A Guide to Thai Food

When you come to Thailand, do not be afraid to eat the food from the street stalls. It’s cheap and delicious, and as long as it is clean and popular, you know it is safe to eat there.

It is common practice to eat on the pavement or in an alleyway, just relax and enjoy your meal.

In most places, you can find incredible food on the street, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I would totally recommend the curries, the soups, duck, look for Chinese and Korean food, Indian and Arab food. There really is something for everyone.

I have detailed some examples of street food below, that you really must try:

Red Pork Noodle Soup (Kuay Teow Moo Daeng)

You would struggle to find this dish outside of Thailand because of the way they make the broth. The broth sits for a long time, and health and safety organisations don’t really sign off on kitchens doing that. This dish consists of noodles, a potent and flavorful broth (made from boiled pork bones and onions), sprouts, bok choy, and slices of red pork.

You can this soup a few ways, and I usually eat it with a little fish sauce (sour), a few spoonfuls of sugar (sweet), and a small amount of chili. It is delicious, even if a little unconventionally made.

Mango Sticky Rice

This delicious dish combines sweet mangos, sticky rice, and coconut cream syrup. It’s incredibly sweet, and the mango and cream sauce makes it a great snack or desert.

Well, what to say about the sticky rice. Personally, I could just eat sticky rice all day. It is popular as a late-night snack. It is one of the most popular and widely eaten dishes in Thailand.

Banana Pancakes

This dish is often associated with backpackers due to their love of this dish, it’s actually found in a lot of Thai food markets. I am lucky enough to have eaten these at the famous Thong Lor market in Bangkok. Fried dough filled with bananas and topped with sugar and condensed milk (you can also get it with chocolate), this is a sweet explosion in your mouth. Wow! I totally recommend these, they are utterly delicious.

Absolutely one of my favorite snacks. It is usually one of the first dishes I make my friends try when they come and visit me.

Tom Yum

Tom yum soup is a spicy, clear soup that will burn the roof of your mouth off. Ha ha. I eat this regularly, when I fancy some food with a little kick. Beware though, this dish can be hot. You can ask the vendor to serve it less hot, if you prefer to eat it that way.

Tom yum is characterised by its distinct hot and sour flavour. The basic broth is made of stock, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed chili peppers. You add your meat of choice, although the most popular variation out here, is tom yum kung (shrimp). Most stalls that serve this, have a table outside with various vegetables to add to the soup. It is beautifully fresh.

Pad See Ew

This is a dish of fat rice noodles cooked with eggs, chicken, and bok choy. The noodles are darkened with a soy sauce that adds lots of flavour to the otherwise bland noodles.

The noodles are quite sticky, and when you pick them up on your fork, you usually get about half the dish too. All good fun though and they are delicious.

Summary

Of course, you can eat western food (all the major fast food chains are here) when you come to Thailand but in my experience, it is better to stick to eating that in your native country. There is so much great food to try here, it really would be a massive shame to miss out on all of the amazing dishes served here.

Also, if you ask the vendor for the Thai price, you may just get it for a knock down price too. Happy eating!