You see, my dad used to fix our car in the shop a few doors away but we've never taken notice of this place until he suddenly had a bite from a weird bug and we decided to give it a try tonight.

When you arrive, the first thing you'd notice about the place is that...THERE'S A LOT OF PARKING SPACE! No kidding. Well, it's not a proper parking area but it's good enough when you've been around Klang Valley long enough to realize that it's really difficult to get a space sometimes. Of course then, you'd be greeted by a lot of enthusiastic staffs of Khunthai who would warmly usher you into the restaurant. (Or maybe it was just that we got there pretty early and there were no customers yet) There's a really nice cozy atmosphere to the restaurant, especially how they decorate the front of their shop...because it makes you feel just a tad bit resort-ish at first glance.

Since there were only 4 of us, we decided not to go crazy on the ordering and settled for a pot of white tomyum with mixed seafood, kerabu sotong, chap oong omelette, paku belacan and a miaeng kum. All dishes were of small size except for the miaeng kum that comes in a standard size of big. 

Miaeng kum was never meant to be a main course and serves only as an appetizer and at only RM 15 for this, I have to say that it was extremely worth the money. They had given us a lot of chaplu leaves and the taste of the sweet sauce was not overly sweet in which would kill off our taste buds. In fact, the dried shrimp was really delicious and didn't reek of what it was. I must say, I was impressed. 

I'll be very honest here. At RM 19 for this, I had really expected more especially on the seafood which came in a very small portion. Otherwise, the taste was clear but had a perfect balance of sour and spicy at the same time. Nearly authentic, but not quite. There's just something in it that doesn't quite seal the deal but it's one of the best you can find around town. I had quite a number of bowls of the soup though, so it's up to you to believe my taste buds on this.

I have absolutely NO idea what chap oong actually means but all I know is that this omelette is AWESOME. It was so fragrant that it was nearly the only thing I really ate asides the miaeng kum. It went really well with the rice and having been drizzled with a little bit of white tom yum soup. Don't mind me, I have a peculiar taste. But I figured that RM 9 might just be a little pricey for this. After all it's really just eggs and a little bit of vegetables mixed within the eggs. That's just me anyway.

It's funny how in Malay, "paku" actually means "nail" (as in those you hammer in) but it's in fact the name of a vegetable too. This paku belacan had costed RM 10 but it was well worth the money because it's not very often you find a good paku belacan dish everywhere. For a person who could not take everything spicy, this may have killed my taste buds a little so I stayed away after about 5 bites of it but my mum appeared to have loved it. Well, she likes anything paku anyway.

No kidding, I was so disappointed in their kerabu sotong because it had looked SO promising but there was absolutely nothing to shout about this time around. Costing RM 11 for a plate of small dish like this, I suppose it was quite a let down for me. I knew I should have gone for the steamed lala with lemon. Then again, there was a lot of cuttlefish as a point in having paid so much for it.

I'm absolutely sure they keep this in an ice cold freezer because when it came, it was so amazingly refreshing, I had to FORCE myself to quit drinking before my food got to the table. Of course, it was a little costly at RM 4.50 per coconut but the cooling sensation and the sweetness of it was quite irresistible. 

I couldn't help it, I've always enjoyed the fact that there are still people who serve rice in this metal pot and having them pick how much they actually want. Nothing great, but I just enjoyed the idea of showing it off. 

And that...is how dinner went! If you're searching for Khunthai yourself, fret not. I wouldn't just let you see how good my food is and not share where I've gotten what I've gotten from! Here's the details of Khunthai!

 

You may also want to look out for a signboard that comes in black and yellow with the words that looks somewhat like this.

 

Tada! As they do say, sharing is caring. In some matters anyway. I am in fact, dying to return to the REAL land of Thailand to taste REAL thai food like the ones I had in Hatyai.

P/S: Yes daddy. I am DYING to get to Thailand. For the food. And the shopping. And the food. I'm going to be so fat, my boyfriend's going to dump me and then you can shoot him or something. Just kidding. But yeah. I'd like to go to Thailand again. For the massage at least? :)