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: Sawoei is a large restaurant outside of central Hat Yai in the Nat Yai Nai area just off Raj Uthit Road. The name of the restaurant is the verb 'to eat' using royal Thai vocabulary.

This is another place in Hat Yai that isn't really suitable for people dining alone or in couples. It's really intended for large groups of people. For this reason it attracts large groups of Malaysian tourists and it is also a popular place for Thai business owners to take their staff for an annual treat. Quite a few local Thais I know have only ever eaten here as a result of their boss taking them, and I was also taken by my boss!

Several years elapsed between my first and second visits but when I returned I was quite impressed with the food. It is mainly seafood but well prepared and very tasty. The service is also good with the staff being very used to looking after large groups of diners.

I have walked from central Hat Yai but it's quite a distance. Every taxi driver in Hat Yai will know Savoei so it's not a problem getting to by tuk-tuk or motorbike taxi.

Comments: This is another restaurant that opened up in 2009 as part of the Japanese food craze in Hat Yai. It's a smaller version of Shabuji.

There's a sushi conveyor belt, and the tables have pots of boiling water in which customers can boil raw meat and vegetables (known as suki).

The restaurant is located on Thamanoonvithee Road near to where it intersects with Rajyindee Road.

Comments: This large, newly-opened (late 2009) restaurant caters very much to local tastes. Hat Yai has gone crazy for Japanese food in the last year and lots of Japanese restaurants have sprung up.

This one has a conveyor-belt sushi section where customers sit at a counter and take any passing dish that they like the look of.

Also on offer is what Thais refer to as Suki. This is where raw meat and vegetables are boiled in a pot at the table. I'm not over keen but Thais seem to love it. There is also a more traditional buffet section.

The restaurant charges one price (Bt299) and you can eat as much as you like. It's located on the same road as Carrefour (on the same side), but before you reach Carrefour if you drive out from central Hat Yai.

The opening hours are 17:00 to 22:00.

Comments: Siam Pattavia is a small café opposite where L.K. Hotel used to be before it was demolished. I'm not sure at the moment whether the new building which will replace L.K. will reopen with the same name or be called something different.

It's a pleasant little place filled with antiques, curios and artwork. There is some retro stuff; the kind of thing you might find at Camden market in London. There's not a lot on the menu - a few different kinds of tea and coffee, bread and jam, and toasted sandwiches.

They have a pet cockatiel who is fond of farangs for some unexplained reason. It's the opposite with dogs in Thailand. When let out of his cage he walks around on the floor and homes in on farangs if there are any around.

Comments: Sing Sing is located on Supasarnrungsan Road in a busy area opposite Wantana Mansion and Wat Cheo Chaang, the big Chinese temple that is in a constant state of construction.

It is one of quite a few vegetarian restaurants in Hat Yai for those who say there aren't any.

Comments: Sizzler is a handy place for farangs in Hat Yai needing an ahaan farang fix (as I often do). It's a typical American style, grilled steak and chicken place. The best thing about it though is the salad bar. The salad bar has a good selection of ingredients and is re-stocked continuously. The self-serve soup is also very good. Salad and soup is unlimited so go hungry and fill up.

There is always a special offer in place on the menu and these are good value. For instance, if you order the salad bar for Bt99 it only costs another Bt25 for a chicken teriyaki dinner.

In addition to the special offers there is a fairly generous loyalty card scheme. It's advertised but only in Thai so unless you can read Thai you would never know and the Thai staff don't readily make this information available to non-Thais. You can obtain a loyalty card by filling in a form and handing over Bt99. After that you can visit up to 18 times within the next year and with every meal you buy you get another cheaper meal for free. It has to be cheaper though, even if it's only a Baht cheaper. The deal doesn't apply apparently when buying two identically priced meals.

Comments: The top floor of Hat Yai's tallest building is a restaurant. The views are great; you can see all of Hat Yai and far beyond.

I've only eaten there once, but I was quite disappointed with the food. Perhaps I went at the wrong time but the buffet offered very little choice and the food wasn't good. It certainly wasn't a patch on the Novotel buffet.

Your experience may vary but it's worth going for the views alone.

Comments: Food from the Isaan region is popular all over Thailand, Hat Yai included. You can get it everywhere but locals definitely have a preference for certain places over others. This is one such place and it's always busy.

I can eat Isaan food - and sometimes a plate of somtum really hits the spot - but I'm not that wild about it.

If you aren't keen on hot and spicy Isaan food, they also serve fried rice and other dishes that won't set your mouth on fire.

Comments: Not only are there a lot of Muslims living in southern Thailand, but also quite a few visitors to Hat Yai from Malaysia are Muslim (the majority of Malaysian visitors seem to be Chinese).

One benefit is the added colour the Muslim culture adds to Hat Yai and another is being able to enjoy Muslim cuisine. A benefit to Muslims is that finding Halal restaurants in Hat Yai isn't difficult.

Sumatra is located next to the Pakistani mosque in the fresh market area. It's also very close to the Hat Yai Holiday hotel. The restaurant is fairly large and offers standard Thai food as well as a few Muslim specialities. Everything is Halal, of course.

I don't know if it gets busy at certain times but whenever I have walked past there are very few customers there. The food is OK but the kaaw gairng is either a little overpriced or they decided to charge me extra because I was a farang.

In addition to paying more than I expected, the staff weren't very friendly either so this place has now been removed from my Christmas card list. You may have a different experience.

Comments: 2gether is no more. Shortly after it closed for business, I wasn't sure if it was going to be refurbished and reopened. It wasn't. Along with Orkar Part 2 (a bar with very attractive hostesses just over the road to 2gether), both businesses closed down and merged to form Sa-by Bar, a new venture in a new location.

2gether (and the restaurant next door, Goo) were demolished and the land is now empty. Presumably, something else will appear soon but half-way through 2008, that still hasn't happened.

I will leave this entry here in case anyone is searching for 2together and can't figure out where it went.

Comments: I first became aware of this restaurant from its prominent advertisement on the local free map (which is testament to the power of advertising). It is very popular with visiting Chinese Malaysians but I haven't eaten there myself. I include it only because of its apparent popularity.

Their advertising style is a bit of a mystery. In the time-honoured Thai tradition of writing advertising copy in Thaiglish, they claim 'Clean food good taste in Low Price'.

They claim to serve delicious Betong Chinese food. Betong is an area in Yala province which I believe has quite a large Chinese population. Presumably the Chinese inhabitants of Betong developed their own cuisine which this restaurant now serves in Hat Yai?

The business card says 'Original of Betong Chicken Slide'. Now, perhaps those clever Betong inhabitants created a chicken dish which they named 'Chicken Slide', which Tai See Hee now serves in Hat Yai? I don't know. I'm guessing again.

The final mystery on the business card is 'Guaranteed by Mae Choi Nang Ram'. What is guaranteed and who/what is Mae Choi Nang Ram? How does the guarantee work? If I don't enjoy the 'Original of Betong Chicken Slide' will Mae Choi Nang Ram give me my money back?

If you have answers to any of these questions, please let me know.

Update: A reader living in Malaysia who visited Hat Yai was able to throw some light on these mysteries. Thank you!

Firstly, a classic Thai spelling mistake. Apparently, the restaurant should be advertising 'Chicken Slices' (or perhaps 'Sliced Chicken') and not 'Chicken Slide'.

Secondly, I am told that Chinese food in Betong is famous. However, it always makes me suspicious when you have to be told something is famous. If it's that famous you should know already, shouldn't you?

Thirdly, I am told that the mysterious Mae Choi Nang Ram is a celebrity food critic in Thailand so if the food is good enough at Tai See Hee for her, it is good enough for anyone.

Now we all know.

Comments: Taste Add is located right at the other end of Thamanoonvithee Road to the railway station. It is a lot closer to the university than it is to central Hat Yai.

It's a Thai run restaurant that serves exclusively Western food but the food is different - and better - than the other cheap steak houses in Hat Yai. The BBQ sauce they put on their grilled chicken is superb and their other dishes are also very good.

Local meat is usually used for the steaks, but imported cuts of meat are also available - at a higher price, of course.

The negatives are that it gets extremely busy at times and the food can take a very long time to arrive. The poor waitress there works incredibly hard. She can't speak or hear so don't try speaking to her in Thai - even if you can.

There is no air-conditioning and only the front of the restaurant is open which means that there is no through-breeze. There are fans inside but in hot weather it can get quite uncomfortable. Taste Add only opens in the evening - from around 6pm - there being is no lunch service.

Update: Taste Add had a bit of a makeover in January 2009. The spiral staircase that went up to the second floor seating area that was never used has been removed, as have all the pictures and posters that used to hang on the walls.

Some of the character of the restaurant has gone but overall it looks better. The poor waitress still flies around as much as she ever did and it still takes a long time from ordering your meal to it actually arriving.

The food is still very good and the slow service is only due to the restaurant's continued popularity.

Comments: Foreigners tend to enjoy Thai food after midday but most farang stomachs prefer toast, eggs and sausage in the mornings, rather than rice and curry.

This isn't a problem in areas of Thailand with lots of foreigners but it can be a little problematic in Hat Yai. There are a few places that do a fairly decent English breakfast and this is one of them. Raan Taaworn Ocha is located almost opposite the Hat Yai Hospital building on Niphat Songkhrao 1 Road.

For breakfast they do various combinations of eggs, sausages, toast, French toast, sausages and coffee. Their freshly squeezed orange juice is also good.

Despite the Western food breakfast menu, this is very much a Thai restaurant. There is no sign outside in English saying 'English Breakfast' and very little English is spoken inside. If you manage to find it, ordering is easy because they have photographs on the menu!

Comments: The Malaysian tourists love these big, outdoor seafood restaurants and there are quite a few in Hat Yai but most are a little way out of town. This one is near Hansa Plaza, Hat Yai's well-known transvestite cabaret.

Fish and seafood are displayed on ice at the front of the restaurant: the same type of thing that can be found in every farang tourist resort in Thailand. You choose what you want and it is taken to the kitchen to be cooked.

Comments: This is another one of my favourite places in Hat Yai. As far as I know, it is the only Vietnamese restaurant in town. I have never been to Vietnam and this is the only Vietnamese restaurant I've eaten at so I can't make any comparisons or say how authentic it is but the food is delicious.

After eating thousands of Thai meals, something slightly different makes a pleasant change. The food is unmistakably Asian but distinctly different to Thai. There are lots of subtle flavours and it doesn't seem quite as spicy as most Thai food.

The restaurant itself is like a conventional Western restaurant, most noticeably it is indoors. This doesn't sound very significant but while eating in there it struck me that the majority of Thai places I eat at are outdoors. The staff are extremely friendly and gracious and although it is more expensive than dining at the average Thai eatery it is by no means expensive. Highly recommended.

Tong Poon is owned by the same people who own the Post Laser Disc bar.

Comments: This is actually three restaurants but they all sell Japanese food, they are all located next to each other in a little cluster in the same place, and they are all owned by the same people.

You will find them at the rear of Diana Department store, on the ground floor next to the Se-ed book shop.

Hat Yai has gone crazy for Japanese food, and in the last few years a lot of restaurants have opened selling sushi and other Japanese goodies.

These three restaurants are slightly different. Umami has a set menu with various Japanese dishes. Daidomon offers a Japanese buffet, while at Suki Shabu you get raw meat and vegetables which you then boil in a pot at your table.

The prices are cheaper than Fuji, but more expensive than some other places. However, in Diana the cleanliness and hygiene are a lot better than some of the cheaper places.

Take your pick.

Comments: Washington is yet another Hat Yai eating establishment that is distinctly Chinese. It is directed very much at Malaysian tourists, especially Chinese Malaysians, but I suspect it is also popular with local Thai Chinese.

It is located just underneath a hotel that is popular with visiting Malaysians, it has large round tables that are popular with groups of Chinese eating out, and it serves very typical Asian-style Chinese food.

It seems to be quite well known locally for its Peking Duck. I haven't tried this myself yet but it looked and smelled very good. This restaurant doesn't appear suitable for those eating alone but if you are going out to eat in a large group it could be worth a try.

Comments: This is a curious place. The Malaysian/Singaporean weekend tourist trade in Hat Yai is located in a very small area around Lee Gardens. To get a piece of the action it is vital for businesses to be in the right location. Anything just a little way outside gets ignored and that is why real-estate and rental prices are sky high around the Lee Gardens area.

Businesses in central Hat Yai targeting the Malaysian/Singaporean tourists tend to invest quite a lot because those tourists expect fairly high standards. Shops and businesses elsewhere in Hat Yai tend to cater for locals who don't have deep pockets so everything is done on a budget.

Any new restaurants that open up outside the central area are usually located in a concrete shell with poured concrete floors and shutters at the front. Plastic tables and chairs are the norm, with the cooking done at the front of the restaurant instead of in a separate kitchen.

Whisker defies all the rules. It is owned (according to business-minded friends of mine in Hat Yai) by two brothers who inherited a lot of money. Apparently they spent about Bt12 million fitting out the restaurant, and it shows.

The tables and chairs are cast iron and very heavy. When you pull out the seats to sit down they feel as if they have been glued to the floor. What looks like ornamental New Orleans style cast iron metalwork is used throughout the restaurant but it is actually aluminium.

The decor has lots of attractive wooden features, including one wall full of wine racks (which have yet to be stocked). There are flat-screen TVs hanging from the ceilings and big fans with water nozzles to deliver a fine, cooling spray in the hot season. No expense has been spared.

The menu started off with Mediterranean food, such as Greek kebabs and salads; and Spanish dishes such as paella. The pasta dishes were cheap at first but on my second visit all the prices had been raised significantly. Stickers had been placed over the menu prices doubling most of them.

They import meat and even salad items from abroad. One of the waitresses told me that salad tastes better grown in the cool climate of the Genting Highlands in Malaysia.

Later they added pizza to the menu and after that an Indian chef, who had been working in a hotel in Bangkok, arrived to cook Indian food. The owner asked me if I knew anyone who could cook as he wanted to add roast beef and Yorkshire pudding to the menu.

It's an ambitious place but whenever I have been there the food has never quite lived up to what it should be like. I was looking forward to a great-tasting home made Italian pizza but it wasn't the best I'd tasted. The paella was basically seafood fried rice which can be bought at any Thai restaurant for Bt30 but at Whisker it is a lot more expensive and didn't taste like authentic paella.

Some of the food is really good though. The Greek and niçoise salads, and some of the main dishes are excellent.

Update May 2006: Part of the restaurant has now been glassed-in and air-conditioning installed. Money seems to be no object at this place. However, on a Friday evening visit when central Hat Yai was absolutely packed with Malaysian weekend tourists, Whisker was once again empty.

As I said above, the location chosen for this type of restaurant is very strange. The Malaysian weekend tourists will travel a little outside of the centre of town to eat at the big seafood restaurants they like so much but apart from that they just stay within a few hundred yards of Lee Gardens Plaza.

When I left I was given a handful of promotional flyers and asked to give them to my friends. The lack of business, and how to attract more customers, is therefore a big concern to them. It's a great place and I would like to see them make a success of it but whether that will happen, I don't know. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Update November 2006: Business in Whisker (like business in most of Hat Yai) has plummeted since the September bomb incidents. It's a real shame. I went back because I wanted some Indian food only to find that their Indian chef has left, and as a result there is no longer any Indian food offered.

The food is still good even though the menu has been reduced. The general lack of customers doesn't do very much for the atmosphere but despite the lack of business the owners are still quite ambitious.

Just a short drive away - not even as far as Songkhla town - is a small island called Yor which has all the ingredients of a tropical island. There is lush vegetation (including palm trees and fruit plantations), a small weaving industry, and a thriving fishery industry.

The island is connected to the mainland at either end by two long bridges, and the road through the island is part of a major highway. Most traffic just goes straight through but on the island next to the main road are several good seafood restaurants. (There are also good restaurants elsewhere on the island.)

These places are quite big and they look out on to the inland sea. The location is relaxing and the food is good. Locals from Hat Yai and Songkhla drive out to eat there, and these eateries are well known to groups of Malaysian tourists who arrive in their big tour buses.

Ranu restaurant even has a shop in the front that sells the bags of cashew nuts and dried food that the Malaysian tourists love to buy in Hat Yai.

Here are the phone numbers. It seems pointless providing addresses because the restaurants are all on the same road, and having an address won't make them easier to find. As you drive on to Yor island from Hat Yai, they are located after the market on the right hand side.

If you find yourself driving over the next bridge, then you have gone too far. Getting there by public transport is easy. Just take a Songkhla-bound bus or minivan and get off at the big intersection for Ko Yo.

From there, hop on a sawng-thaew to get over to the island.

Ranu: +66 (0)74 450350; +66 (0)74 357455; +66 (0)81 598 8597

Yonyuuk: +66 (0)89 466 4659; +66 (0)89 732 2312

Sirada: +66 (0)74 450235; +66 (0)74 450236; +66 (0)81 963 8135

Up until now, my favourite has been Sirada. Yon Yuuk only opened in February 2009 so I haven't had a chance to try it yet but the setting is very pleasant. Yon Yuuk seems to be more geared up for evening diners, whereas the other two seem to cater more for daytime tourists. I could be wrong but that's how it looks.

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