Top 10 Food in Hua Hin

Fusing the zesty som tam from the Northeast (Isan) and fresh blue crab of Hua Hin, this all-time favourite appetizer dish is not to be missed. It tastes every bit like the well-pounded som tam – an invigorating blend of spicy and sour that makes it so addictive – but with chunks of raw blue crab that you can munch on.

Steamed crab is the main highlight on Hua Hin’s food menu, but cracking the crab on the dining table is a messy business. Steamed crab wing is a hassle-free alternative, as it’s bite-sized, meaty and come ready-to-eat. Simply dip one in the spicy seafood sauce that comes with the dish and enjoy. This is a good starter dish.

A bold, refreshing blend of fragrant lemongrass, chillies, galangal, lime leaves, shallots, lime juice and fish sauce. Tom yam is a versatile dish that goes with virtually any meal – its invigorating sour-spicy-hot taste just screams 'Thailand'!

Fresh Babylon snails are delicacies, as they could be hard to find on the menu. In this dish, the snails go into a wok, along with garlic, wild ginger, fresh peppercorns, bird’s eye chillies, sweet basil and roasted chilli oil. A few vigorous stir and it’s ready. Be warned though that pad cha dishes are very spicy – not for the faint-hearted.

Although a popular dish in Bangkok as well, Au Suan in Hua Hin tastes much more satisfying due to the freshness and size of its key ingredient: oyster. Raw egg and plump oysters go in a wok first, then after a few vigorous stirs, diluted tapioca starch solution and a dash of quality oyster sauce follow. The dish is usually served in a searing hotplate.

This popular central region dish is traditionally made with freshwater fish, but the seafood variation substitutes sea bass for the fish and usually add a number of other seafood, such as mussels, squid and shrimp. Together with a coconut cream and red curry base, the dish is usually served in a coconut shell.

A common menu at Thai-style seafood restaurants in Hua Hin, garlic fried sand whiting makes a good appetizer or an a la carte dish that goes with steamed rice. These small silvery salt-water fish is found in abundance in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Whole fish is marinated in a garlic peppercorn batter, then deep-fried until golden. Watch out for the bone when you dig in.

From Cape Town to Khao San Road, the default international Thai dish. Dropped in a searing hot wok, fistfuls of small, thin noodles do a steamy minute-long dance alongside crunchy bean sprouts, spring onions and egg, before disembarking for the nearest plate.

The leafy plant with hollow green stems and thin fragile leaves forms the main component of this super easy favourite. Cloves of garlic and birds eye chilies join it in a wok alongside oyster sauce, fish sauce and fermented bean. A few lazy stirs, and it's done!

Another all-time favourite dish, served alongside a bowl of fragrant rice. Green curry paste and coconut milk form the creamy base. Morsels of fresh chicken, cherry-sized eggplants, bamboo shoots, sprigs of coriander and generous handfuls of sweet basil add body to this seminal curry.