Is Hat Yai a good choice for an eating trip (including Malaysian)?

[Jingthing]

I've been to Songkhla before and enjoyed it but at that time didn't bother going into Hat Yai. I've also been numerous times to Malaysia but I'd rather not spend money there anymore based on political considerations. I love Singapore and that's a food paradise as well but it's gotten too expensive.

 

Anyway, I do know that Hat Yai is mostly a tourism magnet for Malaysians (lots of naughty ones too) so f-rang tourists there are rather rare.

 

I know that they have regional Thai food, Chinese, Thai-Chinese, and Malaysian food. Much is made of their fried chicken. 

 

I'm wondering about the Malaysian part of that. Do Malaysians actually go there and eat much Malaysian food? Why would they? Or perhaps enough of the local Thais have similar food to Malaysian? I know it won't be as good as Penang or KL, but will there even be enough decent Malaysian food to satisfy? 

[Morch]

I don't know about Hat Yai, but

 

Quote

Do Malaysians actually go there and eat much Malaysian food? Why would they?

 

This is quite normal. Not everyone is into foreign food. Many like their own stuff and what they are familiar with.

Was in Pratunam (Bangkok) last month, packed with Indian tourists, and a whole lot of Indian restaurants almost side by side, packed with them. Menus in Hindi too, some staff as well.

 

 

[grain]

I lived for several years in HatYai, and Songkhla, they don't refer to Malaysian food, it's Muslim food, and there are a lot of Muslim gaeng shops. These are the ones that the visiting Muslim Malaysians prefer to eat at. In general the food in HatYai is pretty good, but the Muslim food is not so good. As you mentioned the Muslim fried chicken is very popular, there are also some good murtabah shops about, Muslim tapioca pudding is good too, but none of this Muslim food in HatYai is as good as you'll find in Malaysia, S'Pore or Indonesia.

[Jingthing]

38 minutes ago, grain said:

I lived for several years in HatYai, and Songkhla, they don't refer to Malaysian food, it's Muslim food, and there are a lot of Muslim gaeng shops. These are the ones that the visiting Muslim Malaysians prefer to eat at. In general the food in HatYai is pretty good, but the Muslim food is not so good. As you mentioned the Muslim fried chicken is very popular, there are also some good murtabah shops about, Muslim tapioca pudding is good too, but none of this Muslim food in HatYai is as good as you'll find in Malaysia, S'Pore or Indonesia.

Yeah that's close to what I expected but maybe a bit worse.

Not sold on this trip for eating purposes if it's going to be weak on Malaysian food.

I might be happier overall in Bangkok for basically everything. 

 

 

[Stocky]

You can eat very well in Hat Yai, there's a huge range of cuisines from Thai, particularly spicy Southern Thai, Thai-Chinese, Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and European - though a bit short on Indian restaurants.

 

Many Malaysian visitors to Hat Yai are Chinese Malaysian, so there are a lot of Thai-Chinese restaurants, and in general the food in these restaurants is excellent; Hat Yai has a large Thai-Chinese community. Not really sure you can identify 'Muslim' food specifically, many restaurants in Hat Yai are halal, regardless the cuisine, to attract a wider customer base. Hat Yai Nai, the community I live in which has a big Muslim population, certainly serves a lot of fried chicken, and there are numerous roti shops, but a lot of the food is recognisably Thai, you just won't find pork as an option for your pad kra pao.

 

Note: As someone who lived and worked in both Malaysia and Indonesia, and has a great love of beef rendang, I've yet to find rendang in Hat Yai.

.

[grain]

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah that's close to what I expected but maybe a bit worse.

Not sold on this trip for eating purposes if it's going to be weak on Malaysian food.

I might be happier overall in Bangkok for basically everything. 

 

 

If you're planning a trip (holiday?) to HatYai you shouldn't let something like the Muslim food deter you, as Stocky pointed out there's heaps of excellent food to be had in HatYai. The general Thai food is very good, some of the best Isarn food I've ever had was in HatYai, lots of Chinese and Western options. But there's not a lot to see or do there other than shopping and nightlife. Songkhla used to be recommended more for farang visitors but I was last there a few months ago and it's no longer to my liking, though the scenery is still very nice.

[Jingthing]

54 minutes ago, grain said:

If you're planning a trip (holiday?) to HatYai you shouldn't let something like the Muslim food deter you, as Stocky pointed out there's heaps of excellent food to be had in HatYai. The general Thai food is very good, some of the best Isarn food I've ever had was in HatYai, lots of Chinese and Western options. But there's not a lot to see or do there other than shopping and nightlife. Songkhla used to be recommended more for farang visitors but I was last there a few months ago and it's no longer to my liking, though the scenery is still very nice.

Yeah it's my impression that there's not much to do there. I already did all the Songkhla stuff. I can get great Thai, Isaan, Chinese, and western food in Pattaya. So for an eating trip I'm looking for different. Surely regional southern Thai would be a treat and some of the Chinese would be different there as well. But on the fence if that's enough for an eating focused trip. Oh well. 

Thanks for the feedback (pun intended). 

[ChipButty]

Get yourself down to Sadao plenty to eat down there,