Arabic Food

During your Phuket Island vacation, you may be looking for something a little different after a few days of Thai food and Italian. Though you might not have ever thought about it, Arabic food is something you need to try as soon as possible. No, really. Centuries old traditional recipes are the norm at Arabic restaurants. New flavors were inspired by combinations of spices and herbs obtained during trading. There are three basic styles of cuisine from the Arab world, they include the rather recent Maghreb and Levant, which evolved over the last couple of centuries. The oldest style is from the Khaleej region, and includes dishes a thousand years old! Popular main dishes are generous servings of lamb (veal), chicken, beef, goat, basmati rice, vegetables with a variety of sauces almost always including tomato. Of course, pork is prohibited to be eaten by Muslim Arabs. To the Western tongue, the spices and herbs used to prepare the food is exotic and quite pleasant. If you like Indian and Thai food, you’ll likely enjoy Arabic food. That’s going out on a long limb, but probably it’s true. Great care is taken to prepare each meal and it is served as if every meal is a formal dinner. Restaurant staff are always well-dressed and ultra-polite. Some of the dairy products used are yogurt, butter, aromatic cheese, and 'crème'. There are amazing sauces and creams to die for! Herbs and spices used are usually cumin, garlic, parsley, sesame, saffron, and black pepper. As a side-note, if you’re looking to make some of your own Arabic food, you can get most of those spices in bulk at the local Phuket Makro store. Coffee is preferred over tea in most restaurants, though it varies by region. If there’s one dish you must try, it’s tabbouleh. This is a middle-eastern salad dish consisting of bulgur wheat, tomatoes, garlic, salt, parsley, and lemon juice. At least that’s one way to make it. They sometimes have tabbouleh and basmati rice in the Makro store in Phuket too – have a look and try it for something different! * As you can see we have only one location on this page at the moment. We are sorry for the inconvenience and assure you that we will list more as soon as we have done our research on availability and quality. *

Read Less