Toasting the coast

Visitors to Hua Hin are greeted by genteel streets of old shophouses, cool beach hangouts and homey hotels. But it's the delicious home-made  food that really puts the icing on this lovely tourist town. The quest for delicious noodles, rare traditional deserts and reasonably priced fresh seafood is usually a fruitful experience here.

Unlike other popular tourist destinations, Hua Hin is full of old restaurants where recipes have been passed on from generation to generation. Muscling in on the scene recently are branches of Starbucks, McDonalds and

Pizza Hut, but venture down the  narrow sois and you'll find characterful little houses-cum-restaurants.

With hundreds of shops waiting to be discovered, Weekend points you in the direction of fantastic flavours ranging from clear noodles to Thai deserts, mouth-watering seafood to

Italian home-made ice cream.

You could do no better than to start your day with breakfast at Jekpia. The old shophouse on a street corner near Chatchai Market is a perfect spot to enjoy your first meal of the day while observing town life. Known for decades as a meeting place where townsfolk - especially on weekends - catch up with each other, Jekpia has a choice of Thai, Western or Chinese menus.

Here, you can wash down soft-boiled eggs (Bt10 for two) with a cup of rich, black coffee or Thai tea with milk (Bt10).

Or for something heartier try the khao man gai - rice with boiled chicken and soup - or rice topped with barbecued pork or duck (Bt25). Even a humble plate of jasmine rice is a must, but mixed in to a clear soup of pork knuckle and mushrooms (Bt15), it's especially delicious.

Pork porridge (Bt10) with innards is a best-selling dish, but only available if you come early enough. Western fare like ham, eggs and toast are also offered, along with soft drinks. Besides breakfast, Jekpia serves Thai dishes all day, ranging from Bt20 to Bt60. Look out for the fresh seafood.

But if you can wait till brunchtime, drive a little farther away from the market and order a steamy bowl of beef noodles at Hengkee, opposite the town's main post office. Hua Hin's well-known eatery has been run by the Howongsakol family for more than two decades. They still use their original recipe for noodle soup with home-made meatballs or tender braised beef chunks (Bt25 or Bt30), giving diners the chance to savour a delicate spicy herb aftertaste.

Egg noodles with barbecued pork is also served, along with iced tea or coffee (Bt10). An extra plate of grilled meat or meatballs is Bt10, while beef meatballs are available to take away for Bt170 per kilogram (Bt150 for pork). Hengkee has another two branches on Ram-Indra Road and Saphan Kwai in Bangkok - in case you can't get enough of it in Hua Hin.

Hua Hin Koti is many people's favourite restaurant in Hua Hin, and an excellent choice for lunch thanks to its vast selection of Thai food - from standard spicy dishes of rice with meat or beef and vegetables to special seafood treats.

A must is the hot seafood salad packed with vegetables. Here they use shallots instead of onions to give a subtlety that complements the herb flavours.

Fluffy, tasty fish cakes are another delight. The combination of fresh  fish and chilli paste turns reddish brown and spongy in the frier.

A little salty, they go well with the sweet-and-sour sauce and garnish of sliced cucumber and ground peanuts.

Other yummy dishes to try here are the hot and spicy seafood tom yam, and the individual curried soufflés of steamed-fish with coconut milk and vegetables. Also available are grilled and boiled seafood platters. Prices range from Bt40 to Bt300.

More fresh and tasty fruits of the sea  are available at Sang Wien Seafood. At this open-air restaurant located on the beach you can sit down to seafood somtam with crab or shrimps (Bt120 or Bt150), steamed black-banded king fish with spicy sauce, a plateful of boiled cockles, omelette with oysters (Bt80), and grilled seafood platters (prices depend on weight). This joint is often packed, especially at dinnertime. Alcoholic drinks are served.

Besides savouries, Hua Hin also offers a host of sweets and desserts at street-side stalls. Despite the Western flavours brought by mass tourism over the past decade, nostalgic Hua Hin has managed to retain a place for traditional Thai sweets.

Hua Hin Soi 55 is a main street for Thai dessert hunters.

The longest standing stall here is Pa Je's, which sells banana fritters. The smiley vendor in her late 70s is distinctive for her farmer's hat and has been selling banana fritters with her sister for more than 40 years. The half-ripe bananas are sliced vertically into thin pieces, soaked in coconut batter and deep-fried.

Pa Je knows her trade - the fritters stay dry and crispy for hours.

She extends her expertise to pumpkin, sweet potato and taro fritters. Prices start at Bt10, and the goodies come in hand-made paper bags.

Not far from Pa Je's fritter stall is Uncle Dam's popular pushcart. For almost 50 years, Uncle Dam has earned a nation-wide reputation for his iced lod chong Singapore (Bt10). He kneads cassava flour and mixes it with pandanus leaf extract to make rubbery green noodles, which he serves with syrup and home-made coconut milk in a tall glass, topping it off with crushed ice.

His nephew carries on this legacy at an outlet in Bangkok on Buddha Mondhol Sai 2 Road.

At Bt10 and Bt15, you can get yourself a decent sweet treat at Pa Prang's Thai dessert shop, just a little off Soi 55.

A veteran cook, Pattama uses original recipes and old, blue enamelled pots inherited from her mother Pa Prang, to make an array of Thai sweets in coconut milk. Served in small bowls, recommended treats here are gluay buad chee (boiled banana in sweet coconut milk), tao suan (green beans in thick sauce and coconut milk), khao niew piek (sticky rice in syrup and coconut milk with taro cubes) and sweet sticky rice with durian in coconut milk.

Rare sweets such as kanom ko (red or white flour dumplings with a coconut filling in coconut milk) can also be had here.

Another treat, good for beating the heat, is a scoop of Italian ice cream from Il Gelato Italiano. Owned by Italian-born Marco Paparella, the gelato parlour has been around for 14 years.

At Bt50 per scoop, you have an extensive selection of home-made ice cream, including green apple, pistachio, Nuttella, yoghurt, watermelon, caramel, lemon, raspberry, mint chocolate, almond, chocolate chip, rum and raisin, melon, hazelnut and yoghurt with strawberry - to name just a few.

Mouth watering, yet? Perhaps it's time to pack your bags and discover this tasty destination. 

Manta Klangboonkrong

Pattarawadee Saengmanee