Eating Southern Thai Food When You Cannot Take the Heat

On every trip south, at least one guest warns us in advance that they cannot handle spice and worries about going hungry for four days. They never do.

The southern dishes outsiders know are gaeng tai pla and khua kling, which are genuinely fierce. But a real southern table holds a great deal that is not spicy at all — and those are often the things locals eat daily.

What to try that is not spicy

Trang-style dim sum is the local breakfast: cheap, a dozen things to choose from, and not a chilli in sight. Shops open at six and often sell out before ten.

Trang roast pork is what people eat alongside it. Crisp skin, sweet meat, no chilli involved.

Phak nao — the raw vegetables served beside your plate — cut heat better than water does. If you overshoot, eat the vegetables rather than reaching for your glass.

How to pick a shop

The places locals eat rarely have an English sign and are usually full between seven and eight in the morning. A busy room with no tourists in it is the room you want.