THAI CUISINE AS MEDICINE AT TAKOLA
“Roots and Remedies on the Plate”
Seasonal Menu | May – September 2026
When food is also a remedy — rooted in nature, and in ancient Thai knowledge.
What do the South’s own herbs hold, beneath the taste?
An invitation to find out, over a menu built with a delicate hand.
Delicious, satisfying, gentle on the body.
The old Thai kitchen was never only a place to cook. It was the apothecary closest to hand — and food as medicine was less an idea than ordinary practice, carried from one generation to the next.
Cooking to bring the body back into balance rests on an understanding of the four elements — earth, water, air and fire — and on choosing what grows in step with the season and the climate. That thinking sits at the heart of this seasonal menu.
Thai Cuisine as Medicine runs at TAKOLA, Devasom Khao Lak, from May to September 2026. A meal that is a pleasure at the table, and gentle on body and mind.
The pantry as remedy
Natural flavour, carefully drawn out.
This seasonal menu draws on the home cooking of Phang Nga and Takua Pa — recipes and methods handed down within families, and increasingly hard to find on any menu. They take patience to cook properly, and much of their value lies in what the ingredients do as well as how they taste.
Behind the flavour, our chefs choose more than what is freshest. Southern kitchens have always cooked with local herbs, spices and whatever the season brings: turmeric, bitter beans, bitter melon and camphor ginger; cashew leaf shoots and Tham Mung leaf shoots, picked young; wild fig, and the Look Jan fruit that closes the meal. The pantry runs to local specialities too — shrimp paste from Ban Pak Chok, and fish sauce fermented slowly, the way it has always been done here.
Five dishes, five ways into the herbs and home cooking of the South — subtle on the palate, and healthy at the same time.
● Steamed Grouper with Herbal Curry and Coconut Milk
ปลาเก๋านึ่งเครื่องแกงกะทิสมุนไพร
Kept simple on purpose, so nothing competes with a fresh Andaman catch. Firm grouper, carefully steamed so the flesh stays succulent and keeps its natural sweetness, under a southern curry sauce made rich with freshly pressed coconut milk. Bitter beans, cha-om and green peppercorns give it a scent particular to the South, in balance.
Gentle care, in the form of a meal: lean protein from the fish, good fats from the coconut, and herbs southern kitchens have long relied on to settle the digestion.
● Ngob Pla Phang Nga (Grilled Fish Curry in Banana Leaf)
งบปลาพังงา (ปิ้งงบ)
Preserving fish was a practical matter on the Phang Nga coast, and ping ngob came out of it. Close to hor mok, but drier: fish worked through southern curry paste with coconut milk and grated coconut, long pepper, camphor ginger, young turmeric and kaffir lime zest, then wrapped in banana leaf and grilled until the parcel scents the air around it.
Faint smoke off the leaf, the heat of the curry paste, and the depth the herbs bring underneath — the flavour arrives in layers. Herbs southern cooks turn to when a dish is this rich, to keep the digestion moving and the body’s elements in balance.
● Southern Thai Nam Chup Yum with Local Vegetables
น้ำชุปหยำแบบใต้และผักพื้นบ้าน
A southern dip in its truest form, built around shrimp paste from Ban Pak Chok, one of Phang Nga’s own products, with fresh chilli, lime and rakam. It comes with whatever local vegetables the season gives: Tham Mung leaf shoots, cashew leaf shoots, white turmeric, wild fig, shampoo ginger, Mun Pu leaf shoots.
Nothing on the plate is only garnish. Fiber and antioxidants from the greens nourish the body from the inside, look after the digestion, and are held in the South to keep blood sugar steady — the reason southern tables have always eaten this way.
● Jor Rang Shrimp (Takua Pa-Style Coconut Shrimp Relish)
จอแหร้งกุ้งตะกั่วป่า
An old dish from the streets of Takua Pa, and Malay cooking left its mark on it — jor rang, or jor lang, close to lon but denser. Fresh shrimp simmered in coconut milk with tamarind paste, turmeric, garcinia, shrimp paste and Thai herbs, cooked down until the flavours round out and the herbs come through.
Gentle on the system: value that looks after the digestion and settles things within.
● Chan Fruit (Diospyros decandra) Sorbet
ซอร์เบทลูกจัน
The meal closes with Look Jan, a fruit that has become hard to find — fragrant, and sweet with an astringency of its own. Older generations preserved it in syrup and kept it as a snack. Our chef has taken it further: a sorbet, with mangosteen in season alongside it for softness and scent, sweetened with stevia rather than sugar, for anyone keeping an eye on their blood sugar.
Look Jan has long been valued as an astringent — for digestion, for an upset stomach, for inflammation — and it is rich in antioxidants. A cooling end to the meal.
Looking after yourself can start with a meal
Thai Cuisine as Medicine — Roots and Remedies on the Plate is a seasonal menu that leads slowly back to nature and to the cultural roots beneath it. Delicious, satisfying, gentle on the body.
At TAKOLA, Devasom Khao Lak, from May to September 2026.
About TAKOLA
Takola was once the great trading port of Takua Pa, and the culture that grew up around it is where the restaurant began. What arrives at the table is Thai cooking to old recipes — bold, complete, nothing left out, and prepared with the patience those recipes ask for. Ingredients are local and fresh, which is healthy and supports the community here. TAKOLA has been selected for the Michelin Guide.
Reservations and enquiries:
Line OA: @devasomexperience
Tel: 076-592-277
