Starting with local specialties, Ayutthaya is famous for two foods. The first is roti sai mai, or threads of twirled palm sugar that are wrapped in a round unleavened bread and room temperature. This locally beloved treat is a reflection of Ayutthaya's large Muslim community. Not the dentist's best friend, the sweetness of the sugar is offset by the roti itself, and the threads resemble cotton candy but have a consistency strangely similar to human hair. Unlike hair, roti sai mai melts in your mouth and comes in a host of flavours from banana to strawberry to coconut to pandan leaf. To try it, head for "Roti Road" -- the stretch of U-Thong Road at the south of the island, around Ayutthaya hospital, where dozens of vendors offer bags of the colourful sweet by day and night.
The second must-try Ayutthaya specialty is kwit-tieo reua or boat noodles. Popular throughout Thailand, boat noodles are said to have originated in Ayutthaya centuries ago. Back then, they would have been sold exclusively from wooden sampans that rowed through the city's rivers and canals. Today, they're still sold from the same little rowboats, only the boats are propped up in street side shops and act as counter space for chefs. Even so, the recipes haven't changed much -- expect a dark brown broth tempered with pigs blood and filled with your choice of rice noodles along with (usually) pork liver, crackling deep-fried pork skin, pork balls, roasted pork and greens. Boat noodles can be found throughout the city (just look for those propped up rowboats), but several locals told us that the best are at Jaymoui restaurant on U-Thong Soi 12 to the south of the island, and we concur -- it's probably the best we've tried anywhere. It's a nondescript shop with no English sign about halfway down this small side street, on the left if heading south (again, just look for the propped up sampan). Jaymoui is open daily 08:00 to 21:00. They make only the soup, but many boat noodle shops also serve a mean pad Thai.