Great street food in Bangkok
Thailand began to foster its local chefs proudly flaunt family recipes on the hottest tables in town. Salty, sweet and screaming hot, Bangkok’s street food is adored by all strata of society. Hygiene is sometimes questionable and MSG rampant, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from dining like a king on a shoestring budget.
Keep your eyes peeled for rib-sticking jook (rice porridge with pork crackling and raw egg), comforting khao mun gai (chicken and rice) or its rarer, biryani-inspired cousin khao mok gai, crispy hoi tod (eggy mussel or oyster pancakes), fatty khao kha moo (meltingly tender braised pork leg with gravy), Isaan-style jim jum (hot pot), and the ubiquitous trio of gai yaang, som tom and khao niew (grilled chicken with spicy papaya salad and sticky rice). Noodles, including yen ta fo (neon-red glass noodles with tofu), ban mee (thin egg noodles often served with wontons), suki (bean thread noodles, egg, cabbage and seafood or meat) and richly flavoured kuai tiao ruea (“boat noodles” in a spiced, blood-enriched broth with offal), are served around the clock and can be ordered haeng (“dry” or stir-fried) or nam (“wet” with soup broth). For sugar fiends, khao niew mamuang (mango sticky rice) is a dependable go-to, but consider branching out to khanom krok (custardy coconut confections) and the dangerously craveable kluay kaek (deep-fried bananas in a coconut batter).
Gentrification has edged out many of Sukhumvit’s street eats, which means travelling a bit further to find larger pockets. Victory Monument and the surrounding area has an abundance, as do Silom and the historic areas of the city. Chinatown, especially Yaowarat and Charoen Krung roads, is packed with stalls that have been serving the same dishes for generations.
80/20
It might have started out as an artisanal pickle cannery in a hostel, but this eatery is currently whipping up some of the most interesting fare in town. As the name references, 80% of ingredients are local, while the remaining 20% allow for creative wiggle room. Chef Napol Jantraget delights in genre-bending plates like charcoal-grilled squid with fingeroot glaze, black garlic paste, popped rice berries, roasted peanuts and local sour greens that are rooted in Thai traditions, but also draw on his time at a brasserie in Toronto.
• 1052-1054 Charoen Krung Road, +66 2 639 1135, on Facebook
Err
Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava and Dylan Jones, a Thai-Australian chef duo who cut their teeth at London’s Nahm, are best-known for their uncompromising Thai fine-dining eatery Bo.lan. The pair’s second offering ditches the fancier trappings in favour of gutsy countryside bites, best washed down with a Chang beer or a whisky-soda. Order a couple of rounds and nibble on sai ouwa (coconut-smoked northern sausage, £4) and kor moo yang (grilled pork neck with tamarind sauce, £5), while deciding which mains to share.
• 394/35 Maharaj Road,+66 2 622 2291, errbkk.com
Supanniga Eating Room
Rare Khon Kaen and Trat recipes from the owner’s grandmother help explain this cosy place’s enduring popularity. It’s hard to order wrong, but steer away from the usual pad thai and opt for khai jiew pu (omelette stuffed with crabmeat, £3) or ka lum tod nam pla (stir-fried Chinese cabbage, £2), an umami bomb anointed with pungent fermented fish sauce.
• 160/11 Soi 55 Sukhumvit road, +66 2 714 7508, supannigaeatingroom.com
Charcoal
Bangkok’s sizable Indian diaspora has given rise to some excellent eateries, including this number, which steers clear of cliched curries and peppers in subtler nods to the subcontinent, such as the decorative latticework derived from mosques and cheeky broken-English signs in the bathroom. Order the gently spiced lamb sheekh kebab (£9) or the house-made paneer tikka (£8), which is as silky as cheesecake and just as rich. After dinner, walk down the street to a darkened alley where, behind a door by an abandoned phone booth, salsa dancers shimmy to live bands at Havana Social, the owner’s hidden Cuban-inspired speakeasy.
• 38/8 Soi 11 Sukhumvit Road, Fraser Suites Hotel, +66 89 307 1111,charcoalbkk.com