Food Scene in Ao Nang, Krabi
Shane and I LOVE Thai food. However, we are also the kind of people who can’t take too spicy and obviously no MSG (monosodium glutamate). Thailand is a wrong destination for foodie like us because Thai food almost always contain MSG, Fish sauce and oyster sauce as main culprits to our stomach aches. Having said this, we or at least I am always the one saying, “Enjoy now, suffer later!” The food scene in Ao Nang, Krabi has a mixture of American fast food and Thai with many Indian restaurants dotting the main road. It comes as quite a surprise for us since we wanted Thai food when we visit Thailand. South Asian (Indian) staffs wait outside on the pavement to recommend Indian food to visitors.
Mamadeenee Thai Food
We decided to ask the staffs at the hotel for a place they go for food after two not so nice meals. One of them recommended a street hawker just a block away. We walked over there and found Mamadeenee Phad Thai stall. This is a dead end road leading to a burger joint. The sign at the entrance says RCA Entertainment with small food stalls selling Thai food, snacks and kebab. Further down are the bars that open in the night. Mamadeenee Thai food stall is number 4 from the entrance to this street. A quiet Muslim woman, she cooks in a steady pace while more and more people start queuing up to order. A helper takes our orders and Mamadeenee corrects her when an order is wrong. She speaks a little English but the helper doesn’t.
About Mamadeenee
We have takeaways from her stall throughout our stay in Krabi and choose a different place to eat on her day off. Mamadeenee is more than just another woman cooking in a tiny stall. She has a quiet dignity about her and steadfast in her cooking, producing dish after dish in her small wok and pans. She listens to what we can’t eat and cooks to our personal preferences. Phad Thai is my favorite. We visit her stall early and get to know more about Mamadeenee. She is a single mom of two daughters and is raising a grandson. Her husband had a fatal accident when the children were young. One daughter is in a police academy while the other works in town. Her day is long. She goes to the market early and then to the stall to prepare lunch. After a short break, she continues working until past midnight. She takes a day or two off once a month.
Our Contributions
Shane and I often try to find ways to help people we meet in our travel. This is our contributions to societies and communities in places we go to. In the case of Mamadeenee, we teach her grandson to create a Facebook page called Mamadeenee. It is just a page to show people where her stall is so you can enjoy her delicious food too. We recommend her stall to everyone we meet in Krabi. We posted our review. You can help by doing the same; eat at her stall and post photos of the food she cooks for you. We also give her a token of our appreciation for taking care of her grandson and making him attend school. May his grandmother’s sacrifices provide him a better future.
I have not always update the works Shane does in Spokane because being a licensed counsellor requires confidentiality. You can read some of our humanitarian work by clicking this LINK.