In this southern city of Thailand, stalls are already flocked with awaiting customers as early as 4 am. Dim sum halls, vintage cafes, and street food vendors are all open to serve people looking for their morning fix. “People here are eating all the time!” said a Trang-based restaurateur.
Trang is nearby Krabi in southern Thailand. It is known as the gateway to beach paradise and islands.
Aside from the natural attractions, this little-visited city seems to thrive on breakfast. Mostly populated by Thai-Chinese, the residence made morning meals a great excitement.
Preparations already begin at midnight. With flames and smoke from the biggest of restaurants to the smallest of tuk-tuks, the smell of food, grill, steam, and sizzle of the pan brightened the darkest of night.
Picture: Trip Advisor
“There are at least 70 dim sum shops in Trang city,” estimates Ja, a dim sum restaurant owner. In his cavernous restaurant located slightly outside downtown Trang, early risers are blessed with a selection of more than 40 steamed dim sum items. “We make all our dim sum by hand,” he explains with evident pride. “Many other places just buy the frozen dim sum and steam it.”
Thailand is also known as a food-obsessed country. It is on a must-visit list of every foodie traveler. But this city’s passion for breakfast seems out of this world.
In Trang, you can kick off your day at immense dim sum halls; decades-old restaurants selling steaming bowls of noodles and rice porridge; cafes and stalls boasting trays of curries, stir-frys, and soups; street-side vendors hawking crispy, deep-fried sticks of dough and many more.
But why Trang?
This is because the restaurants accommodate various types of workers. With rubber tappers wake up at 2 a.m and people running restaurants and shopping for ingredients at wholesale, restaurants practically run 24/7! Rubber is an important part of the economy and rubber sap must be gathered in the morning hours.
Where in other places there are not many 24-hour restaurants with the exception of fast food outlets, it feels like food never runs out in Trang.
With immigration since the 15th-century trade, this city has drawn Chinese immigrants and shape the food culture here. This city might be the most Chinese place in the country with Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese, and Teochew among regional Chinese language and also food influence.
This city is famous for dim sum halls that offer a variety of options. Even Chinese tea culture is prevalent in here.
Picture: Facebook
But Chinese dishes aren’t the only thing to look forward to. This city too has a significant Muslim population. Which means there are plenty of halal restaurants. Among the dishes are roti, curry stalls, soups, kebabs, and other dishes.
According to a curry stall owner, “The people of Trang have a reputation as serious eaters. Elsewhere people eat three maybe four times per day, but in Trang, we eat nine times a day!”
It resonates well with Malaysians to know that at least there is definitely a city that shares the same love for food.
Source: BBC, Austin Bush
