Editor’s Note: We asked Chawadee Nualkhair, a Thai-American food writer who currently resides in Bangkok with her husband and two children, to tell us about her favorite street food stalls in the city. Formerly a financial journalist, Chawadee writes the Bangkok Glutton blog, has published three street food guides and a cookbook, and appeared in a number of food television shows.
The food scene in Bangkok is constantly in flux, making it one of the most challenging cities in the world for a restaurateur to navigate. But it’s heaven for food lovers. And one of the things that is a constant when it comes to the Bangkok dining scene is its street food.
In spite of government attempts to curtail vendor activity, a plethora of roadside offerings can still be found – provided you know where to go. Sidewalk stalls hawking noodles, fried chicken, and Thai-Muslim chicken biryani throng certain sections of Silom Road, while famous shophouse vendors that have been selling braised pork trotter on rice and duck noodles for generations can be found on quiet side streets like Soi St Louis, in the shadow of the central business district. The leafy, charming Old Town by the Chao Phraya River offers longstanding favorites like handmade roti and Thai ice cream; in Chinatown, the streets heave with visitors sampling durian, dumplings, and duck rolls once the sun goes down and the neon lights turn on.
In a city like Bangkok, where more than an estimated 110,000 vendors serve a population of around 11 million people, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by choice. Luckily, I’ve been writing about street food for almost 15 years and have lived here, on and off, since 1995. While much of the great street food here has already been discovered, there are still some under-the-radar places that are worth searching out.
Somsak Pu Ob
If you see a lone man cooking seafood steamed in glass noodles on an unadorned sidewalk in front of a leather shop, you’re at the right place. Khun Somsak – who is quick to tell you that he is the proud recipient of a Michelin Bib Gourmand award – is a second-generation vendor specializing in the demanding art of clay pot cooking, in which seasoned glass noodles and seafood are steamed to exactly the perfect level of doneness: always juicy, never dry. Although the expensive clay pots have long been replaced by stainless steel versions, Khun Somsak remains an exacting cook, orchestrating his many different orders with a single fork. Everything here is good, but my favorite order is definitely the female crab studded with orange roe; the steamed river prawns, seasoned with coriander root, garlic and white peppercorn, come in a close second. Make sure to stir the noodles to collect all the juices from the bottom!
Yommana Mutton Shop
This Thai-Muslim spot is actually famous for its goat, which is served early in the morning. But if you were to arrive closer to lunchtime, you would still be greeted by a teeming assortment of choices, ranging from unctuous chicken curries and flavorful biryanis to spicy oxtail soup and slow-cooked lamb. Nothing you order here will be disappointing, but if you must have a recommendation, I’d say go for the chicken massaman curry and the beef pad kaprao with rice, but only if the goat biryani isn’t available.
Guaythiew Pik Gai Sainampung
The vendor here, Khun Sawarot, has been making her special take on braised chicken wing noodles for almost half a century, in a cluttered shophouse lined with photos of venerated monks and the Thai royal family. If you arrive early enough, you will be rewarded with a bowl of chicken wings in rich chicken broth in which dok kajorn (cowslip creeper blossoms) fresh from the market are floating. Otherwise, you can console yourself with a bowl of rice vermicelli (sen mee) or Thai-Chinese hand-rolled noodles (giem ee) generously peppered with chicken wings that have been cooked for so long that the meat is falling off of the bone. However, my personal favorite order isn’t chicken-related at all: a bowl of yen ta fo, or noodles with fish meatballs in a fermented pink tofu sauce, which manages to straddle the line between not-too-sweet and not-too-sour.
Fikeaw Yaowarat
Even if you don’t have the patience to wait in line for a table at this sweltering outdoor spot, it’s still worth it to come and watch the chef at work for a few minutes. He is known all over Bangkok for his theatrics at the wok, which frequently sends plumes of flame up into the night sky every time certain dishes are ordered (in particular, the appropriately named pak boong fai dang, or “red flame” stir-fried morning glory with chilies and garlic). Besides the morning glory, this vendor is lauded for his crazy-fresh seafood, which is still crawling and/or breathing when you order it. My personal favorite is the garlic butter lobster, which is prepared right in front of passersby on the street before its head is stuffed with garlic butter and it’s steamed in a giant metal vat.
Look Chin Anamai
Maybe because of its location – on the grounds of Bangkok Hospital – this beef noodle shop has been toiling away in a sort of limbo: not quite famous, but definitely not obscure, just well-known enough to keep chugging along. It’s a shame, because the noodles here, served in a crystal-clear beef broth with your choice of either “smooth” or “chunky” beef meatballs, are absolutely delicious, flavorful yet bright and clean. The usual choice of “thick” (sen yai), “thin” (sen lek) and rice vermicelli are all here, but the low-key standout for me are the grilled meatballs themselves (especially the “chunky” ones, called en), which are coated in a sweet-spicy-sticky chili sauce and come fresh from the grill. I can easily eat 20 of these sticks in one go. If you prefer take out, make sure you get the sauce on the side.
Som Tum Nong Rejoice
The gruff-looking owner here likes to say, “If it’s not spicy, I’m not serving it.” Whether that really is true or not, one thing is for sure: the som tum (green papaya salad) here is marketed as the spiciest in Bangkok, seasoned with 50 kilograms of chilies a day. To offset all of that spice, the cooks also flavor their som tum with a mix of palm sugar, white sugar, and sugar syrup, plenty of lime juice, and (if you like) a nice, healthy dash of pla rah (fermented Thai anchovy juice). But if blowing your tastebuds off isn’t your idea of fun, there’s still plenty of other stuff to try, including Nong Rejoice’s Chinese barbecue-inspired take on grilled pork collar, smoky grilled chicken, and minty, umami-packed laap (minced meat salads).
Elvis Suki
Unbeknownst to many, this longtime vendor (which has expanded to a couple of branches in other parts of the city) is actually a culinary institution, the self-proclaimed inventor of a dish they call “suki.” While Thai suki bears little, if any, resemblance to Japanese sukiyaki, this stir-fried mish-mash of glass noodles with egg and marinated chicken, seafood, pork, or beef has become so popular that it’s now served throughout Thailand. The original vendor, who named her food stall “Elvis” after a singer who was famous at the time (you may have heard of him), is thought to have called the dish “suki” after the popular Japanese song “Sukiyaki.” Besides Thai suki, there’s also excellent grilled seabass wrapped in banana leaves and succulent grilled scallops with a delicious green chili dipping sauce.
Editor’s Note: This article also exists as a guide on Apple Maps. Check it out here.
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Published on January 20, 2025
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