To understand the culture of Phuket, slurp a bowl of mee hokkien

It’s a steamy Friday morning in Sapam, a village in Phuket’s Koh Kaew sub-district on the eastern coast. Local Thais and Chinese tourists gather around the marble-topped teak tables at local restaurant Mee Sapam Khun Yai Chian.

Swirling ceiling fans and strains of Thai pop rock add a relaxed ambiance to the sizzling sounds from the kitchen. The hungry guests are here to eat the Sapam version of soft and chewy mee hokkien. Once a traditional Chinese egg noodle dish made with pork, mee hokkien over the decades has been reinvented for the southern Thai palate. Stir-fried with seafood, greens and a black pepper gravy, the beloved dish – called mee Sapam at this restaurant – embodies Phuket’s diverse heritage and exciting food scene.

“Phuket cuisine is based on ethnic diversity, and mee sapam is part of it,” Panyarat Khunram says. She, along with Ratchet, represents the third-generation running the restaurant, descendants of khun yai Chian, the grandmother whose story mirrors those of many southeastern Chinese arrivals to Phuket.

Chinese noodles, done the Thai way

“Our grandmother came to Phuket when tin mining was booming,” says Panyarat. An early 20th-century immigrant of Hokkien descent, Chian opened a grocery store at home, just steps from Sapam Pier. As that didn’t pay the bills, Chian adapted her traditional mee hokkien recipe with local Thai seafood taken from the morning’s catch. Her customers instantly liked the stir-fried noodles with mussels, shrimp, shellfish, squid and fish meat, which gave the yellow strands a looser, more watery consistency.

Chian’s cooking was initially a side business, but the word of her delicious noodles spread. “Where are you eating?” Phuket residents would ask each other. “At Mee Sapam,” would come the enthusiastic reply. And that’s how Chian’s business – which became a full-fledged eatery in 1952 – and her Sapam twist on Hokkien noodles, got their name.

Sampling this dish helps you understand Phuket’s cosmopolitan mix

Cut to present day: Mee Sapam Khun Yai Chian has been featured in the Michelin Guide Phuket for three years running, and serves more creative twists on mee sapam. There’s the Mee Sapam Premium, which comes with top-tier seafood such as New Zealand mussels, crab meat, prawns and squid. Patrons also love the Mee Sapam Phuket Oyster, which has the addition of hoy kratib – tiny local clams with soft flesh that tastes briny, smoky and pleasantly metallic.

“Eating mee sapam, you learn the way of life of native Phuket people,” Chian’s heirs say. “We also use mee sapam to honor our ancestors on Chinese New Year, Ching Ming, and other traditional Chinese festivals.”

A symbol of Phuket’s Peranakan culture

From the quiet village of Sapam to the bustling capital of Phuket Town, local interpretations of mee hokkien are an important reminder of Phuket’s Chinese-Peranakan heritage, and just as widespread as the Insta-famous Peranakan architecture.

“Hokkien noodles are a combination of Chinese-Malay and Thai culture that emerged in the Peranakan community,” explains Nong, stirring Hokkien noodles in a thick cast-iron pan on a charcoal stove. He runs Mee Go La. The Phuket Town eatery is furnished with a handful of tables and plastic chairs and red Chinese paper lanterns. But with a daily line of takeaway orders, Mee Go La shows the importance of this dish to Phuket residents from all walks of life.

Peranakan culture in Phuket goes back to the 1800s. Drawn by opportunities offered by Phuket’s tin mine industry, Straits Chinese migrated to the island in the 19th century. The Chinese population in Thailand more than tripled between the 18th and 19th centuries. Many married local women, creating a mixed culture known as Peranakan. This community of mainly Hokkien ancestry remains an island stronghold. According to estimates, at least 70% of Phuket’s inhabitants today have Peranakan ancestral roots.

Nong is one such inhabitant. His grandfather, Bae Kong, is said to be the first Chinese to start a Hokkien noodle restaurant in Phuket in 1946, just a few years before Chian. And with several grandchildren helming Hokkien noodle restaurants in Phuket, this 20th-century sailboat cook has had a huge influence on how Phuket folks eat even today.

Building community around a plate of noodles

A five-minute walk from Mee Go La, next to Surin Circle Clock Tower, sits Mee Ton Poe. This is Bae Kong’s original restaurant, now run by his granddaughter Ju and her brother. Around since the end of World War II, it offers an important insight into the early days of Phuket and its Chinese-Peranakan community.

“Bae Kong cooked on the ships that sailed between Phuket, Penang and Singapore,” says Mee Ton Poe employee, Goy. “Eventually, he decided to offer Hokkien noodles in Phuket.”

At the time, there were no buildings or landmarks around the eatery, only a large Bodhi tree. As the wind carried the condiments’ sweet smell outside, people on motorbikes popped in for lunch. “There were no coffee or ice cream shops back then,” Goy says, laughing. “We hung out in noodle restaurants for afternoon tea.” Eventually, Phuketians started calling Bae Kong’s eatery Mee Ton Poe (Bodhi tree), a name it has retained through the decades.

Goy and Ju invite me into the kitchen. Peeping inside, I catch the heady wood fire aroma from the charcoal stove. “It’s the old-style Thai cooking. This is an iron pan – and the chef is an iron man,” Goy banters.

Out front, the breezy dining room is packed with locals and tourists alike, chowing on the signature dish as well as sides such as fish balls, fish cakes and the Malay-influenced satay.

In a heartbeat, a steaming bowl of thick, flash-fried noodles bathed in a moreish sauce arrives at my wooden my table. Served with greens, shrimp, squid, pork slices, fish meat, clams, and fish balls, this indulgent blend is topped with dry onions and liquid yolk. I slowly enjoy the deep smokiness of these long, melt-in-the-mouth soft noodles.

Mee Sapam, Mee Hokkien, Phuket noodles, call it what you will – sampling this dish helps you understand Phuket’s cosmopolitan mix.

Ready to eat your way through Peranakan cuisine in Thailand? Fly to Phuket on Thai Airways.