Best Seafood in Phuket!! 🇹🇭 Giant Lobster + Crab Curry in Phuket, Thailand!

Where should you go to eat the best seafood in Phuket? Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens and in this video I'm going to be taking you to eat at three local Thai restaurants that all serve extremely fresh seafood. We'll eat some famous seafoods you probably recognize and some seafoods that might surprise you. Oh man, that's delicious. Phuket, an island in southern Thailand, is blessed with just about everything from fish. That fish with curry paste, something you cannot miss. To crabs. Just fresh, steamed, perfect. And combined with flavorful Thai spices and herbs, you're in for an unforgettable Thai seafood tour. We have a lot of amazing seafood to eat and we're beginning at the first place, right along the beach. This is the spot right here. This restaurant is called Gan Eng Song or Gan Eng Number Two and it is a local seafood restaurant in the south of the island. One of the great things about this restaurant is they have live seafood. You're guaranteed extremely fresh seafood. Oh okay, live seafood. Okay. Do you want to catch it? Oh yes, okay sure. And these are the local Phuket lobsters, the seven colored lobsters. Okay. Okay, it doesn't get fresher than this. And one of the specialties here is the local seven colored Phuket rock spiny lobsters. Oh yeah, that is fresh. They have this entire hut here dedicated to the fresh live seafood tanks and you can choose what you want. But even if you don't choose what you want, you know you're going to get fresh seafood because they keep everything, I mean most things live. And also they specialize in blue swimmer crabs. That's something almost everyone orders as well. So we've got to have that. Okay, so he's going to get started on one of the fish grilled. So this is the trevally fish. Now it comes over here to the grill. Oh, so it just goes onto a banana leaf, just sits on a banana leaf. So on goes the coconut shell. Oh, and immediately that starts to ignite because it's quite dry. Starts to ignite and immediately smoke. You can see the smoke pouring from that coconut husk. And that's all going to embed into the fish resting on a banana leaf over the grill. Man, it's almost like a smoke pit barbecue they have back here. Such a cool setup and all for their special smoke, coconut husk smoked fish. And so actually that takes a long process because it's an indirect smoke and just using that low heat just from the smoke of the coconut husk to roast that fish. So it takes a long time to cook. It takes about an hour depending on the size of the fish. So that's going to slow cook. But in the meantime, luckily they have one ready for us. Like a local seaweed. It's like a local seaweed. But they will grow in the clear water and very clean water only. Oh, okay. Been to Phuket many times, but I've never eaten this before. So it's going to be my first time. No, my first time. For my first time. And we're going to see what they make with this. Very seasonal for only two weeks per year. Only available maybe for two weeks per year. Okay, so first there's a little bit of flour. And then curry paste goes in. An egg goes in. Okay, so she's just going to make a batter to deep fry that vegetable. Okay, so she's bringing that over to the deep frying station. Okay, come. Oh, okay, okay. The curry paste. Okay, okay. Oh, better, yes. Oh, so he dunks the entire leaves in that batter with curry paste. And then directly into the oil. And then we've also got some fresh shrimp as well. Fresh shrimp. Get a coating as well. She's placing that directly on top of the leaves. Perfect. You can see all those leaves already floating to the surface. And then she strategically places the shrimp on the top of the leaves. So they float to the top. What a technique. Oh, the entire thing flips. It's like a whole sheet. And I think that's ready. Golden, crispy. Oh, that's so aromatic too. Okay, well that's ready. And they actually mentioned that everything else has already been cooked. They've finished steaming all the crabs and everything is good to go. So she said, head back to the table, back to the beach, and we're going to start eating. Everything, extremely fresh, top quality. You're guaranteed top quality seafood. Everything is so vibrant, so colorful. I'm at one of those meals where I'm having a little bit of meal fright, stage fright. I don't even know where to dig in because it all looks so good. What should we start with? Okay, let's start with that fish. So this is the trevally, which has been wrapped in banana leaves and then smoked and grilled over coconut husks. And you can see they peel back the skin on one side and you can just see that flesh is so, so meaty, so firm. And yet it remains moist. So I'll take some of the fish off the side there. Let's just taste it first on its own, but it does have a sauce that it goes with. Seriously, even before you get it into your mouth, the smoky aroma of that coconut husk goes up your nose a little bit. It's moist. It's firm. It's embedded with that smokiness. Oh, it's delicious. Okay, so I'll take another piece of that fish. And she said, this is the sauce that should be used, which is, I think it's a tamarind. Is it a tamarind sauce with a little bit of chilies with some shallots in there as well? Okay, so I'll add this there. That sauce is sweet and sour with the crunch of the shallots and those chilies in there. And even with that sauce, that smokiness of the fish just comes out as you take a bite. I love the texture of that fish. I love everything about it. Okay, next up for the lobster. Oh, and again, what happened was I saw the live lobsters, but then they just decided kind of to surprise us with the dish that they made. I didn't even know what they were cooking. All of a sudden, the entire lobster, the one kilo lobster comes out steamed and just blossoming, like a blossoming, the meat just blossoming. Oh man. Oh, this looks incredibly good. There's so much meat in the tail. I think I'll just grab it with my fingers. That might be, oh, so what they've done is, I think they've just incited it out. You see the shell? They've just sliced the shell down the side and then just pulled out the, look, you can actually take, you can take this entire piece. It's so convenient. Oh, it's just sliding out of the head. The meat is sliding out. Oh, look at that. That, oh, oh, some of the tamale has come out. That's huge. That tail, oh man. And the way that they've cut it is so convenient. That might be the most convenient lobster cutting I've ever seen in my life. Okay, grab a half of this. Oh, look at that. A whole side of lobster. For my first bite, I don't think it needs any sauce or any butter or any dipping. Oh, wow. And that's the bite with some of the tamale. That complexity of flavor from the head juices, the head butter. Oh man. And you really taste the freshness of this lobster. Sometimes you'll get lobster like this and you can tell it's not fresh because it has a mushy texture or the texture is not quite right. This one is firm. Oh, that's one of the better lobsters I've had in Phuket. Incredible, fresh, firm. Just the quality of the lobster and the texture of the lobster is just perfect. Okay, but she did mention that we should dip it into the butter sauce. That's one of the options. Let's give this a nice dip. Oh, oh, just let it rattle around in the butter. Jiggle it around. Oh man, that is a, yeah, that's a sensational lobster. Oh man, with that butter, adding that richness, a little bit of saltiness. I also want to try it in the Thai seafood sauce. Okay, into the Thai seafood sauce which includes garlic, chilies, probably fish sauce and lime juice and maybe a little bit of sugar as well. Oh, I mean, because the lobster is so good, you can't go wrong with anything. You could eat it plain and be happy. Butter, Thai seafood sauce, that's just world-class lobster. Next up for the Bua Tod, we saw her making the fried seasonal vegetable with shrimp on top and I love how that vegetable just makes like a nest for the shrimp. Again, I think I want to try it first on its own but then there is a dipping sauce that goes with it. And the beauty of this is it's deep fried to a crisp so you can eat the shrimp, the entire shrimp, the head, the shell and all. You got to wait for all those flavors to come to hit your mouth from the curry paste to the flavor of the leaf to the flavor of the shrimp and the shell. But I love the texture of it. The leaf itself has just a little bit of a nutty taste to it but it's not overpowering, kind of a mellow leaf. She said, again, it's very seasonal. Right now it's only available for two weeks. That's why it's so rare to get but it's so crispy. Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, I love it. There's other similar vegetables that they also make the same dish with. She said sometimes they use morning glory but another one is called bai lip kroot which is common in the South. The same dish but this is a vegetable I've never had before. My first time. Yeah, but then I will dip it into the special sauce. That goes great with that fried batter. A little bit sweet, just a little bit sour and a little bit salty. This goes well with something that's crispy and salty though and it mellows out the flavor a little bit. Next up, I'm gonna try their own homemade homok. And homok is like a fish, kind of a steamed fish custard. It's a custard, that's what it is. But this is made with, but not a sweet custard. It's made with coconut milk. It's made with, they said made with king mackerel. And then also should be curry paste in there as well as you can even see the shreds, the fine shreds of makrut lime leaves in there as well and then it's steamed within banana leaf packet. You can see how juicy it remains because it's steamed in that leaf. And then also I think there's a, it might be a piper lalot or a beetle leaf, wild beetle leaf on the bottom as well, steamed. You can see how juicy it is. Oh, so there's whole, there's pieces of the king mackerel in there and then the coconut milk and the curry paste just kind of curdles into a custard. And I'll put this onto my rice. This should be eaten with rice. Oh, wow. Oh, that is amazing. It really is like a curry custard, but savory with fish, with the richness of the coconut milk. It's so juicy as well. And I love that fresh citrusiness of those lime leaves in there, the lemongrass in there, the turmeric in there. Oh, man. Oh, that's phenomenal. And it goes down so easily as well. And as you do take a bite, you can feel the, a little bit of chili in there as well. And there's all those aromatics from the curry paste that are embedded within it. Another dish we got is kum kapi pad sataw and it's stink beans stir fried with shrimp and shrimp paste. So you've got two times shrimp in here. Another dish you gotta eat with rice. Add some more of that shrimp paste sauce. Chili's in here. And I can, I'm gonna take off that shell so that we get some of that shrimp all together with the stink beans, onions in there as well. Oh, that's such a harmony of flavor. I mean, I love stink beans, one of my favorite ingredients. But then you've got the crunch of the onion, the sweetness of the onion, that umami of the shrimp paste in the sauce, and then these fresh bouncy shrimp. Yeah, delicious. And then another seafood here, one of their specialties is the steamed blue swimmer crab. Again, as fresh as possible. Let's pick this whole guy up. And I think they've already taken off the top of the shell or you can go from the apron down here, the crab apron, go pull up, oh, the splatter. And then that will pull off the entire shell. Oh, there's some roe inside of the head as well. But then we can pop open, we can pop it in half. Oh, I don't wanna splash too much, but inside of there, you'll get a mix of meat. And there you have a perfect nugget of crab, even with a little bit of roe there. Oh, oh, yes. Man, the silky texture of it. It's so stringy and so sweet. Oh, it's incredible. That's pure, no sauce, no seasoning. Just fresh, steamed, perfect. One of the great things about their seafood restaurant is they know that they're serving the best quality, the freshest seafood. And so there's not, a lot of the dishes are just straight steamed or grilled without much seasoning on them at all because the seafood itself is what really is the star of the show. And that's definitely why Gan Eng number two is such an incredible seafood restaurant because of the actual seafood that they get here. That being said, for my next bite of crab, I will go in for the seafood sauce because garlic and chilies sound good with, are good with everything, always. Oh, it's a perfect little scooper. You can scoop up that chilies and garlic into a little trough. Oh man, mm-hmm. Some of the best crab you can eat on the island. Sweet, silky, juicy. I'm not sure what else you could ever want in a crab. Before we get to the claw though, just look at the body of that blue summer crab. That's one of the benefits of these crabs is that they're small, they look small, but they're full of, just loaded with meat. The meat to shell ratio is impressive. Oh man, with all that roe in there, that is a nutty flavor. So good. And then one more dish that we, they wanted us to try and it's not actually seafood at all, it's chicken. It's called kaitom bread. And it's a chicken soup with lots of lemongrass and lots of ginger in here. And then chicken, a boiled chicken soup. But this is another very famous dish that they make here that I think everyone orders. Try that broth. I want to get a piece of that ginger as well. Mm. Okay, now I know why everyone orders this dish. Oh, it's so good. The flavor of the ginger infused into that broth. And that broth, you can see, it's the chicken fat has come out to make it richer and thick. It's kind of murky and almost milky. And you've got the flavor of the lemongrass, the makgeolli lime leaves in there. Oh man, and the ginger is what really stands out to me. Shallots or onions in here as well. Oh, that broth is incredible. Wow, okay. Come here for the seafood without a doubt. But also, you've got to have this as a side dish, a little chicken soup. So we have a lot of seafood to eat, but this is one of those seafood restaurants that you can come to and just totally enjoy life. Just chill out, take a bite, sit back, relax, take your time, eat fresh seafood, enjoy the view, take another bite. Maybe go take a stroll on the beach, come back, have a drink, take another bite, eat another crab, eat another bite of fish. But true, just a paradise of seafood in Phuket. An oasis of calm, relaxation, peacefulness, nature, and just some of the greatest seafood probably that you'll ever eat. It really is superb. Again, this is the type of seafood restaurant where you actually, it's almost impossible to get up. You don't want to leave. But the restaurant is called Gan Eng, number two, highly recommended. Oh, this place is incredible. But we still have a lot more seafood to eat, so we're on our way to the next place. To continue with our seafood tour in Phuket, we drove up the coast. And I'd say we're kind of in the central northern area of the island now, right along the coast with a view of the mangroves. And this is a restaurant that's called Bang Pae Seafood. It's another very famous, locally popular seafood restaurant where we're gonna find some more of the best seafood in Phuket. Great place for kids too, because once you make your order while you're waiting for your food, this is the setting. You can hang out, you can walk around in the mangroves on the beach here, look for crabs, and wait for your meal. Nice. And this entire side of the island is actually quite quiet and very peaceful, very green, and actually the next two seafood, this one and then the next seafood restaurant that we'll be going to, they're way off the beaten path, way off the main trail of Phuket. You have to make an effort to come to both of these places, but I can guarantee you if you love seafood, they're well worth coming here. I think the food should just about be ready. All the dishes have arrived. So vibrant, so colorful. I think we should start with this dish. Most of the other dishes we're gonna be eating with rice, but this one we're gonna eat with these noodles called sen mee, rice noodles. I'll put this onto my plate, and this curry is called gangnam bul. So it's the meat of the crab deshelled and then made into a really thick, rich curry. You can see the pepper in there, the specks of black pepper in there, you can see the chilies in there, you can smell all the herbs, the makrut lime leaves, and big nuggets of crab. Oh, and thick coconut milk as well. And this is another classic dish of Phuket. And now you can kind of break into those noodles. I was gonna know what's good about those noodles, they just totally absorb that curry immediately. Oh, wow. Oh, man. Even with all of that incredible flavor and the black pepper and the chilies in there, you still taste the freshness and the firmness of that crab. And the sweetness of the crab stands out as well. Oh, and that curry is incredible. It has a sweetness to it, it has a rich coconut milk flavor, but then in the back of your throat, you feel that spice and that warming sensation of the pepper. Oh, man, that's so, that's a balance of harmony. That is so good. And then again, with those rice noodles, the curry just totally absorbs into it. That's why it works really well together. The next dish is, I'm gonna go in with the rice, so I'll put some rice on my plate. Next dish we have to try is called gang som, which translates to curry, orange curry or sour curry. And this is one of my all-time favorite dishes in Southern Thailand, one of my all-time favorite dishes in life, as I've probably mentioned many times. But it is made with a lot of turmeric, fresh turmeric, garlic, chilies, lemongrass. There can be shallots in the paste as well. And you can see there's, this one, I got fish, which is trevally fish, and then also coconut shoots. But if you dig down below there, you can see how thick that curry paste is. You can just see the chili seeds. Oh, that looks fiery and amazingly proper. So before adding that to my rice, I just gotta taste it. Oh, that is incredible. Oh, that's a jolt of flavor. And yet it's still so well balanced. It's spicy, the flavor of the turmeric. You get the saltiness of the shrimp paste in there as well, giving it that incredible umami and balance of saltiness. The crunch of the coconut shoots. Oh, that's a huge amount of flavor. Okay, so I'll add a piece of the fish now to my rice. Okay, and yeah, look how thick that is. Sometimes you get watery gengsong. This one is on the thicker side, and you can just see how incredibly chunky that curry paste is. Get some of the fish. Oh, the fish looks perfect as well. Looks like it's cooked perfectly. Oh yeah, fantastic happiness. And that's one of my, trevally is one of my favorite fish for this dish as well because it's so firm, so muscular, and it holds up with the curry being boiled like that, and then also with the richness and the spiciness of that curry. Next dish we got is called muk pad nam dam, which is squid stir fried in its own black ink. And I love how there's green onions, which are really fragrant in there, and then whole cloves of garlic. This is some of the local squid here. And you can see that sauce. Let me get a little bit more of that sauce, that dark sauce. That's 100% natural, just straight up from the squid itself. Oh, and I want to get that big piece of, that clove of garlic as well. Oh man, the actual softness, the tenderness of the squid is incredible. The flavor of the garlic and the green onions, spring onions infused within it. And then the sauce, it's almost kind of a milky neutral flavor. It doesn't have a lot of taste to it, but it's just this pleasant, mellow sauce that it provides. Oh, it's delicious. Next dish is called basai ton kamid. And this is a very common local fish, which is, I think it's a type of sandfish, and they marinate it in garlic. Sometimes there can be a pile of garlic and turmeric, but it's marinated in garlic and turmeric, deep fried until crispy. And sometimes you can eat the bones and the face and all. We want to give this a nice dip in the seafood sauce, Thai seafood sauce with garlic and chilies, fish sauce. Oh yeah. You bite through all the bones and all. The center bone might be a little bit too hard, but the face, they're completely crispy. Oh, that's delicious. Yeah, still good. And then you can do another dip, and then you can eat the crispy fillets from either side of the fish. Actually, as long as you do two pretty well, you can pretty much eat the entire thing, center bone and all. And the tail is good too. Yeah. Next dish we got, these are Melinjo leaves with shrimp, just simply boiled in coconut milk. And there may be a little bit of shrimp paste in there for flavor, as well as a little bit of shallots to give it flavor. Yeah. Oh yeah, you can see the shallots in there, but it's all about the Melinjo leaves and the shrimp. Let's just try some of that. That's just soothing. Again, the sweetness of the coconut milk, but you really taste the infusion of shallots, which are boiled within there and give it flavor. The flavor of the shrimp as well. Then Melinjo leaves, I love the flavor of Melinjo leaves. They have this nuttiness to them. And guaranteed, when you're in the South of Thailand, you'll be eating all fresh coconut milk, hand-squeezed probably, fresh for the day. It makes a huge difference, the butteriness, the creaminess, the freshness, and the fattiness of that coconut milk. Such a simple dish, but it's so soothing. Okay, and then finally, we did get a plate of seafood fried rice, especially Mike, I wanted to have this. So we got, there's squid in here, there's shrimp in here, a little bit of vegetables, there's egg as well. I'll take a little bit of this. And one of the reasons that I love to eat fried rice is not so much because of the fried rice, but the condiments that you add in Thailand, which include nam pla prik, which is fish sauce and chilies. Season with a little bit of this, a little more of that fish sauce. Also give it a squeeze of lime. Okay, that should be good. And that's one of the best reasons to actually eat fried rice in Thailand, the condiments. Here. Nice and salty from the fish sauce that I added and that refreshing squeeze of lime juice. But yeah, again, excellent seafood. Everything is fresh and you'll really get the local flavor of all the dishes when you come here. Okay, I'm gonna circle back around and we have a lot to eat. That was excellent, outstanding. And if you come here at the peak of a mealtime or especially on the weekends, this restaurant can be packed, but well worth coming out here. From here, we're gonna continue with the seafood tour. We're gonna head up to the very top of the island, which is where we're gonna find our next meal, seafood meal in Phuket. We are continuing with this Phuket seafood tour. We're at a legendary seafood restaurant, which is all the way on the very north of the island. And actually, if you could see beyond these trees right over there, it's the very northern tip of Phuket Island and we're very near to the bridge, so close to the bridge that we're actually almost behind the bridge on the bottom side of the bridge. So if you look at the restaurant from the outside from the road, you'll just see this patch of overgrowth like a jungle and you have to step through this almost like a tunnel of vines and of ferns growing on top and you're just within this beautiful, lush green. It's like an oasis within an island oasis. This restaurant is called Da Tuai and they are famous for seafood, but let's see what extremely unique seafood dishes we can try here. We're going straight to the kitchen with the owner, who's very friendly, to see a few of the dishes that we got. Okay, so this is one of the dishes that we got, the sand worms, sand worms, which in Thai is called Priang Sai. Ah, okay. So 21 years already, she's been had this restaurant for 21 years and she's gonna get started on the first dish. I think it's gonna be, yes, the sand worms. Sand worms cooked Pad Cha style. Pad Cha means with all these herbs. You can see all the green chili peppercorns in there. The green peppercorns, there's finger root. Okay, so first starting with some garlic, sauteing that down in the oil. Some chilies go in. Oh, immediately those sand worms just kind of curl up. Then all the seasonings go in, some fish sauce and soy sauce. Oh yeah, and now all the herbs, the finger roots, the peppercorns all go in. That's what makes it the Pad Cha style. Oh man, that smells incredible. That basil touch at the end. Oh yeah, and he is an amazing chef. And we are sniffling at the nose because of those chilies simmered in that oil. Ooh, oh yeah. Oh wow, that's gonna be good. Our seafood dish that Phuket is very well known for is called Pla Tod Kruang, which is a fried filet, usually a steak filet, actually a steak cut of fish, which is marinated in a curry paste and either deep fried or shallow fried. And so she's gonna make that next. So it's a barramundi, sea barramundi fish, which is quite a common fish in Thailand. And this is gonna be with the curry paste. Oh, she just massages it with the curry paste. And then it goes into the oil to fry, kind of like a shallow fried. That piece of fish just gets the full curry paste rubbed down. You can see there's turmeric in there. There's probably garlic and lemongrass and shallots, lots of chilies in there as well. That just gets the full rubbed down. Then that goes into the oil and it's gonna be shallow fried to make that curry paste crispy and cook the fish all the way through. Here it is. One of the most famous dishes to eat here is the mini sand crabs. Next dish that Auntie is gonna make are these little sand crabs. They're bite-sized little, almost like popcorn little crabs, which I believe are only found on the northern side, Mai Khao Beach in Phuket. And it's actually very rare. You won't find them in other parts of Thailand. And also you won't even find them in other parts of Phuket. But this restaurant is famous for them because we're in the northern region of the island and she specializes in it. So that's what she's gonna make next. So those mini sand crabs, they get first seasoned. Okay, okay, so she added in some sesame seeds, some garlic in there, a little bit of flour, I think, or cornstarch to make them crispier. And now she's just adding in a little bit of seasoning. And then egg, just a little bit of beat up egg goes in. Okay, and that gets all mixed up together. All of that paste is gonna coat the little sand crabs to make them extra crispy. Okay, so that whole mixture is ready. She also added in some pepper. And now that's gonna go into the hot oil. Oh man, those sand crabs just totally boil up almost like an omelet because of that egg coating and those spices that she added. Oh, and you can see them starting to turn golden crispy as well. And I think that means they're ready. Pretty much the main dishes that we ordered, but we're still waiting on the fish because they cook that slowly in that oil so that the curry paste starts to crispify onto the fish as it cooks. So it's a real slow cooking process. So I think that needs a few more minutes before that's ready. Okay, the fish is ready. Oh, you can see how that curry paste has thickened. Okay, and that gets finished with some very, very thinly sliced lime leaves. Makrut lime leaves go on top and a few chilies as well. Oh, that's so aromatic. And also some beautiful flowers as well go on top as garnish. Kunying, who is the owner, she's extremely nice. And you can just feel, she's so just kindhearted and she puts all of her love into the recipes. And you also notice that when you see the decorations, it's not just food plopped on a plate. She takes care to decorate every single dish with a floral, it's like a botanical floral arrangement on every single plate, including the rice, which is in a whole teddy bear shape with green peppercorns as the eyes. Fresh and still crispy right out of the oil. The garlic deep fried little sand crabs. And I'm gonna pick one of these guys up. But can you see, you can't even really see the face, but that's the face. They have these little feet. But as soon as you bite down, you know it's a crab. It's almost like a soft shell crab, the flavor. Got that beautiful crunch. There's a little bit of batter in there and she added an egg as well and then a little bit of black pepper. But the season is not too strong, not too much. It's all about the flavor of the crab really comes through. And they do serve it with a little bit of sweet chili sauce on the side as well. Dip them in that. And pop them in your mouth. Delicious. But you gotta eat them while they're hot, freshly deep fried and crispy. Oh man, they really are like little popcorn crabs. You can just keep popping them. They taste so good. Look at this rice. So beautiful, a teddy bear. It's safe to say that Andy's passions are food, cooking, and gardening and flowers. Judging from the outside decoration as well as the food decoration. It's almost too beautiful to break. I'm gonna scoot that onto my plate. And then the dish, I cannot wait any longer to try the fried fish with the curry paste. So we have a whole steak fillet. Oh, you can feel how soft that fish is on the inside. Oh, you wanna see that inside, that inside right there. Oh, it's gonna remain so juicy, so moist. And then with all that thickened, fried, slow fried curry paste on top. Let's put this onto the rice. I don't know whether to start, where to start on the teddy bear. The body? The face is just too beautiful. I'll put that right on top there. Add a bit more of that curry paste on top. Oh, and the oils and the juices and the aromatics of the lime leaves as well. Oh, that's a fish where the flavor just keeps on building in your mouth. At first you take a bite and you're like, oh, but as you continue to chew and it continues to hit your taste buds in all directions, you start to taste the lemongrass in that curry paste, the chilies, the garlic, the shallots, probably some galangal, some turmeric in there as well. Oh man, it's so fragrant. Not too spicy, but extremely fragrant. Has an amazing aroma. And then you get that blast of citrusy flavor from the very finely shaved, very finely sliced makrut lime leaves. Oh, it's delicious. And this is something that's a very, it's a very common dish in Phuket. Something that you have to try. Oh man, it's really good. And the fish is perfectly cooked as well. Juicy, moist, and fresh on the inside. That fish, incredible. The more I keep eating that and drenching it in that curry sauce, it's just phenomenal. It's one of the better versions I've had in the entire island of Phuket. So good. And Auntie Kun Ying, she was explaining to us that a lot of restaurants, they will take that filet of fish or that steak of fish, they'll deep fry the entire fish and then just scoop on the curry paste. But her version, she doesn't deep fry the fish. She just, as we saw the recipe, she shallow fries it as it simmers and embeds with that curry paste until it starts to thicken. But it's not actually fried. It's not, the fish is not crispy, but it's just soaked and absorbed all of that curry paste. Oh, it's phenomenal. Really is the best fried fish curry paste I've had in Phuket. Okay, so this one is the Priang Sai Pad Cha, which is the sand worms. And if you look closely, they have a texture on them. They almost look like little pastas. I think it's called penne, that type of pasta that is the hollow little straw pastas. But this is not pasta at all, even though it looks exactly like it. Look at that texture. Look at all the herbs and chunky ingredients in there. Put this onto my rice. Add on a bit more of that sauce. Green peppercorns in there. Basil, finger root. Oh, oh man, that's delicious. Oh, that's so good. The only other time that I've eaten this was the last time that I came to this restaurant. It's not a common ingredient that you'll find. Last time, I remember them being a little chewier. This one is tender. Just a little bit of a chewiness, which gives it a perfect little bite. And then the way it's fried with the pad cha style, all the basil in there, the gingery finger root. The green pepper, oh man, it's so good. Don't be intimidated by sand worms. They're so tasty. That's another winner. Another dish you have to order when you come here. Okay, let's move on to the seaweed salad. And this is a famous grape seaweed that's very famous in Phuket. You'll find it all over. We'll put this onto our plate. She serves it with a som tam style dressing. So kind of sweet and sour with peanuts in it, with some long beans and carrots and tomatoes. And you can put this over and then grab some of the grape seaweed. Delicious, refreshing. The dressing is sweet and sour. You've got that amazing crunch from the seaweed. And this type of seaweed is incredible. It doesn't even have a seawatery taste to it at all. It's very clean tasting, not too salty, and just a little bit of a, I mean, it has an amazing crunch and a little bit of a sliminess as well. Another very popular seafood in Phuket is hoi shak tin. And this is a type of sea snail. Look at that, it's like a bouquet with all the flowers, edible butterfly pea flowers. And this is something you've also gotta try when you come to Phuket. There's this little foot. So in Thai, it actually is a foot shell because it has this little foot that you pull. You can, okay, I got it. Oh, it keeps on coming. Oh, this one's huge. It keeps on coming. Okay, and then you've got the shell on the inside, the sea snail. This gets a nice little dunking in the seafood sauce. So sweet. Has a nice little chewiness to it. Somewhat like squid a little bit, but really good. These are very popular. A lot of Thais absolutely love, my wife included, absolutely loves hoi shak tin. Okay, and then the next dish we got, this one is gangkrik paduk thale. So it's a catfish, a seawater catfish in a spicy curry, Southern Thai curry. Oh, and if you dig down below there, you can see all the curry paste, full of black pepper, full of chilies. Oh, that looks rich and just full of spice. I'll take some of this slices of the catfish, put it onto my rice. Okay, onto my rice. Going for another scoop of that curry. You can actually smell the black pepper in it and see the black pepper. Okay, and then this could be a little bit bony. But you have to kind of just feel your way with your spoon into the side. Take off that creamy, you can tell how creamy it is in your spoon. All right, delicious. Immediately you taste the black pepper in there, the chilies. It's not sweet at all, has a sharp saltiness. And then the catfish just kind of melts in your mouth. Oh, so good. One more dish actually that I almost forgot. This is the yam mangkut, which is the mangosteen salad, which she recommended and said that it's in season. You can see all these herbs on top and then the mangosteen is down below. Cashews, tomatoes, a variety of herbs in here. The seed in, I've got the sweetness of that mangosteen contrasted by the salty fish sauce and dressing. That contrast of sweet and sour, that contrast of sweet and salty, delicious. So juicy, so refreshing, everything here. Really outstanding. And you just notice the quality and the care that is put into every dish. Circling back over to the fish curry paste. Oh man, everything, really. You can't make a bad decision here. Everything is good. But that fish with curry paste, oh, that is something you cannot miss. I think I'm just gonna go ahead and call this sandworm pasta. Texture is better than I remember. Oh, that was a phenomenal meal. And my taste buds are still coated in the flavor of that curry paste. And Kunying, the owner, she's so friendly, so hospitable. But what a seafood tour it's been. I'll have all three of the restaurants listed in the description box below. But if you love to eat seafood, Phuket is an absolute paradise. And I wanna say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you. And if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. And I'll see you on the next video. Thanks again for watching.