🔄 Updated 21 Jun 2026
Korat souvenirs split neatly into two camps. The noodle camp is Mee Takhu and the Korat pad mee kits that come with seasoning sauce — genuine local products you'll struggle to find elsewhere. The cured-pork camp is moo yor, gunchiang, pork sheets, pork floss and rice crackers, which old brands like Jao Sua and Pueng Ngee Chiang have been making for decades. Most of the big shops line up along Mittraphap Road around the entrances and exits of town, so one stop covers nearly everything. This article runs through them one by one so you buy the right thing.
Mee Takhu — the real rice noodles from Pak Thong Chai
Mee Takhu is a rice noodle made in Takhu sub-district, Pak Thong Chai, about 30 km from central Korat. In the old days nearly every household in Takhu made its own noodles, a craft passed down for over a century. The process is fiddly because the noodles have to be sun-dried just right — if it rains while they're drying, the batch is ruined. What sets Takhu noodles apart is that they're thinner than ordinary noodles, chewy and soft, and they soak up the seasoning sauce well, so when stir-fried the flavour gets right into the strand. That's why people in Korat insist a proper Korat pad mee has to use Takhu noodles to be the real deal.
If you're buying them as a souvenir, there are two options. The first is plain dried noodles you take home and stir-fry yourself — they keep for a month or so. The second is a ready Korat pad mee kit with both the noodles and a sachet of seasoning sauce in one box; just stir-fry to the instructions and you get the genuine Korat flavour, ideal if you'd rather not mix your own seasoning. The brand that's easy to find and gets bought most often as a gift is Mae Tui (Mee Takhu) from Pak Thong Chai, which grew into a household name.
Mae Tui Mee Takhu (Pak Thong Chai)
The name people think of first when they talk about genuine Mee Takhu. Made with noodles from Takhu sub-district, it comes both as plain dried noodles and as a boxed Korat pad mee kit with ready seasoning sauce. Stir-fried, it's well-rounded with the sweet-forward Korat note. Easy to carry home and keeps a long time.
Plain dried Mee Takhu noodles (Takhu sub-district)
Plain dried noodles straight from the source in Takhu, sold by the bag so you can stir-fry your own however you like and control the sweet-and-salty balance. Best for people who enjoy cooking, and the cheapest of the noodle-souvenir options.
Ready Korat pad mee kit (Jao Sua / Pueng Ngee Chiang)
The big brands box up Korat pad mee kits with seasoning sauce and sell them in the souvenir centres. Easy to find, nicely packed and ready to give as a gift, with consistent, dependable flavour. A good pick if you want something quick to grab in one spot.
How to choose Mee Takhu
If you want the genuine Korat flavour the easy way, go for a kit with the sauce included — the seasoning ratio is already worked out for you. If you prefer to mix your own, buy the plain dried noodles and sauce separately so you can control the sweet-and-salty balance yourself. And check the use-by date on the sauce sachet too, because the sauce has a shorter shelf life than the noodles.
Want to taste deeper? Try a Nakhon Ratchasima food tour or cooking class
Half a day with a local who knows the lanes — or cooking a dish yourself — teaches you more than just eating. Book ahead on Klook or GetYourGuide.
Moo yor, gunchiang, pork sheets — the cured-pork camp
The other camp you can't skip is the cured-pork products that Korat's old brands do best. Moo yor (a springy pork roll) is great with rice porridge or fried, sweet-and-fragrant gunchiang sausage is sliced and fried to eat with steamed rice, and crispy pork sheets are the snack you keep around the house. The shop Korat locals have trusted for years is Pueng Ngee Chiang, which focuses mainly on pork products — gunchiang, pork sheets, moo yor, sausages and moo sawan — from a properly standardised factory with consistent flavour.
Pueng Ngee Chiang moo yor
Dense, springy moo yor made to an old recipe that's been on sale for years, available in a low-starch all-meat version and a regular one. Slice it for rice porridge or fry it with a dip. It's a fresh product that needs refrigeration, so ask for vacuum packing if you're travelling far.
Pueng Ngee Chiang pork gunchiang
Sweet and fragrant gunchiang with a firm texture — slice it, fry over low heat and eat with hot steamed rice. It keeps longer than moo yor, so it's the easier souvenir to carry over a long distance. Choose between all-pork gunchiang and a special recipe.
Porntip fancy pork sticks (moo phaen)
Porntip's signature is a fancy stick-shaped pork sheet you won't easily find anywhere else — crispy, fragrant and very moreish, and it looks more special than ordinary pork sheets. The shop sits on Mittraphap Road, across from The Mall Korat.
Moo sawan / Isan sausage
Another group of pork snacks the big souvenir shops carry in full. Sweet-salty moo sawan goes with sticky rice, and sour Isan sausage is eaten with ginger and chilli. Good as a nibble with drinks or a ready side dish.
Fresh products on a long trip
Moo yor is a fresh product and only lasts a few days unrefrigerated. If you've got a long drive or a flight home, ask the shop for vacuum packing and put it in a cooler bag. Gunchiang and pork sheets keep much longer, so they're the better choice if your trip back takes several hours.
Pork-floss rice crackers, Jao Sua's specialty
When it comes to a Korat souvenir brand the whole country knows, it's hard to look past Jao Sua — formerly Tia Ngee Hiang — which has been making snacks and cured products for over 60 years. Its specialty is the pork-floss rice cracker: a crisp, dense sheet of rice cracker scattered with sweet, rich pork floss that disappears box by box fast. It's the safest souvenir because anyone will eat it, it keeps a long time, and it comes packed neatly and ready to give as is. Beyond the rice crackers, Jao Sua also has gunchiang, pork sheets and plenty of other snacks under one roof.
- Pork-floss rice crackers — Jao Sua's number-one seller: crisp, sweet and rich, around THB 60–120 a box
- Watermelon-syrup rice crackers (khao taen) — rice crackers drizzled with watermelon-sugar syrup, sweet and crunchy, an old-school Thai snack
- Jao Sua gunchiang and pork sheets — buy them all in one shop, no running around
- Boxed souvenir sets — the shop puts together mixed sets, ideal for giving to elders
Other edible souvenirs worth grabbing
Dong Mafai coffee
Organic Arabica coffee from Dong Mafai, naturally low in caffeine and a GI-registered specialty of Korat. A good gift for coffee lovers.
Pak Chong fruit & wine
In summer there's sweet-tart custard apple from Pak Chong, while for the grown-ups there's wine from Pak Chong vineyards that has won awards.
Cream buns from old bakeries
Long-running in-town bakeries like Charoenphan and Sriwilai are known for pandan cream buns, with people queuing daily to buy them as gifts.
Milk tablets & dairy-farm products
The Pak Chong–Wang Nam Khiao area has dairy farms selling milk tablets, fresh milk and ice cream — a souvenir the kids love.
Where to buy — real shops in Korat
The good news is that Korat's big souvenir shops line up along Mittraphap Road around the entrances and exits of town, so a single stop covers nearly everything — perfect to swing by on the way out before you hit the highway. For genuine Mee Takhu, if you have time to detour through Pak Thong Chai you'll get source prices, but if it's not convenient, the big souvenir centres stock it too.
Jao Sua souvenir centre (Mittraphap Road)
The biggest souvenir centre in Korat, on Mittraphap Road in Suranari sub-district. It carries the full Jao Sua range — pork-floss rice crackers, gunchiang, pork sheets — plus other brands' souvenirs all in one place. Roomy parking and easy to pull in.
Pueng Ngee Chiang
The old hand for cured pork — gunchiang, moo yor, pork sheets, sausages and moo sawan, the lot. It has an in-town storefront and sells online. If you're set on the meat camp, this is your anchor point.
Porntip (Nam Nguan)
A souvenir shop on Mittraphap Road, across from The Mall Korat and the PTT station. Known for its hard-to-find fancy stick-shaped pork sheets, plus sausages and other cured products. Easy to stop at if you're passing The Mall.
Mee Takhu source, Takhu sub-district (Pak Thong Chai)
If you're passing Pak Thong Chai or heading toward Wat Ban Rai, stop to buy Mee Takhu noodles right at the source for source prices — both plain dried noodles and ready kits with sauce, fresh, new and genuinely authentic.
Save One Market (Mittraphap Road)
A big night market with souvenir stalls and ready-made food mixed in with street food. Good if you want to wander and pick up a few small souvenirs along the way, though for the big-name moo yor and gunchiang you still need to go to the souvenir centres directly.
Plan your souvenir route
If you're doing the Wat Ban Rai–Pak Thong Chai route, buy your Mee Takhu there and then for source-fresh noodles, then swing by the Jao Sua souvenir centre or Porntip on Mittraphap Road on the way back into town to pick up moo yor, gunchiang and rice crackers — all in one loop, no doubling back.
Tips for buying souvenirs without slipping up
- Separate fresh from dry — moo yor is fresh and short-lived, so buy it last before you leave; gunchiang, pork sheets and rice crackers keep well and can be bought earlier
- Check the use-by date — especially on the pad mee sauce sachet and the moo yor; always read the production and expiry dates on the label
- Ask for vacuum packing — if you're travelling far or flying home, fresh meat products should be vacuum-packed and kept in a cooler bag
- Carry some cash — big shops take transfers and cards, but small market stalls and some source vendors take cash only
- Get the ready kit for non-cooks — a ready pad mee kit is easier than buying plain noodles, so the person you give it to can make it right away
Keep planning a full eat-your-way-through Korat trip
See the Korat travel guide →