Breaking fast

What a better way to start the day than with a sumptuous breakfast in downtown Trang

Trang has a unique dining tradition. Hang around in its tea shops and you will realise how seriously people take their meals.

Compared to other parts of Thailand, breakfast in dowtown Trang carries more choice. Do not be surprised if you sit at a table and are served over 30 varieties of hot dim sum at once. The waiter may ask you if you want some coffee or tea to go with roasted pork, congee or noodle, or something else.

Such a grand breakfast is kind of routine in the tea shops of Trang. First to arrive are usually students and their parents, followed by government officials. Last are members of the business community who arrive there at the end of their morning exercise.

''I remember there were only three tea shops when I was a kid,'' Salil Tothabtiang, the chairman of Trang Chamber of Commerce's chairman, said. ''Now, there are over a hundred.''

Tea shops grew up as a place for merchants to hang around while they waited to check up the prices of goods they were trading in, usually rubber and minerals. Shops that sold the hot brew and dim sum fitted their bill perfectly.

Right from the steam pot, well-decorated dim sum in various styles are served to patrons. Rice noodle came with spicy fish curry and an assortment of fresh vegetables. Congee is served with deep-fried Chinese dough. But the most amazing to me was the roasted pork served with coffee.

Pork meat is grilled until it turns crisp and takes on a red-brown tinge. Seasoned with herbs and honey, it almost tastes sweet, more like confectionary than meat. By the time I finished breakfast it's already late but the shop was still full of customers. The staff, I noticed, were already preparing for the next meal and they would stay busy until late at night.

This unique breakfast tradition took root about a century ago as traders met to compare notes and strike deals. Tea shops which served good beverage and snacks were their meeting points of choice.

''Lunch is usually light, but dinner is lively and full of variety. On this road alone there are 15 tea outlets,'' Salil said, speaking of Ratsada Road.

After dark Trang people again hit tea shops, their favourite late-night dinner jaunts. Accompanied by my local friends, we roamed the downtown and made some interesting observations.

We started at Rong Tiem Lea Lai on Kantang Road with the aim to enjoy dim sum and tea. Hidden in a narrow alley, the shop attracted diners with its cute retro decoration in Chinese style. Every corner was decorated with wooden signs and antique objects to remind patrons of days long gone.

Next was a shop run by a Mr Chaeng on Sai-Ngam Road. It was a shophouse with wooden walls that served tea and coffee but it was the former where its real expertise lay. He recommended us ginseng and black tea, but then proceeded to surprise us with jasmine tea.

The jasmine tea came in glass kettle in which a chrysanthemum-shaped blossom made from tea leaves hung in hot water. After a while tea leaves gradually opened...one after the other. We were dumbstruck. We asked him how much it cost and he said, ''It depends. If the customer isn't friendly, I charge 25 baht. But if he is polite I charge only 15 baht.''

We skipped Tae Eia, also on Ratsada Road, which had a large seating capacity and two big TV screens to attract football fans. When there's nothing interesting to watch on the telly he turns his place into a karaoke hang out.

Next stop was Ban Tuay Kai on Moo 2 Kok Lor Road. It's an old-fashioned tea shop decorated like a grocery from the '70s. The atmosphere was reminiscent of yesteryear and the tea it served tasted extra good. It's packed with customers, mostly in the 40-plus age bracket.

It was quite late but we still noticed people moving around with purpose. Among them were tea-shop workers getting ready for the morning shift. In a few hours they would be preparing dim sum for breakfast.
Bangkok Post September 2005 www.bangkokpost.com