This is a collection, not at all comprehensive, of some of my favourite finds during the 2024 Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Originally posted at the Kippysnacks Substack.
"How long have you lived in Thailand?" is a question I'm frequently asked and most people are surprised when I say I live in London, that I've never lived in Thailand. This is the point at which the conversation turns to the purpose of my trip. Am I here for work? On holiday? "A little bit of both" is my standard response and it's true.
I often joke about my trips, placing the word work in air quotes when I discuss them, but in all seriousness I exert an abundance of energy on research when I'm there. When I'm out eating and chatting with people about food, I'm taking notes. When I'm back at my accomodation I'm compiling these notes, tagging photos so I can link them back to written records, and collating ideas. I'm simultaneously looking up and half-arsedly translating recipes of dishes I've tried and loved, keen to understand the mechanics of a dish while it's still fresh in my mind. On many days when I'm in Phuket for the festival, I do little beyond moving between places to eat and returning to my hotel to sit on my laptop. These are the most are full on of days.
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Make no mistake, however; I'm not complaining. These efforts mean I'm continuously learning, always finding new foods or learning more about those with which I thought I was already familiar. So much variation in a small place is why the vegetarian festival in Phuket is such a great place for this kind of research. I'm always stoked to share what makes the biggest impressions, whether through supper club menus or in written lists like this one.
Some items I list have also been featured in previous roundups I've written about the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Others are new.
Gaeng ajad แกงอาจาด:
This local Phang Nga and Phuket speciality is so unique to the area that non-locals can't begin to guess what it is by the name alone. Ajad in Thai refers to a simple quick pickle eaten alongside rich Muslim influenced curries (e.g. yellow curry, or gaeng gari แกงกะหรี่) or satay. Gaeng ajad, however, is made of cucumbers soaked in vinegar, squeezed of excess liquid, mixed with thinly sliced blanched long beans and morning glory (water spinach). The curry element contains Southern red curry paste, tamarind juice, coconut milk, sugar, salt, and coursely ground roasted peanuts, with a flavour profile that leans toward sweetness first, sourness second, and spiciness third. The veg are only cooked lightly in the curry, so there's still some crunch.
Custard tofu เต้าหู้คลองแงะ
According to the company who makes this product, the recipe arrived to Khlong Ngae (a subdistrict in Songkhla province, close to the Malaysian border) with a family of Chinese migrants more than 100 years ago. The recipe has been passed down by generations who have continued to make what is now one of Thailand's most on-trend foods.
Khlong gnae tofu is essentially an adaptation of Puning tofu, made by combining sweet potato starch with gypsum as the coagulating agent. When fried, the outside of this type of tofu is extra crispy, while the inside is soft and smooth like custard. Its popularity means the product is shipped all over Thailand, but a lot of people are cashing in on the trend by genericising the brand to mean any deep fried soft tofu.
Gaeng gari with mantou แกงกะหรี่ + หมั่นโถว and gaeng hed krang แกงเห็ดแครง
Both of these dishes came from Merlin Kitchen, who put on a spectacular spread for the 2024 Phuket Vegetarian Festival.
Gaeng gari translates to "curry curry," where the first instance refers to the Thai word and the second to the Anglo-Indian word. I've made and consumed this fragrant curry many times, but this particularly rich and fragrant version presented a first for me: eating it with mantou (plain steamed bun) instead of rice. The curry contained potato, lightly fried pieces of tofu, and chewy yuba, with a quite oily base that was perfect soaked into fluffy, yeasty bread.
Split gill mushrooms, or hed kraeng, are rich in umami properties (namely 5′-nucleotides as well as glutamic and aspartic amino acids), which explains its meaty flavours. Combined with the natural sweetness of fresh local coconut milk and fiery Southern curry paste (which includes both fresh and dried chillies as well as fresh turmeric and black peppercorns), the flavour is hard to replicate outside of the region. The quality of coconut milk in Southern Thailand is on a level of its own.
This curry didn't contain any large chunks, but rather chopped split grill mushrooms and crumbled firm tofu.
Hed kraeng mok เห็ดแครงหมก
Mok หมก is a style of cooking that involves wrapping ingredients, typically blended with a curry paste, in banana leaf to cook. Hor mok, a steamed coconut curry custard popular throughout Thailand (and Cambodia, where it's called amok), is but a single example of this preparation.
Here the vendor bundled split gill mushroom, juicy TVP, curry paste, and Thai basil into banana leaf parcels before grilling them.
Khao mok gai ข้าวหมกไก่ and mee hokkien หมี่ฮกเกี้ยน
I was surprised when the chef at Go La turned to me and said "I see you come every year," recognition that I prioritise his restaurant on my annual trip to Phuket. Known for its Hokkien mee (the full name of the restaurant is Mee Go La หมี่โกลา), they also serve a wicked khao mok gai or Thai style chicken biryani during the Vegetarian Festival (during which the menu turns entirely vegan). Update: sadly the owner passed away in October 2025 so it may be closed.
Mok (yes, the same spelling as the aforementioned banana leaf parcels) means "to bury" and here it refers to the Thai take on biryani. The khao mok at Go La is always a stunner. The seasoning of the rice is so balanced it's difficult to discern any individual spice, and it's cooked so evenly that each grain of rice feels like a work of art. A mound of rice comes topped with slices of high quality vegan chicken and a thin sweet chilli sauce (nam jim gai) that's more fresh and spicy, less sweet and cloying than most. The flavour of accompanying soup is driven by daikon and dried shiitake, with a hint of white pepper.
If you've been to Penang, in Malaysia, Phuket Town will have a sense of familiarity. In addition to its long and strong history as a trading port, many Chinese workers from both the Mainland and the Straits (including Penang) migrated to Phuket during the tin-mining boom in the late 1800s. The town still retains its Hokkien personality, culturally expressed through many local Phuketian dishes. Hokkien mee is one example.
Ingredients in the hokkien mee served at Go La include faux pork intestine, choy sum, baby corn, shredded carrot and wood ear mushroom, marrowfat peas and more, with thick chewy faux egg noodles in a smoky, salty, slightly sweet reduced gravy.
Yentafo เย็นตาโฟ
Characterised by its pink broth, yentafo is a longstanding favourite in the noodle soup scene. Buuuuut more often than not the core ingredient, red fermented tofu (tao hoo yee เต้าหู้ยี้) is left out in favour of dyes and tomato sauce. I asked my favourite vegetarian festival vendor, who I visit every year, why this is the case. She laughed and said the bastardised yentafo is common in Bangkok, that it's what people from the central region have come to expect, whereas in the South you're more likely to find more of the fermented tofu included.
She sets up her cart every year just across from Jui Tui Shrine, from which she slings bowls of salmon hued soup laden with snow fungus, wood ear mushroom, morning glory stems, roasted red pork (moo daeng หมูแดง), and crispy fried wonton skins. You can choose from an array of noodles, but I always opt for fat strands of sen yai, or hor fun. The flavour profile is sweet, sour, funky, and spicy.
Moo tod prik thai dam look pak chee หมูทอดพริกไทยดำลูกผักชี
This fried pork analogue is a common find along Ranong Road during the festival, but quality varies from vendor to vendor. Many use TVP, which I'll never knock (if you've never appreciated the versatility of this old school ingredient, you've never experienced Thai preparations), but one particular stall uses a more premium commercially prepared vegan pork. The predominant flavours are derived from coriander seed (look pak chee) and black pepper (prik thai dam), with salt and a hint of sugar. You can buy the pork on its own or grab a bag of sticky rice to make it into a more filling snack.
Rad na sen yai grop ราดหน้าเส้นใหญ่กรอบ
Rad na (also commonly written as lad na), a household dish across Thailand, consists of prepared noodles topped with a thickened gravy that contains Chinese broccoli (sometimes other greens) and some form of protein. The noodles can vary from black soy laced and charred fresh wide rice noodles (sen yai) to crispy nests of deep fried wheat noodle, but my favourite version is made with crispy fried sen yai at Siam Grata Rawn at the top of Ranong Road (note their menu is only vegan during the festival).
The gravy here generously contains gluten duck and roasted pork (moo daeng), fried tofu, mushrooms, carrot, and Chinese broccoli. They bring a cast iron hot plate of fried noodles to the table, and pour the gravy on then and there, so there's less time for the noodles to get soggy. I don't know how they do it, but the way they fry the noodles imparts a flavour reminiscent of the pan fried cheese that drips out of a grilled cheese when you're flipping it.
Mangkut kat มังคุดคัด
A speciality of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, mangkut kat are ripe but still young mangosteens that have been carefully peeled, washed, and soaked in nam poon sai (alkaline limestone solution). The end result is a crunchy fruit with an ever so slight saline quality. The seeds are also edible.
On another note, I frequently hear people refer to the Jay, or Vegetarian, Festival as a vegan affair. It's not. Veganism is grounded in an ethical belief that animals should not be treated as a commodity and that they are owed basic rights. The Jay tradition, on the other hand, is human-centric with an emphasis on body purity and spiritual cleansing. Consequently, especially in the South, there are plenty of nonvegan items for sale during the festival. Honey is regularly assumed to be permissible and many vendors continue to use dairy milk. The terms of the jay diet state no animal products (including milk), but when animal rights aren't part of the conversation then it's no surprise to see nonvegan ingredients. It's not so different from the concept of plant based in the West.
If you ever visit Phuket during the festival, and you should, always be careful when you order any item that would typically use dairy (e.g. drinks, pizza, pastries). Another thing to keep an eye on is condensed milk, which features at some dessert, as well as drinks, vendors.
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