Nakhon Si Thammarat Thailand – Best Places to Eat

Nakhon Si Thammarat is a great place to taste some of the yummiest southern dishes. The restaurant scene is not exactly developed and you will have to struggle to find decent Western options.

Night markets

A big night market opens every day at around 5:00pm south of the train station. There’s a big variety of dishes with all the classics available in any market in Thailand (meat skewers, chicken barbecue, pad thai, rice based dishes, noodles soup, papaya salad) plus some more local specialties like curries, and different kind of fish and seafood. This is your best bet if you want to go cheap without giving up on taste and quality. Most of the dishes will come for THB40 or less and some of the stalls have plastic tables and chairs if you want to eat on the spot. The market closes quite early with many of the vendors packing up everything before 9:00pm.

Local restaurants

Located on Ratchadamnoen road, Wang Derm Restaurant (near the Suchart Subsin’s Shadow Puppet House) is a great place to stop for lunch during your visit to the historic attractions in the southern part of town. A long running restaurant, it is well known among the locals for offering some of the best and cheaper southern food in Nakhon Si Thammarat. All the food is precooked in the morning and it’s on display on a couple of different counters, making it easy for a foreigner to choose what to try without looking at the menu that being only in Thai would be useless anyway.

Khanom Jeen is a type of rice noodles very popular all over Thailand, and everywhere they have a different way to serve them; in the south they come with curry sauces that will always be extremely spicy, no matter which one you choose. Get a plate of fresh vegetable to accompany your choice; it will help to cool down the fire on your lips and in your mouth. A healthy meal that you will find everywhere in southern Thailand and Malaysia is Khao Yum (rice salad), a mix of various vegetables which varies depending on the season and rice; the dressing is a fermented fish sauce. Another signature dish at Wang Derm is the red curry crispy fried fish. The place is open only for lunch (and breakfast if you like) and is more than affordable; most of the dishes will come in the THB30/THB70 range.

For another southern food option open also for dinner, head to Krua Nai Nang (116 Soi Chusin,Patanakarn Ku Khwang Road). This is a proper restaurant with waiters and menus (with English translation). Slightly more expensive than Wang Derm, the food is prepared on the spot and it’s exceptionally good; different kind of curries are their big thing, and again expect them to be extra spicy; you can try to ask the waiter to cook it ‘’pet nit noi’’ if you want it less hot or ‘’mai pet’’ if you don’t want it spicy at all. They also have a small theatre where multiple time every day they perform a short shadow puppets’ show.

Cafes and Coffee Houses

Several cafes all around town offer a great selection of tea, coffees and cappuccinos with delicious cakes and desserts in a trendy air-con settings ideal to have a break in a hot afternoon.

Western and International Food

A growing number of international restaurants has appeared in Nakhon in the last few years, and the old times when it was impossible to find any decent western food in town are finally gone.

For a great burger head to Willow Tree Bar (130 Pattana Kan Kukwang Rd); this is also a good place to hang out with expats, sipping a cold beer and watching football on the big screens. 500 meters from the train station, Lamontee Restaurant and Bar (1339/4-5 Yomaraj Road) will treat you with delicious Mexican food.