Thai it up!

It was said as she cleared our table, collecting the now-empty plates and flatware:
"You guys eat like Thai people!"

Brian and I smiled. What a fun (and funny) comment. We both think eating in Phuket is basically the best thing about being here, or at least in the top two. (Do we have to order them?  How do you rank paradise?) We definitely make use of the Thai condiments, and we can often be seen using the fork to push the food onto the spoon, and we absolutely like the things that pass our lips to be spicy. All I want out of my day is a Thai curry. (And to think I used to be so blase about Thai food, back in the L.A./Boston/New York day when I just seemed to prefer all my many other options so much more...but when it's fresh, delicious, on-the-spot, and a mere $2, it's hard to argue...)

We go to this particular restaurant in old town Phuket, called Wilai, at least once a week; it was one of the places we discovered two years ago on our first trip here and it was a no-brainer we'd go back now that we're Phuketting again. It's very popular with foreigners, but it's Thai food (which I do have to point out, because lots of cuisines are available here: burgers, Italian, Japanese, even a bit of Mexican at the popular beach areas...)   Earlier, when a different staff member had taken our order, she had clarified that we really wanted the food spicy (no, really) and I saw her cross out something in Thai she'd written at the top of the pad on which she was writing our order, which caused a good minute or two of speculation: I imagined a system in which they write "foreigner" at the top to warn the cooks, and I fantasized that she had crossed it out upon learning we really wanted spicy food...

So, to have at the end of that particular meal on that particular day another restaurant staffer just bust out the amused-and-pleased "you eat like Thai people!" and go on to explain that she saw us dipping our food in the spicy sauces just as the Thais apparently would was hilarious, indeed.

Less than two weeks remain this time around in Phuket. Is there anything else I absolutely must try/eat/see here before I go?