Seafood savouriness in ‘Ramshackle Town’

This week we finally got around to taking the scooter out to the nearby fishing village or as our friend Drew likes to call it ‘Ramshackle Town’. From what I can see on the web, this fishing hub provides most of the fresh catch for all of the restaurants in Cha-am and even nearby Hua-Hin. It was definitely a picturesque locale and while not super welcoming, we did not get any ‘get-out’ growls either. There were one or two other Farangs wandering about and when we left we saw that there were quite a few more restaurants on the outskirts catering to the visitor and not just the residents.

Former fishing vessel

I say not ramshackle in my opinion because there is no air of desperation in this town…things are orderly and comparatively clean. Perhaps this is what I see because I do remember seeing the African immigrant shanty towns erected in between building clusters and on hilltops when visiting Portugal as a child in the late seventies and early eighties. That was poverty – the desparate inbetweenness that people can just drive by without a second look. These people here do not seem to be living in poverty but simply living – carrying on the day-to-day activities of centuries past that ancestors look down on and smile at:

Ancestral offerings on the lookout point

The area is peppered with restaurants – some more bare bones than others – and seafood for sale. Dominated by two parallel rocky outcroppings, each of which we rode out on taking numerous pictures along the way. We finally settled at a welcoming seafood (obviously) restaurant under an awning to shelter us from the constant wind. I decided I had to start having my seafood fill while in Thailand. My people, the Portuguese, are of the sea and I had been neglecting my seafood taste buds in favour of all the other Thai savouriness there is to be had, that and the fact that my travel partner is not a fan of the fish.

waiting for the night time squid catch

We settled on three dishes – a crab fried rice, mackerel cakes and garlic sand fish. Accompanied of course by some chilled Chang beer. We weren’t sure how the sand fish was going to be done or how big or small said fish was going to be. It turned out to be smallish fried fish with its chopped garlic just as well done. The fish itself was fairly tasteless but still satisfying to be picking through the bones a la Algravia. The crab fried rice was a bit on the dry side and I was thinking the crab itself wasn’t super fresh. It was the mackerel cakes were the big hit – moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, served with a lovely lime chili paste with just the right zing.

Overall, the meal was still tasty and satisfying and what we didn’t finish ended up being the feast of our new feline friends!