Three things to do for a full night in Phuket: #1 – Get some food on Rat U Thit.

So you’ve had a long day touring the Phi Phi islands, or Phang Nha or speedboating to Krabi. You’re sore and tired, possibly sunburnt and dehydrated … you now have two choices

1. Be a sucker and call it a night, by hitting your hotel/hostel/resort/camp – ULTRA WEAK!!!
   OR
2. Make a hardcore long night of things on Bangla Road, cause you put the “S” on Superman’s chest!

If you’ve met anything who has visited Phuket, then there is no introduction I think is needed for this place. Phuket’s nightlife is storied but Bangla Road is on a next level of things – it has something for everyone. By day, this place is completely boring and stale in most tourist ways, but it erupts at night after 9pm. It’s also the heaven to those ‘desperate old, ugly white men’ – like seriously, it can be a bit much to look, sometimes!

#1 : Get some food in your system:

First thing to do is to get off Beach Road. You have a million choices for dinner, but instead of having dinner at your hotel or at some touristy restaurant on Beach Road, I would walk one street parallel off Beach Road to Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road. This is the second busiest road in Phuket and runs parallel to the Beach Road for over two kilometres.

However, I really do hate the name of the road though for two reasons:

1. Any blasted name with Rat will make me hate it. Period!!! Thai people, you want western people to do more – then don’t have vermin in street names, especially since western people think that Asian/South Asian people actually eat the fucking things.
2. I have no idea how to say Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road with any sense of normalcy. These are my issues though, it might be something special in Thai … I could go research it, but why bother; I’m OK with my thought process on this one.

Anyway, for places to eat, I would just go with anyone of the street restaurants. The touts encouraging you to come in and eat, can be a bit annoying but a firm head shake is all one needs. At random, we picked a place where we saw Thais and tourists eating at : Champion Seafood

It can look a little sketchy to the Western eye – but don’t let that put you off. I find it’s best just to ignore certain things and go with the flow. Everything that you would expect in regular restaurant will be found on the street – just no A/C. If you’re too hot, ask for a cold napkin or a beer.

Once you’ve sat down, review the menu and ask the prices for their seafood. All seafood is sold by weight – so if you want to avoid any nasty surprises – do this first and everything should be smooth after that. Everything will be fresh or on ice having been caught that day.

As for the food … it really shouldn’t be anything but awesome. Our dinner included the following menu

• Chicken Pad Thai (50 baht … yep)
• Stir fired Morning Glory (100 baht)
• Seafood fried rice (50 baht … seriously!)
• 1/2 kilo of fresh prawns – good with chili garlic sauce (350 baht)
• Seafood Tom Yum Goong (150 baht … absolutely phenomenal taste)
• 2 large 1/2 litre Singhas (@120 baht)

For a grand total of 940 baht.

Pad Thai, Morning Glory and Tom Yum soup

I think the most innovative part of the meal, was the steaming Tom Yum Goong, in a bowl heat by coals in the center. This is the only way, this soup should ever be served.

After your meal … then you need to move on to the #2 thing to do.

5 notes for eating on Rat U Thit and being happy about it

1. Don’t look too hard at your surroundings. If you’ve travelled, then you’ve seen worse.
2. An average meal for 2, without large Singhas should be no more than 250 baht (8$ CDN)
3. An excellent meal for 2 with large Singhas and 1/2 kilo of fresh prawns, will set you back 950 baht (30$ CDN)
4. Do ask for the menu and assume nothing unless you see a menu and listed prices.
5. You will get a bowl of lime water for washing hands – I recommend using your own hand sanitizer or wet naps.