Where to eat and drink
This year UNESCO added Songkhla, along with Nan in North Thailand, to the creative cities network, with Songkhla recognised for its gastronomy. The ‘City of Two Seas’ is ever-scented with southern Thai spices, deep fried rotis and freshly steamed dim sum vended from hole-in-the-wall eateries. With so much on offer, it pays to follow you nose and just see if you end up with a plate of stir-fried bitter beans with shrimps or a bowl of yellow crab curry.
For those in need of some direction, a good place to get a handle on Songkhla’s appetite for fusion cooking is Lyn’s The Shanghai Cafe. Housed in a 180-year-old house that’s been decorated to invoke Shanghai in its 1930s heyday, Lyn’s employs local ingredients to conjure international staples and southern Thai dishes. Of note, the split gill mushrooms with fried pork and peanuts in chilli oil tickles the tongue nicely. Faux-meat vegan options are available, and should you work up a thirst, the fridge is well-stocked with locally brewed kombucha and craft beers.
Those with a sweet tooth should head to any of the downtown coffee shops vending the desserts and jellies for which southern Thailand is renowned. Some, like 88 Degrees Cafe and Martha Cafe, boast lakefront terraces next to jetties where fishing vessels and sunset cruise boats are moored.
For water-born delicacies, it’s a 10-minute tuk-tuk ride past the marauding troop of macaques that populate the city park to Samila Beach, a strip of fine white sand lapped by the marine waters of the Gulf. Lining the beach are several Halal-Muslim seafood specialists dishing up local classics like crispy catfish with green mangoes and hot and spicy horseshoe crab eggs.
It’s a slightly longer drive to Ko Yo, an island in the vast lagoon that is Songkhla Lake, which is connected to the mainland by Highway 408, and best accessed via rental scooter, as taxis can be hard to find on the island after dark.
Perched on the island’s east coast is Sirada Restaurant, a family-friendly, southern Thai seafood specialist where customers dine on freshly-caught clams, crab and squid at tables perched on wooden pontoons hovering over the water’s edge.
To catch the spectacle of sunset, however, you’ll need to head over to the island’s west coast where a cove of restaurants and bars sit at the ends of ‘saphan pla’ – traditional fishing piers. Of note, Chill Bar is a fine place to grab a sundowner and watch the lake turn orange with the topical sun’s descent.
Songkhla is not a particularly hedonistic place, but back in the Old Town there are a number of bespoke watering holes, including Grandpa Never Drunk Alone, a hip little joint mixing up locally-inspired cocktails, notably, the Songkhla sour.
