Street Food in Bangkok's Chinatown - Exploring Best Thai / Chinese Street Eats
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Bangkok’s Chinatown is a neon lit, alley ridden clash of the old and new. Famous shophouse restaurants share a pavement with innovative street food vendors, whilst traditional stalls vie for space down the colourful Yaowarat Road. As the sun begins to set, the streets fill up, the billboards light up and the food begins to sizzle. Navigating our way round this cornucopia of deliciousness isn’t easy, that’s why we decided, yet again, to take a food tour.
Why Take A Food Tour In Bangkok?
Bangkok is a city literally overflowing with food. Every street corner has a vendor and each marketplace a bewildering plethora of choices. A food tour allows you to check out a “best of” selection and uncover hidden gems you may not have found or thought to try. For us frequent visitors to Bangkok, we decided to do the Chinatown food tour as a reintroduction to the area.
What Is Bangkok’s Chinatown Like?
The Chinatown area of Bangkok is centred around the massive neon sign lined Yaowarat Road (sometimes spelt Yarrowat). It is the area where the Chinese community first settled in the city and is full of shophouses, restaurants, gold sellers and, of course, food. Yaowarat Road and the streets around are full of businesses, and busy markets selling sandals to thermos flasks and everything in between. When the sun goes down the neon lights fire up and an army of food carts and stalls descend on the area. Yaowarat Road becomes lined with eateries and all around, the side streets become clogged with delicious smells, smoking woks and munching patrons.
Yaowarat Road marks Bangkok’s Chinatown and is never quiet!
We had been through Chinatown before and it's maze of streets and heavingly busy Yaowarat Road had not, so far, grabbed our hearts. We all know the quickest way to the heart is through the stomach so we thought a food tour would be the perfect way to get to know the area better and see why so many people love it!
Why Book With ‘A Chef’s Tour’?
A Chef's Tour was the obvious choice for us for our food tour through Bangkok's Chinatown. We have had amazing experiences with them in Phuket, Chiang Mai and had an incredible time in the Indian capital of Delhi. We were confident we would have a unique and delicious experience in Chinatown with A Chef’s Tour.
The Food of Bangkok’s Chinatown
Ok, enough preamble, on to the food! We met our group in a nice upscale bar on Yaowarat Road. It was a comfy place to rest, use the toilet and meet our small party of culinary adventurers. It was also the last “upscale” place we would be for the next few hours as our guide, Jonny, quickly whisked us away from the Westerners sipping on imported beers and delved straight into the backstreets of Chinatown!
Chinese Chive Cakes and Pork Leg Stew
(Kanom Gui Chai Tod & Khao Ka Moo)
After zig-zagging through some picturesque, market stall lined alleyways we emerged onto a side street and stopped by a lady selling chive cakes from her mobile cart. Thick cakes, green filled with Chinese chives, were grilled and cut into portions on a hot plate before being loaded into bags for us. We would get to taste them at our first ‘sit down’ stop.
A few shops down from the chive cart was the Pork Leg Stew restaurant. It didn't need a sign, the smell alone would bring customers in droves. A heady mix of soy, five spice and sweet porky aromas wafted out at us. In front of the small shophouse restaurant a bubbling vat of stewing pork poured its enticing scent out onto the street.
We sat down at one of the long no nonsense metal tables (this is not a tablecloth and silverware kind of tour), and dived into our chive cakes. These were delicious and completely unique. So unique in fact that it is hard to describe them in an appealing way. Words like “gummy”, “bouncy" and “sticky” are all accurate but do not sell these lovely little cakes well. The chive cakes were highly savoury and nutty and were served with a great little chilli and sweet soy sauce dip that cut through the bouncy (dammit!) texture perfectly.
Trust us the chive cakes were delicious!
Pork leg, chilli vinegar, raw garlic and chillies, happy diners!
These were just our starters for this leg of the tour, a mere amuse bouche to the main event that had been tantalising our nostrils since the street. We have had pork leg before in Chiang Mai and we already knew we loved it so it should come as no surprise that we found this delicious. It was, however, a very different dish from its northern brother. The Bangkok Chinatown pork leg was less sweet and had a more prevalent star anise flavour which complemented the meltingly soft fatty pork perfectly. Our guide Jonny, advised us to eat it alongside raw garlic and chilli, we did so and it was amazing, the flavours changed completely, the garlic softening and perfuming the bite and the chilli heat cutting through the sweet fatty pork!
This was not our first Chefs Tour, so we knew we needed to pace ourselves. It was darkly funny however, to see the faces of our fellow adventurers, being told that these were only the first two of up to twenty dishes we would be enjoying that afternoon.
They did warn us to come hungry!
Thai Suki Soup and Satay Skewers
We made our way down another maze of alleys and streets and found ourselves next to a roaring roadside barbeque. The white hot coals of the barbeque sat in a long thin brazier topped with scores of marinated skewers. It was satay time!
Can’t barbeque without proper eye protection. Also, just look at that yummy meat!
We sat on the street, on tiny little chairs crammed up against the stall to allow pedestrians to pass. We have had some of the best food of our lives in places like this. It is a perfect example of why you should travel off the beaten path for food and why you should never judge food by its dining room!
The satay skewers came out, smoking and arranged in piles on the paper plates. We in England have heard of satay, it is on the menu in pubs, bars and restaurants across our little Island, but it does not taste like this! The skewers were marinated in turmeric, garlic and pineapple vinegar to tenderise them. Grilled to perfection over coal and flame they were juicy and full of flavour, but when added to the peanut sauce they were absolutely next level. The sauce was rich and nutty but nowhere near as sweet as we were used to. There was sweetness there, and in the meat, but it was a background note in a balanced savoury symphony. They may have ruined future satay for us but we cannot say we are sad!
Next out from the tiny roadside kitchen were steaming communal bowls of suki soup. Full of mushrooms, radish and glass noodles the suki was simple in all the best ways. The thick soup was comforting and, even on a hot Bangkok day, wonderful.
For the more adventurous of us, we could augment our suki with the addition of some funky smelling fermented bean paste. This stuff was hard on the nose but delicious on the tongue. The fermented paste completely changed the soup's flavour and added a rich umami taste and a cheeky kick of spice.
Pennywort Power Juice
After our soup we ambled off down the road to a lady with a polystyrene coolbox. Wherever we go in the world there is always a local “wonder” ingredient. From Hungary to Vietnam, Sri Lanka to Laos, there is always a local herb, fruit, shellfish or plant that supposedly lengthens your life (or other things if you are male), sorts your eyes out or otherwise miraculously helps heal and renew you. Frequently these are based on actual scientific fact with herbs that lower cholesterol or help with rheumatism etc so there is no harm in giving them a go. With this in mind we eyed up the bottles full of thick, green liquid, now being proffered from the lady’s coolbox.
The Pennywort juice is purportedly good for a lot of conditions, from detoxing livers to urinary tract infections. Jonny told us that the Muay Thai fighters always drank a pennywort drink to strengthen them and recover from injuries. We are no Thai fighters but after a while in Thailand, anything that helped our livers out was probably a good idea so we chugged the bottle.
It was like drinking a lawn, not terrible but just grassy and green tasting. We will report back on any miraculous health benefits.
Michelin Class, Bourdain Recommended Pork and Prawn Dumplings
(Khanom Jeeb)
Rejuvenated by the Pennywort we dived back into the backstreets of Chinatown. We wormed through labyrinthine alleyways and, we were told, we were walking in the path of one our culinary heroes Anthony Bourdain. We were in search of Bangkok’s best dumpling!
Sandwiched in a tiny back alley between stalls selling Chinese temple offerings we found the stall. Jonny told us that, back in the time before GoogleMaps, the shop was unknown to tourists until Bourdain’s program aired in the West. To Thai’s in the know, however, it was an institution with Royal patrons and a legendary reputation. It is a tiny operation (it used to have only a single table that would book out months in advance) but its dumplings are known to be the best in Bangkok and have received the coveted Michelin Guide’s recommendation.
Dumplings, the perfect proof that good things come in small packages!
The dumplings are filled with pork and prawns and topped with deep fried garlic, they are ridiculous. Soft wrappers give way to perfectly seasoned juicy pork and chunks of sweet prawns. The contents are so perfectly steamed and full of flavour they just burst the second you sink your teeth in. The crispy fried garlic completes the textures by adding crunch and finishing off what may be the perfect mouthful. If you wanted the full dinner experience booking is difficult and necessary (there are only five tables!). However, with A Chef’s Tour, we were able to sample the famous delicacies with ease. Be warned though, these dumplings are very, very addictive.
Rice and Curry, Chinatown Style at Jek Pui
(Kaeng khiao wan)
We emerged out of the alleyways back into the grey light of a cloudy Bangkok and headed straight for another legendary establishment. Jek Pui used to serve up no nonsense Chinatown style Thai curries along the side of a road, its patrons on tiny chairs against picturesque wooden doors eating from plastic plates without a table.
The streets around Jek Pui are full of small market vendors.
Made famous by Nexflix and Mark Wiens, Jek Pui’s customers swelled. Nowadays it has moved around the corner to a site that is no more upmarket, there are still no tables, but now, at least it has a roof.
This new roof was just as well as the second we sat down on our plastic stools the heavens opened. Perfect timing for a steaming plate of green curry, Chinatown style. The green curry came out on the ubiquitous plastic plates but was instantly identifiable as different from the usual Thai classic. Sliced Chinese sausage was strewn about and chunks of winter melon wallowed in the curry sauce. The curry was much less spicy than traditional Thai green curry but was creamy and delicate. The Chinese sausage was especially yummy, its snappy sweet flavour complimenting the rich curry.
This was dish seven…even with our near bottomless stomachs we were getting worried.
Jackfruit, Whiskey and Insects
The rain was over as soon as it had begun, but the sun was now fading as we wandered out of Jek Pui. All around street carts were moving, getting in place for the famous night time eating scene of Chinatown. We paused by a little old lady who was skilfully dismembering a jackfruit with a large kitchen knife. The jackfruit is common all over South East Asia and can be used in many ways. You can use it in curries, as a meat replacement or just snack on it depending on when you harvest it. Just after a rich curry it made a perfect palate cleanser, its slightly tart flavour resetting our mouths.
A few stalls down from the knife wielding jackfruit seller was the insect vendor. A common sight to tourists on Khao San Road, insect vendors peddle a variety of deep fried crawlies for tourists to scream at and take selfies with. They are, however, also common at actual Thai markets, their protein rich insects making up a traditional part of the cuisine.
We have had ant curries in Cambodia and snacked on chilli powder crickets in Chiang Mai. Insects are no more “gross” or “weird” than prawns or sausages (seriously, try and describe what a sausage actually is for a moment and you will see what we mean).
With all that high and mightiness out of the way, the insects that day were…. insect-y, mainly just crunch with the occasional pop and gooey part.
Definitely an experience, but not a culinary revelation.
To wash down any remaining antenna or wing we ducked into a “Whiskey Stop”. A tiny hole-in-the-wall bar consisting of a single fridge and a couple of chairs in the middle of a rapidly closing market street.
Jonny explained that after work it was popular for people to stop by for a couple of shots of Thai whiskey before heading home for the evening. That way, supposedly, their spouses would be none the wiser and would not scold them for going to the pub.
Whiskey can mean many things when you're abroad. Our experience with “whiskey” in South East Asia could cover pretty much anything distilled and highly alcoholic. From Lao Lao to Sang Som, all were called whiskey but could taste like anything from petrol to rum. In the little bar in Chinatown we were given two different “whiskies". The first was almost medicinal in taste, a complicated flavour of roots and spices with a very alcoholic aftertaste. The second tasted a lot more like vodka with a harsher, more brash taste. They were definitely more refined than some “whiskies” we have sampled in our travels.
Chinatown Kway Chap
We came out from our “whiskey stop” and into the full chaos of Yaowarat Road. The cars were still queuing up and down the street, but the roadway was now a lot smaller, with both sides being taken up by stalls and streetside restaurants. We waited for a table outside an insanely busy restaurant. The restaurant in question looked like a ballet choreographed by a madman. Tables butted up to each other, waiters bobbed and weaved between crowds of chairs seemingly scattered at random across the road, bowls for steaming hot something balanced precariously overhead. The queue was moving fast but we couldn't see where anyone was going, they just disappeared into the melee.
If you thought Yaowarat was busy during the day, just wait until the sun sets!
Impossibly, we were told a table for the eight of us had opened up and we leapt into the maelstrom. Behind one of the street carts, with our tables sloping and snaking around we found our seats. We also found out why this place was so busy as delicious peppery bowls of crispy pork belly kway chap landed in front of us.
Kway chap is a rolled rice noodle. It looks a little like a scroll with both sides cured up towards the centre. The dish we had was a peppery light broth that clung to the kway chap noodles. The chew of the noodles, the light soup and the glasslike shatter of the pork belly crackling was heavenly. Even after all we had eaten so far, even after the insects and whiskey, our appetite was roused once again for the final leg of the food tour. That or we are just really really greedy.
Healthy Boy Ice Cream
After the kway chap we went in search of sweet things. Our stop was a little unexpected as we entered the Healthy Boy brand soy sauce shop, not what we would have picked for dessert but, hey, trust A Chef’s Tour to surprise you! We were enjoying the air conditioned shop (the first air con of the day) and admiring the rows of soy sauce (who knew there were so many types), when we were presented with our ice cream. Ice cream topped with a thick whirl of soy sauce. Don’t knock it until you've tried it is not always a great piece of advice (heroin for example) but in this case it proved to be completely on the money. The soy sauce worked as a treacle, salted caramel flavour that emphasised the sweet vanilla ice cream perfectly.
Red Curry Clams, River Prawns, Tom Yam and Morning Glory - The Main Course
(Kaeng Phet, Kung Yang, Tom Yam & Pak Boong)
Throughout the tour our guide Jonny had alluded to a stop he classed as our “main course”. After the preceding twelve dishes we thought this must be a joke, oh how wrong we were. On a corner even busier than the surrounding busyness of Yaowarat Road sat a restaurant. Outside, tables mingled next to a massive barbeque station grilling some of the biggest prawns and lobster we have ever seen.
Like everywhere else it was completely packed out and a queue of people milled around waiting for tables. We however, were the lucky ones, our runner had gone ahead and secured us a table in an upstairs room so we skipped the line and entered the rabbit warren of a restaurant.
Passing through the crowded downstairs restaurant we clambered up some impossibly steep, narrow stairs. We passed a dining room between floors that was so low you could not stand up and had to remove your shoes and sit on the carpeted floor for your food. This was not our stop so we continued up the winding ladder like stairs. We popped out eventually on floor number three, crossed a dining room, shuffled down a tiny balcony and through some sliding doors to find ourselves in a calm little oasis. Sparing a thought for the poor waiters who have to find their way around this maze whilst carrying dishes, we sat at our table and admired the spread of food before us.
Life is good sometimes!
Bowls of tom yam soup sat bubbling over tea lights in front of us. Plates of clams in red curry sauce sat next to massive barbequed river prawns. For greenery we had dishes of stir fried morning glory in soy sauce.
The food was incredible, The prawns firm without chewyness, smoky from the barbecue and sweet with their natural flavour. The prawns came with a nam jim jaew seafood sauce. This sauce of roasted rice, sugar, chilli and fish sauce (amongst a host of other ingredients) was the perfect compliment to the meaty prawns, contrasting and complimenting in all the right ways.
The tom yam soup was sharp with lime, hot with chilli and just the tiniest touch sweet, just as it should be. We have had many variations of tom yam soup from creamy to clear, prawns to pork but this was one of the cleanest, most fresh tasting soups we have eaten yet.
The morning glory was simple but perfect. A sweet but not dominating flavour that paired with any of the other dishes effortlessly. The greens were the perfect accompaniment to the most popular dish of the “main meal”, the clams. In contrast to their fiery red appearance the clams were not spicy in the slightest but perfectly sweet in the way that only properly cooked shellfish can manage. The curry paste sauce served to bring out and highlight the nutty sweet little clams.
A look at the delicious chaos from the restaurants balcony
It was a wonderful meal, one we will definitely remember for a long time. We had already eaten so much that day but everyone found room to enjoy all the new dishes. We were nearing the finish line of our culinary marathon but mentally we were all already thinking about when we could get back and visit the restaurant again.
The Final Stop - Chinese Doughnuts and Thai Mango Sticky Rice
(Pa Tong Go & Khao Niao Mamuang)
After we had found our way back out of the restaurant, we moved away from the busiest section of Yaowarat Road and found ourselves at the final stops for the day. It was now fully dark in the sky but Chinatown had burst into light. Neons overhead reflected in puddles from the earlier rain. It looked futuristic but also somehow retro, like seeing the original Blade Runner. Neons glowing away, it was time for our puddings.
Mr Deckard would be right at home.
There couldn't have been a more thematically perfect way to finish this food tour than having a quintessentially Chinese dessert and an iconic Thai dessert side by side. Chinese doughnuts are deep fried chunks of dough, crispy on the outside and fluffy soft on the inside. The doughnuts are dipped in a green pandan custard. The custard is sweet but not cloyingly so, and the vanilla-ry pandan perfumes the doughnut in an addictively tasty way.
Thai sticky rice is famous for a reason, it is perfectly simple and simply perfect. Sticky rice with sweet coconut milk alongside juicy ripe mangoes is just the perfect combination of flavours. The mango is sweet with a little sharpness, the milk creamy and sweet which clings to the sticky rice in a supremely satisfying way. It was a delicious end to an incredible feast of a day.
Bangkok’s Chinatown is full of beautiful food and places just waiting to be explored!
We had eaten twenty different dishes, we had wiggled through back streets, dined at street carts, Michelin recommended restaurants and historic shop houses. We had eaten classic Chinese, fusion, Thai and everything in between. We had wanted a food tour that opened our eyes to the area and we had got exactly what we hoped for. Chinatown went from somewhere we had been and had no lasting memory of, to an essential stop for us. We understood more, we appreciated more and we wanted to explore even more.
We will be back, the dumplings demand it!
Is This A Good Tour For “Beginner” Eaters? Will I Be Able To Handle The Spiciness!
100% this is a great tour for those looking to dip their toes beyond the hotel and tourist area dining scene! The guides are super accommodating and will be able to advise how to approach the food. Most of the dishes on the tour were not spicy at all, and those that were were almost always made that way by adding a dip or a sauce, something the guide told us in advance and helped people gauge their levels. Our group was a varied mix of people with differing tastes and tolerances and everyone got to try and enjoy everything. The only essential thing you need is an open mind, go and try everything without judgement and you will have a fantastic introduction to Thai and Chinese food in Bangkok.
Also go hungry!
I Am Vegan / Have Allergies / Dietary Requirements, Can I Go On This Tour?
The best answer we can give is to check with A Chef's Tour here. It is a street food tour so the tour cannot guarantee you will be catered for but they will make every effort!
Ok You Convinced Me, How Do I Book The Tour?
A Chef's Tour run two different Bangkok street food tours. We have done both and both are completely amazing. The Backstreets of Bangkok Chinatown tour we talked about here is perfect for an introduction to Chinatown, Bangkok in general and, as you read, full of hidden street food gems it would have been near impossible to stumble across without a guide.
The other Bangkok tour offered by A Chef’s Tour is the Old Siam Street Food Tour. The Old Siam tour is amazing for those looking to delve a little deeper into the culinary heritage of Bangkok and eat some different, much lesser known dishes. Whichever one you go on you will have an incredible day full of food you would never have found, and will leave with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the local cuisine. We really cannot recommend A Chef’s Tour highly enough!
A Chefs Tour also offer amazing tours in Chiang Mai, Phuket as well as in other countries, anywhere you find yourself where they offer a tour, book it, they are a fantastic way to jump into a place!
If you’re looking for other Bangkok activities, or want to check out some other guided food tours, check out the links below:
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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