not a problem, but it is a problem in many parts of provincial Thailand including Hat Yai.

With half its own population of Chinese descent, and most visiting tourists from Malaysia and Singapore of Chinese ethnicity, there is an extremely strong Chinese influence in Hat Yai. Jia Ping is typical of the standard Hat Yai restaurant catering to Chinese tastes.

Comments: 2009 was a boom year for Japanese restaurants in Hat Yai. Japanese food is very popular in Thailand but it tends to be a little expensive, and thus beyond the budget of the average Thai. The Fuji Japanese restaurant chain is great but, compared to Bt30 fried rice, it isn't cheap.

There was a big gap in the market for affordable Japanese food and lots of places opened up in 2009 to plug this gap. Jibiramen is one such example.

The food is very good and it's cheap. They also have a good selection of drinks. The restaurant expanded into the premises next door in October 2009. One half of the restaurant has normal tables and chairs, while the other is a Japanese-style sitting on the floor affair.

It might be a little tricky to find but it's quite close to the Sing Golden Place hotel, and opposite a school.

Comments: Of the many Dim Sum restaurants in Hat Yai, there aren't too many that I have heard recommended by locals. This, along with Chok Dee, is one of them.

Comments: Thais like all things Japanese, including Japanese food. (Well, most do anyway but I've met a few exceptions.)

Hat Yai is quite well geared up for this and can provide various Japanese food options. In Lee Gardens and at Carrefour you will find branches of Fuji which are excellent, but a little expensive.

Behind Diana is located Mariko, and there is another budget Japanese restaurant on Supasarnrungsan Road near the big Chinese temple.

Kiriko fills the middle ground quite nicely. It's cheaper than Fuji but a little more upmarket than Mariko - the surroundings are more pleasant and the food is slightly better. Kiriko is actually two separate restaurants located just yards apart from each other.

One has regular tables and chairs while the other is designed for diners to sit on the floor. Take your choice. The food is good and the menu is in English as well as Thai if you can't read Thai.

They have a sizzling hot plate on which the food is cooked and one of the young waitresses dresses up in a kimono in the evenings provided it isn't raining. Her name is Nat and she looks quite cute dressed up as a Japanese.

To compete with Fuji they even have their own customer loyalty programme. They give you a business card and put stamps on the back every time you spend Bt60. I think that after 10 stamps you get a Bt100 discount but I'm not exactly sure.

The restaurant describes its location as being 300m from Srinakorn school. If you look at Map 4 the easiest way to describe its location is opposite Garabuning Spa on the other side of Klong Toey.

Comments: If you saw this restaurant in isolation, you could easily imagine you were in Malaysia or Singapore. It's an indication of how accommodating the Thais are towards tourists. Where there are lots of farang tourists the Thais provide Western junk food chains. Where there are lots of Chinese Malaysian and Singaporean tourists they provide Bak Kut Teh.

Bak Kut Teh translates to 'meat bone tea' and consists of pork ribs that are boiled for several hours with lots of herbs and spices. It may also contain other ingredients. The 'Klang' in the name refers to the capital city of the state of Selangor in Malaysia which is famous for its Bak Kut Teh, apparently.

Unfortunately, I am not a Bak Kut Tek connoisseur so cannot tell you how good, or authentic, the Bak Kut Teh is here. However, readers are always welcome to send me feedback.

Comments: On busy Supasarnrungsarn Road, this vegetarian restaurant does good business. It's open from 08:00 to 20:00 but closed on Saturdays.

It is located next door to BKK Grill and opposite the Tanaphat hotel. The menu in Hat Yai's various vegetarian restaurants doesn't tend to change very much. This one - like the others - sells already prepared food and also makes food to order.

Don't expect too much written or spoken English. If you can't speak or read Thai you will probably need to point.

Comments: I had known about this place for a long time as it is advertised on the free maps of Hat Yai found in most hotels and travel agents around town but it took me a long time to actually get there. One reason is that it's a little way out of town but the journey by public transport isn't too bad if you don't have your own vehicle.

It's a fairly large building which looks quite ordinary from the outside. Inside, they have done a good job creating a theme which reminded me a little of the Rainforest Cafe chain. The concrete supports have been made to look like tree trunks and there is lots of natural vegetation around the place.

There is a waterway behind the restaurant with a floating dining area. This might be nice in the evening but cover up and take plenty of mossie repellent. Look out for the juvenile crocodiles which are kept as pets. The food is fine. It's a little expensive for Hat Yai but I guess the restaurant required a fair amount of investment.

It seems to be geared up for Hat Yai's middle-class families as well as Malaysian and Singaporean tourists who are generally better off than most locals. It is open air so there is no air conditioning but they do have the big fans which spray a fine mist to keep things cool.

To get there by public transport look for a sawng-thaew going to Big C on Phetkasem Road. The sawng-thaew will go over the railway bridge, past the police station towards Hat Yai Nai and then turn right into Raj Uthit Road. You will go past Hansa Plaza on the left.

Get off at the junction with Ratchamong Road where the sawng-thaew will turn right. The sawng-thaew fare is Bt12. Turn left, right and left again to get to the restaurant. When I made enquiries my Thai friends said it was much too far to walk but actually it's an easy walk. It's just that the Thais don't like walking. Alternatively, you can get a tuk-tuk or motorcycle taxi for Bt15 or Bt20.

Comments: A fairly ordinary looking restaurant that will be well out of the way for many visitors to central Hat Yai but the food is excellent and the prices not bad. Nam, the female owner is married to the chef, Chok, and he is quite a wizard in the kitchen. A framed newspaper article on the wall carries a feature about him, detailing some of the cooking competitions he has won. He trained as a car mechanic but changed careers to do what he enjoys most, and that is cooking Thai food.

The food is great and often it is a little different to the kind of Thai dishes that are normally available elsewhere, mainly due to the chef's imagination. Their farang food is also very good and there are a few interesting sounding dishes on the menu. I have yet to try the 'Swim bladder with coconut heart'.

They also serve fried ice cream. The ice cream is enclosed in a sweet batter shell that stops it melting when it gets fried. The owner tells me they are famous for their fried ice cream, and you see lots of customers in the restaurant who arrive just for this. It is very tasty and I find a serving difficult to resist after my main course.

Chok also offers Thai cookery classes. A one day course, where you will learn to cook five Thai dishes of your choice, costs Bt2,000 and includes everything. See the Things To Do page for more details.

Probably not of interest to tourists, but the owners also offer an outside catering service. If you are organising any kind of a function that requires food, they can provide whatever it is you need.

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