Region: Central Thailand> Province: Kanchanaburi> Location: Thong Pha Phum

Thong Pha Phum

As a refuelling point for travellers and truckers heading along Route 323, Thong Pha Phum is graced with a wide selection of informal food stands. Simple wooden sheds with plastic tables and a single wok, they're concentrated along the main road in town. Though English menus are nonexistent, most stands specialise in only one or two dishes, so ordering should mainly be a matter of pointing. For snacks, there is a decent selection of stands to be found around the market. The Ban Chaidaen Phuphaphum Hotel has a restaurant in an attractive wooded setting, though it seems to keep unusual hours.

Perhaps the only restaurant worth note in Thong Pha Phum is the well-known curry stand Rawy Maw, which is 1.5km out of town on Route 323 on the way toward Kanchanaburi. Its name, meaning 100 pots, is a bit of an overstatement -- on our visit there were only thirteen pots of curry. Even so, it's a wonderful place to sample a selection of the amazing variety of curries made in this part of Thailand -- spicy fish curry, sour bamboo curry and fresh yellow eggplant curry among others.