PHUKET: Abdul’s roti shop is a bit of a Phuket legend, located on Thalang Road in the Old Town. It’s been there, I don’t know, forever I suppose.
Abdul's roti shop on Thalang Road.
The eastern end of Thalang Road just to the west of the junction with Phuket Road has lots of Muslim shops, mostly selling fabrics and clothes – there are at least half a dozen.
There are also two restaurants only a couple of doors from each other which sell roti with curry, and if you ask me this is a “must eat” if you are in town.
So with the Phuket blog in mind, I was in Phuket Town on a recent Saturday aiming for some roti for breakfast. The idea was to try both of the roti shops, but the other (Arun’s) was closed, and only Abdul’s was open – though there was no sign of Abdul himself.
A sign on the wall says “Roti made by Abdul 74 Years Old 7th Generation”. You can get roti with chicken, beef or fish. Don’t ask for pork – this is a Muslim shop.
I asked for roti with massaman chicken curry.
The roti are cooked at the front of the shop right by the street, where a lump of dough is bashed, flattened, folded, flattened again, shown no mercy and put on an oiled hotplate.
And then when it’s slightly crispy, it’s slapped about to break it up, and is ready to eat.
My bowl of massaman curry with a leg of chicken came first, and a wait of a few minutes for a freshly cooked roti.
I am not sure how one is “supposed” to eat this. Is there a traditional technique?
I spooned up curry and pieces of tender chicken onto the roti. Very tasty, fairly spicy. I could have eaten another one, this is good eating!
I feel an addiction coming on. Going to be back here on my next day off.
As with many little shops and restaurants in Thailand, at Abdul’s you get the feeling you’re in someone’s house – that’s because you are!
Family come and go, grandma comes out to say hello, I often see into shops after closing time, and the restaurant has become the living room.
The roti with curry was good, but I also wanted some dessert – a nice plain roti with condensed milk. Same kind of roti you get with the curry but this one is sweet.
Roti with curry, plus the sweet roti and two iced coffees, all for B105. Did I hear someone say “Phuket is expensive”?
Phuket can be expensive if you want. You can spend as much as you want, please don’t complain that Phuket is expensive. Not the real Phuket.
Thalang Road is a gem, I hope it remains that way.
Abdul’s on Thalang Road is open daily for breakfast and usually closes early afternoon.