Eating through Hatyai

During our two-days, one-night sojourn in Hatyai, my extended family literally ate our way through the short holiday. Except for our dinner on the first day, I can term the food as generally good and rather memorable at times. About our dinner though, it was so ordinary that I can't quite remember where we went. Thus, no short review about what we ate. But, these places I mention below were where we really enjoyed ourselves.....eating!

Nanyuan noodle restaurant, Tanrattanakorn Road, Hatyai

This place should be a very good introduction to food when one arrives in Hatyai. They have roast duck as their signature choice as well as shrimp wanthan, sway kow (water dog?), char siew (BBQed pork) and crispy roast pork. To me, the restaurant had set a benchmark for the rest of our time here. How to resist the food here? Will definitely return if I'm in this city again.

Nora Plaza, Thumnoonvithi Road, Hatyai

We didn't come here to shop but to enjoy a bowl of thick and gorgeous bird's nest soup. The average cost was 300 baht per bowl, which included a variety of topping such as gingko nuts, strips of coconut or dried lychee. After that, one can pop into the adjacent department store for some local Thai products. We did look around, but my wife and I weren't that keen to pick up anything from here.

Lee Garden Plaza Hotel

This popular hotel, car bombed by separatists in 2012 but the situation is back to normal now, is the main focal point for tourists in Hatyai. We walked there after our rather forgettable dinner at a local restaurant somewhere else. Lots of street food vendors there but we were only attracted to the stalls selling these small sweet pineapple and a bowl of coconut ice cream. I remember partaking these small pineapple in Vietnam but they are widely available here too.

Che Seng Tuehuan Kiamchai, Tambon, Hatyai

We had our breakfast (or was it brunch?) here, all 12 of us crammed inside one toot-toot taxi. Imagine taking a heavy meal consisting of rice, roast pork, braised pork knuckle, sour vegetable soup with pork entrails and braised tau pok at nine o'clock in the morning (Malaysian time). What's unique about this place was the way they presented their roast pork. Other than that, I think the food was quite ordinary too. The Covid-19 global lockdowns must have had badly affected the tourism business in Hatyai like everywhere else because the toot-toot driver insisted on waiting for us while we finished breakfast.

McDonald's, Central Hatyai, Kanjanavanich Road, Hatyai

Anyone going to Thailand should make it a point to visit any one of the McDonald's outlets for their pork burger since this is not available in Malaysia. We thought this would be a good place for lunch before leaving for home. All of us had a burger each; although the choices were very similar to what could be ordered from a McD in Malaysia, the exceptional exception was that one could substitute the beef patty with pork. And that was what we all did. For me, I ordered a double cheese burger with pork patties. And you know what? For a group of 12 persons like us, the total damage came up to 1440 Baht. Converted to Ringgit, it was RM173. It's impossible to pay this amount back home in Malaysia for 12 persons! And these were set meals to boot!

After You, Central Hatyai, Kanjanavanich Road, Hatyai

This dessert café serves an astonishing array of snow ice cream. Located on the first floor of the shopping centre, it was known to attract long queues of people who wait patiently for hours before a table became available. Luckily for us, visiting Hatyai on a weekday rather than a weekend, there was space for 12 people. No, wait....I meant 10 of us. My nephew and his girlfriend went missing. All I can say is that they missed out on the fun.

Ped Restaurant, Samnak Kham, Dannok

We had our dinner here in Dannok before crossing the border back into Bukit Kayu Hitam. In my opinion, the tomyam here was much better than the one we had in Hatyai and it was an opinion shared by the rest of us in the group. A short observation about Immigration and Customs control. On the Malaysian side, everyone was required to scan their luggage both ways and we could be checked by the Customs personnel if necessary. Not so on the other side. The Thais seemed so relaxed over people taking things across the border. I can't quite remember our luggage being checked at all.