Sampling local delicacy

Visiting Krabi, try the food that locals eat. If you can take spicy food, one of the popular dishes is Kanom Jeen (Thai vermicelli) served with yellow curry and fresh seasonal vegetables.

Ko Joy, an open-air restaurant on Tessaban 5 Road in Nua Khlong District, is not far from Krabi Airport. It has served the dish for more than 50 years, when the price was only three baht per bowl.

The owner Ko Joy has inherited the recipe from his mother and has added two side vegetable dishes cooked with vinegar, served beside a fresh plate of vegetables laid out on each table.

"We make fresh Kanom Jeen daily," he said.

If you are looking for choice, the eatery also sells deep fried chicken and sticky rice.

"We have been selling fried chicken and Kanom Jeen for a decade now on the suggestion of our customers who said fried chicken went well with the spicy dish," he said.

By listening to his customers, he is able to sell 80 kilograms of chicken a day, and more on weekends. Add to that more than 100 kilograms of home-made Kanom Jeen he sells everyday and you know how popular Ko Joy is.

A bowl of Kanom Jeen costs 10 baht. It also serves a super spicy curry Gaeng Tai Pla made from fish viscera and bamboo shoots free of charge, with pepper for extra taste.

The restaurant opens daily from 6am-1pm. To book a table call 075-691-145. It recently opened a branch on Maharaja Road in the same district.
Bangkok Post December 2005 www.bangkokpost.com