A popular pink-coloured noodle soup
The soup has to be pinkish for this Yen Ta Fo always. I don’t know the meaning of Yen Ta Fo but guess that ta fo is rooted from tofu because that’s what made the soup pink. The red tofu or Chinese cheese (Tao Huu Yee) is pickled with red rice and therefore the colour is red.
Kow Lao Yen Ta Fo
The basic ingredients of Yen Ta Fo include the noodle of your choice (Sen – see my post on how to order noodle soup in Thailand here), morning glory (Pak Boong), assorted fish and shrimp balls (Look Chin Pla/Goong), pork (Moo) and cooked blood (Leo-od Moo). Some places might also add fresh shrimp (Goong), jellyfish (Mang Ka Prune), and white mushrooms (Hed Kao).
Sen Mee Yen Ta Fo
You won’t find bean sprouts in Yen Ta Fo — the only vegetable in this type of noodle soup is morning glory.
Few Yen Ta Fo shops will add chili to the soup by default but 90% of the places won’t. The taste for this dish is often sweet and sour which is quite different from other kinds of noodle soup. I know sweet soup is weird for most people but putting sugar in the noodle soup is quite a common practice for Thais.
Born in France a long long time ago, I started to travel the world early until I settled in Phuket in 1994. For the past 30 years, my passion for photography and my curiosity have taken me to every corner of Phuket, Bangkok and everywhere I could go in Thailand. My goal is to share my discoveries, photos and tips to help travellers plan their holidays by making Phuket 101 as easy as possible to use for everyone!