Table Of Content“With its stunning photography and authentic recipes, this book
transported me right back to Thailand. Take your friends and
family on a culinary tour of the best Thai street food on offer.”
—Katie Chin, author of Everyday Thai Cooking
“Thai street food is very personal to me since I grew up cooking
street food with my mother and pushing a curry cart. This book
demystifies and celebrates the intricacies of Thai street food and
inspires the reader to get out there and eat!”
—Ian Kittichai, chef and owner of Issaya Siamese Club
“Street food has been a mainstay of Thai culture for centuries and
today it is one of the world’s hottest culinary trends. This book is
the first complete guide to Thailand’s street foods, which are one
of life’s pure pleasures. This is a fabulous collection—evocatively
written, beautifully designed and ravishingly illustrated.”
—Dr Prasert Prasartthong-Osoth, owner of Bangkok Airways
“Chawadee Nualkhair’s new book, Thailand’s Best Street Food, is
the little local friend you can carry in your shoulder bag when
looking for the best deal on the streets of Bangkok.”
—The New Zealand Herald
“Thailand’s Best Street Food is a thoroughly ‘user friendly’ guide
that is enthusiastically recommended for anyone visiting Thailand
for business or for pleasure!”
—Midwest Book Review
INTRODUCTION
Tha(cid:526)(cid:535)(cid:509)(cid:542)d’(cid:571)
BEST
STREET
FOOD
Chawadee Nualkhair
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo Rutland, Vermont Singapore
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Contents
Is Street Food Dying Out? 4
BANGKOK 26
Chinatown 28
Banglamphu 44
Hualamphong 58
Silom/Sathorn 66
Sukhumvit 74
Other Areas 84
NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL THAILAND 90
Chiang Mai 92
Chiang Rai 110
Lampang 116
Sukhothai 120
ISAAN (THE NORTHEAST) 124
Khon Kaen 126
Udon Thani 132
Ubon Ratchathani 138
THE SOUTH 146
Phuket 148
Cha-Am and Hua Hin 154
LIST OF STALLS BY FOOD TYPE 161
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List of Recipes
BANGKOK
Tom Yum Soup from Jay Fai 51
Pad Thai
from Thipsamai Noodle Shop 55
Squid Salad
from Jay Ouan Moo Jum 69
Kho Moo Yang
from Jay Ouan Moo Jum 72
Bamee Slow Egg Noodles
from Bamee Slow 77
Grilled Scallops from Elvis Suki 87
NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL THAILAND
Khao Soi Gai
from Khao Soi Lamduan Faham 105
Khanom Jeen Nam Ngeaw
from Pa Suk 115
Chicken and Beef Satay
from Khao Soi Islam 119
ISAAN (THE NORTHEAST)
Kai Kratha from Aim Och 129
Som Tum from Som Tum Jae Gai 137
THE SOUTH
Yong’s Green Beef Curry
from Pa Mai 153
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THAILAND’S BEST STREET FOOD
Introduction
Is Street Food Dying Out?
Almost 10 years ago, I published my ating reams of Youtube, newspaper, radio
first Bangkok street food guide. At the and television coverage, and books and
time, it was hard work convincing peo- websites like mine. Indeed, one of Bang-
ple that an English-language Bangkok kok’s most famous street food chefs now
street food book was something that boasts a Michelin star! It would seem
people might buy. Would-be publish- Thailand no longer needs any help when
ers said that all of this information was it comes to promoting its street food.
already available on the internet, while At the same time, Bangkok itself
native Bangkokians seemed perplexed is grappling with how to modernize
that tourists would ever want to eat in without alienating its past. No one wants
the same places as the locals. plugged-up sidewalks and chaos on
A lot has changed since then. “Street already clogged streets, of course; at the
food” has gained worldwide fame, gener- same time, no food lover wants to see a
culinary landscape made up primarily of
chain restaurants, Starbucks, and the de-
fanged ghosts of former street vendors
who managed to hit it big before the
ban hammer came down. The city is still
finding its way forward, but if I’m being
optimistic—and I am choosing today to
be optimistic—the buoyant exuberance
of the country’s food culture will always
find a way to express itself authentically
and creatively.
Thailand’s street food boasts a great
history, the perfect illustration of the
story of opportunity. Initially brought to
our shores by the Chinese, street food
was the product of the first wave of immi-
gration to Thailand in the 1800s. Finding
themselves barred from the traditional
civil service job opportunities afforded
to native Thais, they sold the food of
their homeland, like soup noodles and
rice porridge, alongside the canals that
crisscrossed Bangkok back when it was
known as the “Venice of the East”. Finding
strength and comfort in numbers, they
formed the country’s first Chinatown.
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IS STREET FOOD DYING OUT?
HEALTH CONCERNS
In today’s world, no kind of dining is without
its risks. Street food obviously carries with it
its own set of issues, so buyer beware. For this
reason, I have tried as best as I can to stick to
long-standing street food vendors with good
reputations. Focus on well-established places
with high turnover and try to avoid raw sea-
food or meat. Vendors are periodically tested
by city authorities for cleanliness. The ones
that pass muster are marked by a green and
blue “Clean Food Good Taste” badge issued
by the Bangkok administration.
Chinatown (also known as “Yaowarat” ers, motorcycle drivers and ladies who
after the road that acts like a main lunch sharing space at the same table
artery through the neighborhood) is in … provided the food vendor is good
a different location in Bangkok today, (or famous) enough. This makes street
but is no less a showcase of the kind of food shophouses and sidewalk tables
food that built the foundation of the “one of the few truly democratic spaces”
Chinese community back then. Today, left in the country, according to David
those Chinese entrepreneurs own Thompson.
banks, insurance companies, and, quite There are tons of vendors out there
obviously, are able to work in the civil who have yet to be discovered. And they
service positions once barred to them. are coming up at a time when Thailand
Some family dynasties, like that of Thai is coming up with its future form. But
Beverage (the makers of Beer Chang), if there is one thing I can hope to take
were quite literally built on the success away from this book—now in its third
of street vending ancestors—in Thai iteration (!)—it’s that the people who
Beverage’s case, an oyster omelet vendor were once too intimidated or wary of
in Chinatown. Thai street food can now think about
Even better, the eateries that vendors venturing into the places in this book
like this have created present one of (old local favorites, all). They might even
the few chances left in today’s Thailand be moved to make new discoveries of
to bring people of every walk of life their own. There is a whole country full
together. It is still not unusual, even in a of great food out there. That food has
culture balkanized by social media and changed my life. It could do the same
food delivery, to still see office work- for you.
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THAILAND’S BEST STREET FOOD
Types of Thai Street Food
There is, and always has been, a great deal of debate on what street food is.
For some, it must be something sold directly from a cart or table set out on the sidewalk;
for others, it is nothing more than food sold from any open-air place (or, as the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration puts it, an establishment with “no more than three walls”).
My view on this matter falls somewhere in the middle. Many open-air Thai eat-
eries are nothing less than full-fledged restaurants serving a wide range of dishes
from an extensive menu, while other shophouses specialize in a specific dish or
niche of Thai food.
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