Chomchan Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Ratsada

“Chom Jan” In case non-Thais want to know how to pronounce this place.

I was a little surprised when I found out it was related to “One Chun”. I’ve personally never been to One Chun, but heard lots of accolades.

Chom Jan hits you even before you step into the restaurant. The highly-instagrammable exteriors sets to the mood for dinner (see attached photo). One can tell the management takes into consideration of your other senses to deliver a holistic experience at this restaurant that serves authentic southern Thai food.

As we entered, the interior has a hint of sink-Portuguese decor. Some antiques line the sides. But who really cares, as they all will find out, it’s really the food that will leave a lasting impressing.

The menu is exhaustive. I fell asleep a couple of times while reading it. In the end, we settled on five dishes:

1. crab curry with bai chap phluu (I still prefer Raya’s version, but this was pretty good too) ✅✅✅✅
2. fish cake (made from sea bass) ✅✅✅✅✅
3. Miang vegetable fried with egg and dried shrimps (the wok hei is strong in this dish) ✅✅✅✅✅
4. braised pork belly ✅✅✅✅
5. deep fried squid with garlic (generous serving of crispy garlic. Very oomphy dish!) ✅✅✅✅✅

Long story short, I will definitely come back here again. Dinner wasn’t THAT expensive. THB1265.

Now to quickly digest my dinner before I head out for supper. Phuket is really one giant restaurant, serving a whole range of gastronomical nosh.

Did I say I’m coming back here again in 5 weeks time? There. It’s that...

This renowned eatery was recommended to me by a resident in Phuket as one of the must try places when visiting the island. While the food was mainly decent, some menus I found to be inconsistent.

The Thai style omelet looked very appealing as it was nicely executed and made extra crispy. The panfried vegetables with eggs and dried prawns and the crab curry were the highlights. I tried the deep fried salted pork belly and was disappointed just how dry it was. I felt the pork was just overcooked. The rice was also a little brittle and hard - undercooked.

Waitress who served us seemed quite robotic in her approach, and it was somewhat challenging for her to show some, welcoming smile. While nothing too much to remark on the etiquette, the team forgotten one dish, which was the overcooked salted, deep fried pork belly.

The feel of the place lean towards at-home-style dining but the interior smelt damp, so it lacked a bit of an atmosphere despite properly furnished decors.

Had enjoyed the Thai tea as my dessert, while my companion enjoyed her shaved iced sweet syrup.

A good dinner at this locally praised restaurant, but the experience demands more polish if I was to...

I’ve been to a few restaurants around the town that remind me a lot of each other. I’d be surprised if this and One Chun restaurant is not the same owner. There is another one or two that have made me think this but their names escape me.

The food is solid. The pork probably has more fat than meat on it so I cut a lot of that off it was too much for me. I’d prefer it the other way. The mango smoothie is really good and the breaded chili beef was quite good too

It’s def worth trying if you want a higher standard of Thai food than the usual street food places.

I got there early, was the first there and within 30 minutes the place was near full on a Thursday...