Langkawi Chronicles: Wan Thai Restaurant

My mum fairly recently arrived in Langkawi and so we went to Kuah town to grab some dinner. After milling around we decided upon Wan Thai restaurant.The restaurant is located in an area in Kuah, locally known as Pokok Asam/Padang Pasir and its touted as one of the more 'Authentic' Thai eatery on the Island.

It is a fairly large place comfortable seating about 150 pax, operating for Lunch and Dinner with a break-split in between. The menu is of course Thai, with some generic Thai stuff such a Tom Yam, Som Tam and interspersed with more um, less known stuff. My colleague had earlier suggested this place days earlier, and by the time we arrived there was already a sizable crowd engaged in various stages of dining.

Hunger driven, we both had skipped Lunch that day in part to make more room for this dinner, we perused the menu and sought help from the Thai-descent waiter for some ideas. A few moments later, we ordered and wasted no time in setting our mouths to business.

To Start, A leafy green appetizer called Miang Kam, which is fresh Kadok leaf, filled with toasted coconut slivers, peanuts, lime bits, rough sticks of ginger, sliced bird's eye chillies, chopped onions and drizzled with a bit of sweet palm sugar & sour plum sauce. This is to be rolled and eaten in one bite, relishing the fresh green flavour of the herb brightened with lime and contrasted by the crunchy additions.

A meh dish of Telur Bungkus. No stars for this, it wasn't bad, but then again it was not good either.

Thai 'Pandan' Chicken. A variant of the Nyonya Dish but equally moreish and sticky.

Green Mango Kerabu, piled high after a good sloshing of chillies, lime juice and fried anchovies. Note the liberal doses of cili padi.

Tom Yum Kung. A kick-in-the-face soup of 4 large prawns in rich tom yum broth spiked with coconut water and steamed in the coconut. This is another star dish of the place. Not exactly cheap at RM 20 per serving (4 large prawns inside) but this would quickly sate any Tom Yum addict.

Steamed Sea-bass "Paek Sak'. Beautiful dish of delicate sea-bass steamed with pickled
whole garlic & white galangal, sliced lemongrass and chillies,
and topped with spring onions & coriander.
A dish at once sweet & spicy, silky smooth with natural fish juices,
tangy from the pickles and lime juice and uniquely fragrant. 5 Stars!

We ordered a sharing portion of Thai Style Fried Rice with sweet beef stir fry,
matchsticked green apple, firecracker chilli rounds and red shallot slices.