Khao Yam and Dim Sum for Breakfast

Not far from our house in Kathu, a few km outside Phuket Town, a small restaurant opened towards the end of last year. Nothing unusual there, small roadside restaurants are all over the place and are often the best place to find good local food (just try to pick a clean one). There are a number of small local places within 5 minutes drive of our house - it's good to live in a more local area rather than a tourist zone! This restaurant that opened last year does not have a name. the sign on the front just tells you waht it sells - freshly steamed dim sum, kanom jeen and khao yam.



That's the full menu. A lot of small restaurants are like this, specialising in a couple of dishes like the Moo Grob restaurant we like to visit. I think most people know about Dim Sum, it's like Chinese tapas, little portions which are steamed before serving. Can come in 100 different styles made from veg, tofu, different meats. It's mostly eaten at breakfast time. This restaurant is often very busy when I drive past heading to work at around 8:30 - 9am. Usually it's closed by midday. Here's some of the dim sum on offer ...





The white buns above are 'Salapao' which are a popular snack, you can even get them in 7-11! These are filled with BBQ pork (moo daeng). And (below) some dim sum on the steamer before serving ...



And dim sum for the kids! You can't get away from those birds...



Also on the menu - 'Kanom Jeen' which is a kind of white noodles normally served with different kinds of curry. My wife loves it, but I have (so far) not been weened onto it. There's a lot of Thai food that I eat now which I would have avoided 10 years ago, my tastes are changing, but Kanom Jeen is not my style.

Now, on the subject of trying different foods. The 3rd item on the menu here is 'Khao Yam' meaning rice salad. It's a very popular southern Thai dish, my wifes loves this too, but somehow I had never eaten it until this year when i tried the khao yam at this very restaurant one morning. Maybe I'd seen it before, but at this new, very clean restaurant I was finally tempted when I saw my wife's plate. I'll have one of those too! Khao Yam consists of rice with various other ingredients such as bamboo shoots, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves (Bai Ma Grood), crushed nuts, some coconut, dried shrimp, sliced green beans, sliced wingbeans .. and more! They prepare it very nicely with all the ingredients around the rice ...



And the finished product with a slice of lime and some sauce made from shrimp paste and raw sugar... Looks good!



And then after all that preparation, you pour the sauce on the rice and mix everything up. Damn, it tastes good! I am now a Khao Yam fan!



And this plate of Khao Yam is only 30 Baht! The dim sum is 18 Baht per portion and you can get drinks (tea, coffee) for about 15 Baht. No wonder it's always busy! Good taste, new restaurant and good price. Win.

Dim Sum and Khao Yam Restaurant - Location Map


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