Grimly aware that it was our last day on the island, before the slog back to the City and (for Astrid at least; I was still on holiday...) a return to work, we set out to get ourselves a bang up meal before heading to the airport.
We had had our sights set on a rather swish place we'd discovered earlier in our stay. Sadly, however, it was closed for lunch so a roadside canteen had to suffice. In hindsight, I am jolly glad.
We ordered ourselves up a great big feast, starting with a mound of pad Thai For those who don’t know, it's a dish of rice noodles stir fried with eggs, tamarind, shrimp, chilli, palm sugar, fish sauce and whole lot else. Ours came with crumbled peanuts and raw beansprouts on the side, and a lime wedge for drizzling, which is pretty standard. All in all, it was damn good and didn’t last long.
Next up we had chicken wrapped in pandanus This is a kind of leaf that gives the chicken a delicate aroma and, crucially, keeps it from drying out during the cooking process. The result is beautifully soft, tender meat.
And to keep it company, we had a plate of morning glory (which in Texas they call swamp spinach...).
Finally, we treated ourselves to a duck red curry. It being our last day in Thailand I was reluctant to miss out on it. I just absolutely love Thai curries and - for some inexplicable reason - I never seem to eat them that much at home. There's something intoxicatingly good about their hot, punchy spiciness combined with the cooling flavours of the coconut cream and the lemongrass. For me, it's heaven.
This example was good, there's no denying it. Sadly, the duck itself was a little disappointing – tough and a touch flavourless. But otherwise, the curry was great.
Our whole feast was washed down with fresh watermelon juice, beautifully served.
I was sad to leave Phuket, in the end. It was a wonderful escape from the day-to-day desk job of life at home, and a great way to kickstart a week's holiday in Asia. Not a bad looking island, too.
- GrubsterBoy -
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