I'm on Kang Island in eastern Thailand and this is one of the prized Delicacies which we're going to cook and eat in three different ways, but really quickly. First, how did we get here? In order to support local communities and highlight their unique food, The Tourism Authority of Thailand has recently announced Thailand's hidden dishes which includes five rarely seen Tha dishes that come from five lesser visited provinces and they asked me to travel across Thailand to eat all of them. We've already eaten the hidden dish of Northern Thailand tasted a rare food in Ken and ate ttty palm fruit curry in Pepu. Today we're driving to Got Chang Island in search of a fish that's so good you don't even need to cook it.

Oh oh good morning, Hey everyone! Hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Weans and we started off this morning at our home in Bangkok. We are driving to Eastern Thailand and the province is called called and then we're going to take the ferry onto a very famous island which is called Got Chang where we are in search of the next Thailand's hidden dish. Oh yeah, Guava? Excellent. Oh yeah.

could I have some? Pall wait. Can I see the whole and this area is actually very well known for pineapple. M Oh the pineapples. Amazing! Okay, we are back on the road and we're probably going to stop for lunch before we get on the ferry.

Okay, so we're probably about an hour still away from Trat. Uh, but we stopped in the town. It's called Jantri. The restaurant is called Janton Poana and it's absolutely one of the Legends one of the Heritage restaurants of Chantaburi.

Oh man, it smells so good. And these are the dishes. I mean some of the dishes that you absolutely have to eat when you come to Eastern Thailand including one of the main most famous dishes which is called Muchang which is pork. It's kind of a pork stew with uh, the main ingredient are Garcinia leaves giving it this incredible sourness.

Oh huge pieces of pork. all the chamong leaves and you can see how chunky that curry paste is as well. Oh it's good. It's sweet and sour with so many herbs in it.

and even though we're only 3 or 4 hours away from Bangkok, this is a dish that's you can rarely find in Bangkok The dish is called graan. P So this is fish stir fried pcha with cardamom stems and lots of herbs in here and chilies. Oh yeah, wow, that's good. Those cardamom stems.

They're such a unique, such an incredible ingredient. They have this Unique Kind of Snappy crispness to them and then this kind of spicy floral Aroma Oh man, but those cardamom stems are just incredible. Oh yeah, that's spicy too. Oh wow, that is a a winning dish right there.

It's so good. And then the soup that we got is called and okay let me just explain that to you what it is. It's a boiled fish soup And there it is right there that is the rakam which is a type of snake fruit which gives it sourness. and then there's also the cardamom shoots the growan in here as well giving it flavor.

Oh man what a dish. There's chili floating around, there's coriander, there's coolant. let me scoop this into the to my bowl actually and so okay. let me get some ofam Here we go.

Oh wow Oh I Almost forgot how good this soup is. Oh man what a soup. The fruity sourness of the snake fruit, the onions, the shallots in there, the green chilies, the the kulantro and then you've got that growan which kind of has a galangal flavor to it in the soup. the broth is so clean sour unbelievable flavor.

oh man that that is a that is a healing broth and then some of the that fresh fresh fish and the fish just melts in your mouth. Oh man I love that soup. And then we got one more dish here. I Got this uh an it's a chili dip called Sanga here and there's shrimp in it.

there's lemongrass, those are the requirements and then often times it can be muit lime leaves as well as mut lime juice I think I think so I'm not totally sure. uh but you can scoop on vegetables with this. There's chilies in here man that looks chunky and fragrant. Oh that's so good as well.

really finely shaved lemongrass and then also the mroo lime leaves so it's really citrusy shallot in there. the flavor of the shrimp. oh man and I have eaten at this restaurant a couple of times but I almost forgot how good the food is. Just solid, consistent and local.

Regional to Eastern Thailand There is a an absolute must stop on your way toat on your way to Kachang. Actually everything is really good. but I think I like the soup and the the fish pcha the best. Oh the consistency over the years has been exceptional here.

Oh that was such a good meal. What a restaurant! from here it should be about 1 hour to get to the fery to got Chang We made it to the ferry uh 310 bot for three of us and the ferry uh we're at Al Tachat Pier The ferry leaves approximately every 30 minutes. nice where. welcome to Trat and we just had to wait only like 5 10 minutes.

We got on the next ferry and we're on our way. You can see got Chang it's very very close to the to the mainland I think it's just a 15 20 minute fair ride if I remember correctly but yeah you can see that right there. that's that's got Chang Welcome to K Chang It actually takes 30 40 minutes for the ferry. uh from here we need to drive all the way actually to the other side of the island, all the way to the bottom of the island.

We made it. What a beautiful drive! K Chang I Mean we passed by coconut trees, lagoons just lush green and we've drove all the way to the south of the island to a community called Salak Pet. Oh, that breeze coming off of the sea is so spectacular. Mountains in the background and this community is known for fishing.

Uh, I mean they fish and I mean that's actually what we came for is a certain type of seafood. It's a certain type of fish that is Thailand's hidden dish of in. Oh so he's baiting them. They have a number of different fish and I think what they actually do here is, uh, there's people that go fishing, get fish from the sea, but then they keep them here and they also might raise them a little bit more more mature bigger here in these nets within the seawater.

But that's what this community is known for here. Okay, here we go. They're going to lift, lift the net. We got the fish harvested as fresh as possible.

We're going to head back to the kitchen and they're going to cook it in three different ways. He's just making Swift work of that fish. I Mean that is as fresh as possible. Oh, the meat of that fish is beautiful.

So pure, so white and clean. That's the filet. the first dish that we're making It actually involves no cooking sashimi. The Sashimi plate is ready.

We're going to move on to the next fish. Oh, so that hot water just kind of shocks it real fast. Oh, you can already see it kind of peeling back from the bones. Okay, okay.

and then that goes onto the steaming plate. Oh okay, and those mushrooms go directly onto the top of the fish. The fish is going to steam for about 7 minutes she said. In the meantime, we're going to make the sauce.

Okay, so this is for the sauce for the fish black pepper Chinese alcohol or wine and then oh, sesame oil. Okay, so then oyster sauce and then the soy sauce goes in. Oh man. as soon as she pours on that sauce, it smells so good.

The sesame oil, the oyster sauce. oh the black pepper in there. she okay. so it's done, but just needs to steam just for like a minute just to wilt those vegetables.

The fish oil has already come out. Oh that's going to be so good. Make it when the fish is so fresh and so high quality. It in I mean it requires no cooking, just nothing.

Just straight up sashimi and introducing to you Thailand's hidden dish ofat Saat Coral Grouper Oh I Cannot wait to try it. It's just thin slices. it's actually the meat is actually transparent. Okay going in with nothing.

first bite M All the muscular texture, the cleanness of it. it's so pure that is good pure like that. but it definitely would be better with some soy sauce and some Wasabi dip it into into the Wasabi soy sauce. Oh wow all the Wasabi up the nose.

oh okay I mean the raw fish on its own is good, but there is a reason Japanese eat Sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi it just takes it to the next level. brings out the flavor even more. Next up we got to try the steamed the same fish steamed and I love how they I mean she really made sure not to overcook it. You're going to see that the fish is just going to tear away from the bones without a doubt.

Yeah, look at that perfectly cooked the ginger in there I do want to scoop up some of that that broth that sauce as well. Let's just try it. That's an amazing text textural change when it transforms from being raw which has this chewy muscular texture to being steamed which is just melts in your mouth. The fish itself is just yeah again.

Ultra Fresh Ultra Quality just tears away from the bones. It's so meaty, um so clean tasting in the sauce. you just get that hint of Sweetness from the oyster sauce. you taste that Aroma of the sesame oil and the ginger, the green onions in there.

the Chinese celery. delicious both ways. Now you might be wondering because I mentioned there's going to be three dishes, that's just two dishes. That's because the third dish third dish is going to be made with the head and the bone of the Sashimi So we're going to take that to back to the kitchen and they're going to make the third dish with it.

However, when you come to this entire fishing area in this entire fishing area of Kachang, What? I Remember being my absolute favorite dish to eat here is something called which is they they go fishing for squid around this region and then they dry it in. the Sun supposed to be for one day. might be be longer than that, but we'll see. um so.

it's not really jerky, but it is just slightly dehydrated, condenses the flavor. then they take that and deep fry it. so we had to. I Mean you cannot come here without eating Buok! So we've got the tentacles.

We've got the body. Look at these big slices of squid. I'm going to try the tentacle first. Wow Yes it's so good.

It's tender and when it was when they dry it, it does condense the flavor of the squid. then deep fried. Man it's tasty. The day sundried squid is an absolute must when you come here.

Let's try the whole piece. Dip it into the sauce. Looks like an egg roll. What's amazing is how tender it is.

Again, the texture is transformed. It's not chewy or blubbery at all or rubbery. it's just tender like meat. So Sashimi was amazing and let's go make the dish with the the head in the body with the bones in the head.

I'm choosing to get a dish which is called Thom Now Thom is a sour soup that you'll find all over Thailand in the south in Bangkok. But every region has their own variation of this dish and so the version from th or from Eastern Thailand is unique. It's something you won't find out of this region and so that's the dish I chose to to order it with. So for the thumbs, she starts with boiling water.

She adds in some curry paste which I think is mostly just a chili. It's like a ground chili paste already. Uh, that has some flavor. Then she boils the fish, she adds in fish sauce.

This is tamrind pulp but the main ingredient that makes it sour is tamarind pulp. gives it a sweet and sour taste so that goes in Tamarind pulp. Then she tosses in some ginger and some green onions that goes into a fire pot and then she sprinkles on some more dry chilies on top. What a dish! What a soup! What a way to use those bones in the head! Okay K Marab Oh here it is.

Is there fire coming out of the yes there is. Well we're continuing with round two of this meal. The thums, Let's scoop this Actually there's still quite a lot of meat from the Bones from the collar, from the other parts of the the fish, and then again the chili paste in here. The the ginger in here.

the cam makes it that brown color and gives it its sourness and ginger. Oh wow oh it's amazing. Oh it's spicy. The Cameron gives it not just this sweetness but this tartness and this like well-rounded fru.

Then you've got the contrast of the ginger, the flavor of the fish broth. oh man it's so good it just kind of soothes your throat going going down. And then again, pieces of the coral grouper? Oh yeah big pieces. I think I got a piece of the stomach.

Oh fatty and blubbery. excellent. Oh the dry chilies too that she she sprinkled them in at the end. Yes oh so good.

I Love that broth. This one is called kanim so it's Kana which is like Chinese broccoli stir fried with lots of garlic but then the the flavoring ingredient is blackim which is salted fish and you can see if you're not careful. look at these are green chilies just camouflaged in with the vegetable. Oh you got to take one of those and this should be eaten with a spoonful of rice because it's salty because of that.

M Oh wow oh that's tasty. That saltiness but not more than a saltiness. It's that Umami that is a result of preservation of Salty Fish that depth of flavor. The garlic in there and those green chilies just pop in your mouth just burst going more in for some of the the greens.

Man that is so good. It's just simple but so tasty and they do it so well. I mean I Do remember the food was good here last time we came here 5 years ago but this just reinforces it. They're doing well.

Even the size of this restaurant just is in demonstration of like what they're doing how they're cooking. just peaceful spacious. Community Driven Supporting the local Fishers in the area that was maybe and the're super is spectacular. There's still so much meat on these bones we still have more.

We're going to drive and actually if you look at a map of got Chang you'll notice that right now we're in the very far sou and there's this. There's a road that goes almost around the entire Island but there's this little stretch I think because of the mountain and the way the the Water Works that you cannot pass through. so if we could go around the South Side we'd actually not be that far away. But because the road uh ends here, you actually have.

We have to drive all the way back to the north of the island, pass by the ferry, and then drive down the other side the opposite side which is the more populous side of the island. We're going to go to a restaurant that ex it's really highly rated and we're going to have the same Coral grouper but a dish cooked in a totally different way Kwan Chang's Tha gastronomic experience I Love all the hanging potted indoor plants. Beautiful! Okay so they have the fresh blam saat the coral grouper local from got Chang they have the fish ready. They're going to show us one of their specific dishes that they make with the fish is called a pla.

It's a type of salad with the fish and they're I mean in English they call it Ceviche On the menu it's a type of raw fish salad and they're going to use a lot of herbs. a lot of really beautiful Botanical flowers, all edible flowers, micro greens and then all the Amazing Thai herbs in the recipe. So we're going to see how it's made. Uh, they're going to start by filling the fish so then that fish is washed and then iced.

You can just see how pure how fresh that fish is So Fresh So Clean The fish is diced, then it's iced, then it's uh, marinated in lime juice and a little bit of vinegar. She said let that soak for about 5 10 minutes or so. uh to just get that acidity just slightly cooking the fish by MC so that's muit lime Le's very finely shaving. go in okay.

mint leaves? yeah and this is coriander and green onions and that's very finely shaved lemongrass. Oh man, the slicing skills. Oh you want to rinse out F Fish Wow. Dragon Fruit Red Dragon fruit or Purple Dragon fruit juice.

She puts some of the fish into red dragon fruit juice and I think that's not going to really provide that much flavor, but just kind of. uh, give it a natural food coloring just as part of the beauty because I I mean you can already see that this restaurant is not just about the food, but about the just aesthetic. Beauty The Natur. Just like everything is a floral design.

Okay, so that was actually impressive the way she made that pla. Again, it's called a pla this type of salad. I don't know really of a pretty way to. it's so pretty.

but I don't know of a pretty way to eat this I think we just tear in Destroy some of that fish with some of the all of those herbs with that that dressing on the inside M Oh the freshness of the fish. It's so tender and what you immediately notice is the lemongrass. the finely shaved, uh shot all those herbs in there. The acidity: I Did notice that she didn't add any chilies.

However, she did give me a little side of chilies that you can add on your own. This would greatly enhance it. Oh yeah. Really delicate.

Really. Actually really delicious. So refreshing. Very good with those finely shaved chilies as well.

The other dishes in this series the other of Thailand's hidden dishes are actual dishes. They are driven by an ingredient, but today in Trat, it's all about or in Kachang, it's all about the fish and the many different ways that it can be eaten. Just the delicacy that it is. and this is again just a different demonstration.

Totally modern take but really good. Really refreshing, really delicate, and I think really balanced as well as extremely refined. Just pretty is what it is. This is the Mangam which is another traditional Thai Dish wrapped in Beetle leaves or Piper lot leaves and but this is her own take on it.

So what you do is you take one of these little cups. Oh it's kind of served like like Pon py style. Take some of the it should be like a sweet uh sauce. M Oh yeah, it looks totally different, but all those flavors are there.

You have a little wedge of lime, you have a peanut, you have coconut in there. you have the country wrapper, you have the B cha PLU Leaf good. It's like oh Harmony of flavors in your mouth. Okay next up I'm going to try the poia.

So this is the fresh spring rolls. Again, the most pretty and colorful fresh spring rolls you'll ever see. And this one was with shrimp I think there's uh, salmon, eggs on top and cucumber on The inside? m oh that's really good. Oh the sesame seeds.

You might not be able to see it, but there's a thick tiger shrimp on the inside. Meaty, refreshing, crunchy, salty. The sesame oil, the flowers, the herbs. Well it's actually the next dish has arrived.

Look at this. it's called Batai. So it's fried chicken wings which are then stuffed with sticky rice and then made into a salad. It's a straight up sculpture.

I'm going to grab one of the the wing tips, try to diip dip into all that chunky. the oh there's cashews. There's shallots, there's cucumbers, there's herbs, there's flowers. Oh there's the red purple dragon.

fuit. Oh yeah. fried chicken with the gooey glutenous sticky rice on the inside. Fragrant.

And then you've got this dressing that's kind of sweet and sour from the dragon. fruit. crispy fresh cucumbers. Wow, that's tasty.

Mhm. Pretty and tasty. the next dish and the chef mentioned that this is a traditional dish from Thrat of course in a modern version Yamai by Mro and it's a chicken salad with the leaves of a water olive. Nice.

So a chicken salad. this looks again. look at all those herbs and flowers and beautiful beautifulness. Nuttiness.

Very peeny has a nice like sourness to it, sweet but not overly sweet, just the balance of it. and then shredded chicken and all those herbs. A lot of mint in there, a lot of uh by Mcro the Mcro lime leaves. We got one more dish and this is a dish I've eaten many, many times, but this is a total transformation in the way it looks.

Gang Buo by Chapo So it's a crab curry with Chapo leaves Piper L lot or like a type of beetle leaf and served with Kum Gan rice noodles. but typically I mean it's a whole bowl of Curry and the leaves are sliced or put in whole but you have pieces of Curry but she's done it like bite-sized I Think this is the first time I've ever had a bite-sized Curry wrapped in the leaves. So you take one of these, put it onto your noodles and then everyone is. A little packet is a little bite and then you Gra grab some of the noodles with that little bite of curry crab on the inside.

Oh that is delicate and fresh and spongy. Okay the the curry is definitely on the milder side, but you do taste the quality and the the freshness of everything and the richness of that coconut milk definitely is a little bite-sized Curry There nuggets of crab I mean basically every dish here has been turned into a garden. I've had a fantastic time in got Chang and I Want to say a huge thank you to the Tourism Authority of Thailand for making this entire trip happen from here. Tomorrow morning we will drive all the way back to Bangkok then we'll catch a flight to the south of Thailand for what might be the biggest food Adventure yet.