Thongsala is one of the main port towns in Koh Pha Ngan. It's brimming with taxi drivers wanting to take you anywhere else on the island and you're never too far from seeing the next load of tourists being herded around like cattle. Initially we left this area as soon as we arrived, but made a point of coming back for one night to try out the Pantip food market.
It's located right in the centre of the town (which is quite small anyway). There's plenty of bars and other restaurants around - some offering happy hours and other deals to try and win your business. This area was a lot more lively than where we had previously been but it was a pleasant juxtaposition - still not too crazy to enjoy.
The market runs from the early afternoon, but really kicks off in full swing around 4-5pm. There are around 40-50 different food and drink stalls, seating areas for eating, music playing and people advertising whatever party is coming up next - jungle, waterfull, half moon, full moon - take your pick!
The smell of the food is incredible - all sorts of different scents washing over you as you enter into this exciting chaos. Lines of carts stacked up next to each other each with it's own special offerings tempting you in their direction. Wandering around the stalls, we chose a sticky pork and sesame stick to eat whilst perusing the other stands. Various other proteins were stuffed on sticks too, besides your regular chicken satay there were baby squids, big squids, huge tentacles (1 per stick), thai sausage balls, crab sticks... The options were endless. You choose your wares and the lady throws them on the BBQ for you whilst you pay the 10/20/30 baht that your stick costs.
We followed up with a second pork dish - pork shoulder that had been barbecued whilst hanging inside a huge barrel, sliced thin and served with a raw salad and sticky sweet, spicy sauce. Simple and delicious, especially the crunchy end pieces.
Similar to this, but for the slightly more adventurous eater, is a stewed pork stall. It looks pretty awful when you see it - there's a plucked chicken hanging in the stall and huge lumps of odd looking meat.. But if you can get past that, the stewed pork is a Thai delicacy which is sliced up and served over rice in the most delicious sauce. There was also a crunchy option which we tried - crispy bits of pork and crackling in this lovely thick sweet chilli marinade, served with half an egg and a generous handful of coriander for only 50 baht - one of the cheaper stalls because you have to be in the know to brave that stand!
Spring rolls (both the fresh and deep fried varieties) served with a mixture of spicy chilli and sweet peanutty sauces were fantastic. Options included avocado, tuna or prawn for the fresh, and your usual vegetable or chicken for the deep fried. They were quite beautiful all lined up next to each other, each hand made by the lady running the stall who was often replenishing her stock.
There were a few curry stalls and pad thai stalls (we had an excellent pad thai for 50 baht (£1!) made in front of us with flair in about 2 minutes), big boats of hand made sushi which I wasn't expecting to see! Lots of fruit shake stands offering all sorts of combinations and strangely enough, various western offerings like pizza, kebabs and fried chicken, none of which took our fancy.
I had a nutella crepe which was nice but I've definitely had better in Thailand, and it was totally outshone by the dessert Harry chose: a sticky piece of banana bread that had been baked as a traybake, sprinkled with chocolate chips and a few almost caramelised pieces of banana baked into the top of it. It was gooey, moist and considering the content, very light. Also half the price of my crepe, we had to return the following day for another! The other cakes on this stall also looked appetising - definitely worth skipping the popular crepes and waffles for this one!
Pantip food market is definitely worth a try if you find yourself on Koh Pha Ngan - you could always grab yourself a slice of that banana cake before your ferry!
Aideen said
Amazing. 👍