Regardless of the fact that many street food outlets were closed due to restrictions and personal safety, I tried to taste as much as I could. I was lucky enough to live in Chinatown for the first two weeks, next to the main road ‘Yaowarat’. There are many tasty establishments in this area.
- Fresh Mango & Pineapple
I start this list with my favorite food: Fruit. In my quarantine I have been able to eat delicious tarragon fruit, guava and papaya. But the Thai ladies who sell bags of fresh mango or pineapple on the street… I actually want to make sure that such a female stands next to my apartment, so that when I go out into the street, I can buy a bag right away. Kind of a welcoming committee of “Welcome to the street Elmo, here take a bag of mango”. Because you don’t understand how delicious those bags are….
I am a real mango and pineapple eater and when I buy a bag of mango or pineapple in the supermarket in Holland I already enjoy it 110%. But here, the taste sensation, texture and way of eating is really ‘out of this world’. With such a bag you get a stick so you can thread the fruit one by one. For 20-30 bath you have a bag.
- Spring rolls
From fruit to fries. Because they can do a lot of that here. No, not bitterballs, croquettes or ‘patatje oorlog’. But spring rolls. Not the small ones from one of those freezer packs, but real big ones. You can find them in every street and you should definitely try them. So far I have only seen and eaten them with shrimp, I don’t know if they have any variations. For 20 bath you can have one.
- Gyoza’s
A Japanese dish eaten by a European, in the center of Chinatown in the metropolis of Bangkok, Thailand. How more international do you want it to be. I don’t have much experience with this dish, but I had to and will taste it once. The first time I walked past a stand that sold them by per container for 100 bath, about 10 to 13 gyozas per container. The crispy golden base and the steamed top. And don’t forget the pork-filling with green cabbage. Delicious. You can buy them in dumpling form and some stores fry them first. They also call them gyozas, but I prefer the dumpling shape. I find them tastier and ‘healthier’. I don’t like food from the fryer very much.
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- Crispy Pork with Rice
Sounds like a very standard dish, it is, but delicious!!! There is 1 takeaway restaurant around the corner from my apartment where I buy it every time. Early in the evening I think, I’m hungry for Noodle Soup, I’ll go get it. But then I walk past this restaurant, smell the delicious aromas and then I’m back at the front of the queue to eat crispy pork with rice. At ‘Nai Ek Roll Noodle’ you can order this delicious dish for 60, 80 or 100 bath. This dish is accompanied by the word ‘Recommended’. That says it all. Oh yes, this dish of 100 bath is not enough for me, so I also order a bowl with only crispy pork.
- Pat Thai
This one has to be on the list, right? Pat Thai is a dish of dry fried rice noodles, eggs, tofu, fish sauce and shrimp or chicken. It is an authentic Thai dish on the streets of Thailand. A lot of restaurants in Thailand sell it. Unfortunately I couldn’t experience Pat Thai in a restaurant. There was a restaurant to my apartment, The Seafood Cafe and Restaurant, that sold it through direct sales. Delicious, and you can also watch the whole process. From loose ingredients in different containers and bags to Pat Thai wrapped in a bamboo leaf, which you can take with you.
- Steamed buns
I had the opportunity to eat this delicious yeast-filled bun at lunch a number of times. There was a place around the corner from me called Tai Pae Steamed Buns that sold them. Stuffed with pork, black sesame, yellow beans. They had a little bit of everything. When I asked what they recommended to take she immediately said, “Pork, very good!”. So bought two Pork buns and two filled with yellow beans. Started with the one with Pork. Delicious, I immediately knew which bun I wanted to eat last. The one with yellow beans I was able to eat. The other one ended up in the trash. I’m not going to waste words on it.
But at the end of the day, every lunch I went to the lady to get some pork-filled buns. Sometimes 3, other times 4. Sometimes I buy ‘prawn or pork dumplings’ with them, other times not. For 22 bath per bun you can get a number of them, because there is dough in them you get full quickly afterwards!
- Prawn and Pork Dumplings
Similar to the steamed buns, because all the ingredients are the same. The only difference is that these Chinese steamed dumplings are wrapped in wonton wrappers. Don’t get confused! There are a thousand ways you can make the dumplings. All with different ingredients or structures. At the store around the corner from me they only had pork or shrimp filling. Definitely worth a try!
- Tom Yum Noodle Soup
Noodle Soup, Hanging Crab Jaw and (fried) gyoza’s
Also called Tom Yam. The word Tom Yam means “hot” and “spicy and sour”. Lemongrass, crushed peppers, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce and galangal. Put all of these ingredients together, crushing it and then stir-fry it in oil. You can serve it with shrimps as main ingredient, but also delicious with pork, chicken or beef. You can eat it with or without noodles, the time I tried it was with noodles that you add to the soup yourself, or you don’t and eat them separately. I can’t force you to do it.
- Guay Tiew Ruea
Okay, to be honest. Haven’t tried this one yet, so it actually doesn’t belong in this list. But I was just obsessed with Crispy Pork, Pat Thai and Tum Yum that I didn’t try anything else than those dishes. And I have to make this top 10 blog, actually a top 10 blog. There is one dish that I definitely want to try, it’s on top of my (virtual) list. Guay Tiew Ruea, or Boat Noodles, belongs to the ‘Noodle family’ and refers to noodles with beef/ pork. They throw some cinnamon, star anise and blood (???) in the thick brown broth. You can get it for 10 to 15 baht per bowl.
- Herbal drinks
This one is number 10 on the list, because I don’t have a good experience with this drink. There are many stores that sell bottles of fresh juice. I don’t have much experience with it. This is because I have learned not to buy anything from a seller who does not have prices listed anywhere, they always try to charge a higher price to foreigners. Let me just say that it was a very impulsive purchase. He had some apples, pomegranates and oranges lying around. I saw fruit, so I thought buy! Having to lay down 150 bath for such a small bottle. That’s when I learned never to buy anything again from a store that doesn’t have a price list….
