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Roti Sai Mai Sweet • Ayutthaya Iconic Food

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On our way to Ayutthaya from Bangkok, Wilbur was raving non stop about roti sai mai. His enthusiasm got me excited too, even though I had no idea what roti sai mai is.

Every time we passed a roti sai mai stall on the way to Ayutthaya, Wilbur would go, " 👉 there! 👉 there! 👉 there!" 😅

The road from Bangkok to Ayutthaya is sometimes referred to as the "Silk Road" as sai mai means silky thread in Thai and there are many roti sai mai stalls.

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After an extremely interesting day visiting five temples in Ayutthaya, we finally stopped at this roti sai mai shop just outside Watyaichaimongkhon (literally steps away). 

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Lady was making tissue thin roti (which looks similar to popiah skin or crepe). 

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She made stacks of these tissue thin soft roti very skilfully.

She made them very fast and they were all the same thickness, shape and size.

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A man was rolling bundles of colourful hand spun sugar floss, wrapping them with the soft thin roti. The sugar floss come in various colours. The green ones were coloured by pandan leaf (pink ones by strawberry, yellow ones by banana, etc). 

My first thought was "oh no, I am not going to eat too much of these". 

I don't really fancy sweet candy and am also highly indoctrinated by those constant anti diabetic messages 😅

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I tried one, to see what the excitement was all about. 

Oh man...., it is addictive. I mean we later bought a few more (bags) and I was having roti sai mai with every meal until we left Thailand 😬

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The sugar floss wasn't as cloyingly sugary as I feared. In fact, it was pleasantly gentle and tasted refreshing. The sugar floss' sweetness was also balanced by mild savouriness from the soft thin roti. So, each bite was a delicious sweet savoury treat 😋 I also enjoyed the sensation of the silky sugar floss melting in my mouth 😁

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So, the next time I am in Ayutthaya or Thailand, I will look out for roti sai mai. You might like to try this Ayutthaya specialty too 😁

Another must try dish from Ayutthaya is their amazing giant river prawn which tastes better than most lobsters that I've tried so far. 



Written by Tony Boey on 13 Nov 2022

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