Thai food is best in its authentic form – which means street stalls, noodle shops, or in open air markets. You can have fantastic luck just striking out on your own and exploring new restaurants. Check out www.tryitasia.com for reviews and information about tons of Bangkok establishments.
Tom Yang Kun (shrimp) and Tom Yang Gai (chicken) are spicy hot soups, and the true signature dish of Thailand. Some foreigners don’t like it – mostly because a number of the ingredients aren’t meant to be eaten. Take out the bay leaves, but also avoid the hard white shoots which look a bit like bamboo. Also, the circular root that bears a slight resemblance to a water chestnut often is too fibery to chomp away at. Tom Yang Kun also scares some tourists off since the shrimp will sometimes come still encased in its shell. But this is a delicacy and worth trying.
Curry is another highlight of the Thai palette, and it almost never fails to disappoint. On average, green curry is hotter than yellow or red, but all of them contain a kick (again, more expensive restaurants sometimes make it bland for wider consumption). If you can find it, try the Thai dry curry or egg curry, both unique to the area and a wonderful meal.
Finally, the fruit: every exotic fruit you can think of is available, along with a number you’ve never heard of. Passionfruit, mangoes, starfruits, kiwi, watermelon...they're all specialties of the area, and impossibly fresh.
For the adventurous, try durian. This is a well-known oddity of Southeast Asia – it has a hard spiny outer shell, and the inside is filled with a stinky yellow meat. So stinky that you’ll see hotels and trains with what look like no-smoking signs, only instead of a cigarette it’s a durian that is crossed out. Hold your nose and give it a shot, because durian tastes nothing like anything else you’ve ever had and is worth the experience if the smell doesn't bug you.
Speaking of bugs, check out Khao San where you can try fried locusts, or the silkworm larvae (which taste like nuts in every way save the squishy texture). If you want to challenge yourself, Bangkok will provide.
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You’ll hear some guides warn you off street food, but that really shouldn’t be a concern. Hygiene in most noodle shops and restaurants is as good as at a greasy stateside diner (or better), and the freshness of products is easy to check out; half the items you’d buy will still be swimming in Styrofoam aquariums as you place your order. Fruits and fruit drinks are cheap, delicious, and fresh – produce you buy on the streets will be better than at hotel buffets, for example. The only caveat is you should avoid open-air stands near major thoroughfares, as they can get polluted over the course of a day.
The only thing you should steer clear of is tap water (and, in cheaper eateries, ice). Luckily, bottled water is everywhere and cheap (almost every room provides you two or more bottles free a day); even the locals won’t drink from the tap, so filtered drinks are affordable for the masses. (As a note, the water isn’t so bad that you should avoid brushing your teeth with it, unless you have a particularly touchy stomach).
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| Sumbudee is a an acclaimed restaurant located in the high-rent district of town. You won’t have a problem finding the place – they give away 10 liters of gas instead of the usual 5 to drivers. Sumbudee’s strongpoint is seafood, with plenty of lobsters and shrimp swimming around. More usual fish is also available, and the Tom Yung Kun is quite good. However, the sauces used for the the seafood... |
| Anna’s Café on Silom Road serves up a decent selection of internationalfoods. It’s quite popular with tourists and fashionable localsalike; at the time of this writing, it’s one of the more trendy eatingestablishments around. Better yet, prices are very reasonable. |
| Kalpapruek has been serving traditional Thai food for a long time andshows no signs of slowing down. It’s not a hot spot, butcontinues to provide solid food for a very reasonable price,considering it’s position as one of the stalwarts of Bangkok. |
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