Monday, August 11, 2008

The Big Chicken Restaurant

If you drive on the normal bus route between Patong and Phuket Town, after passing through the area called Tungtong, and passing the Phuket Country Club you'll see a restaurant that is also a local landmark. Everyone knows where the Big Chicken is! You can't miss it... (see location on Google Earth)

Big Chicken by the road

Now, we must have driven past a thousand times, on the way to nearby Bang Wad reservoir for example. We have been living in the Kathu area for 5 years. Our house is about 5 minutes drive from the big chicken, but we only ate there for the first time quite recently. We figured it was just another local place, and as the decor is quite decent (I mean wooden chairs instead of plastic!) and there always seem to be nice cars parked outside, we thought it might be a bit more expensive than some other local places.

Big Chicken garden area

Big Chicken terrace area

Actually, although many of the customers do seem to be well-off locals, the restaurant is quite cheap. Basic Thai dishes go for 40 - 80 Baht. We can get things like fried rice or chicken fried with garlic for 35 Baht. It always seems to be busy, and with high turnover you can keep the prices down.

Aside from normal Thai food, they have a long list of Isarn food (northeast Thailand), and (they say) Vietnamese food. Having never been to Vietnam I can't say if this is authentic, but I had a "Vietnamese" noodle and sausage soup which was very tasty (and only 50 Baht!).

There's also a healthy supply of BBQ chicken - which I guess is the house specialty and is why you find a 30 foot chicken outside!

BBQ at the Big Chicken

We've been back about 5 times in the last month. When eating out is this cheap, why cook at home?! Oh, the restaurant is actually called "Tungtong", but everyone calls it the Big Chicken. Well worth a nibble if you are passing by.

More of our favourite places to eat in Phuket...

Dairy Hut
Pak Nam Seafood
Kan Eang Seafood
Phuket Restaurants

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