YuMei suddenly asked me about the blog of our 2019 Bangkok trip. "I missed Bangkok food" she said.
Aren't we all?
Anyway, so, here's our simple 2D3N food hunting itinerary (Sorry. Another blog post with too many photos)
Accommodation: We booked a 4 bedrooms townhouse at ChinaTown, (at Soi Phantha Chit 2). This house can accommodate up to 9 guests. (RM1,460.14 for 3 nights)
(I forgot exactly what happened back in April 2019, maybe that has something to do with the coronation for King Vajiralongkorn. During our visit, Bangkok Chinatown was relatively quiet, and many shops were closed earlier than normal)
Arrival Evening
We chose to stay in China Town because we wanted to have easy access to good food 24 hours. However, there were not much to choose from as most shops closed earlier than normal during that period (we were there about 2 weeks before the King coronation).
Our first meal in Bangkok was at the famous T&K Seafood. I have to say, very disappointed. Well, to be fair, I will not call it bad, but definitely not good for Bangkok standard.
Because of the disappointment, we decided that we have to continue to walk around for Chinatown and look for something else. We ended up in the famous Nay Lek Uan. By the time we ordered and had our few dishes, they were about to close. We were their last customers. We had the famous kuay jab nam sai, some crispy pork at side, and 2 other dishes from the other nearby store.
There are two main types of kuay jab in Bangkok, kuay jab nam sai (ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำใส) and kuay jab nam khon (ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำข้น).
- Kuay jab nam sai (ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำใส) is the version of soup that is very common in Yaowarat (Chinatown). In Thai it means clear soup, and it’s made from pork bones, so it has a strong pork flavor with lots of pepper.
- Kuay jab nam khon (ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำข้น) is a dark brown, almost black, colored soup broth. The soup has a mild Chinese spice braised flavor to it – including spices like cinnamon and star anise.
There are big fans of each type of kuay jab, but the popular version to eat in Yaowarat is kuay jab nam sai (ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำใส).
Day 1 (Maeklong Railway Market + Icon Siam)
Maeklong Railway Market
Upon special request, I had to bring everyone to Maeklong Railway Market. And of course, I brought everyone to my favorite Punjung Cafe. It's a good place to wait for the train, and serve very good food.
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| Yes, we were this close to the moving train |
So, after the "train show", we left Punjung Cafe, walked along the track to go back to our hired van. Halfway, we stopped again, for this hearty kuay jab nam khon. (sorry. I don't think I can give you a clear direction of this kuay jab stall. Not even sure if they had a name. If you go into the Maeklong Railway Market from the entrance at Phet Samut Road, it's about halfway to Punjung Cafe, on your left. You will definitely smell it)
Of course, we had to take some tourist photos. How could you not take some photos on the train track at Maeklong Railway Market?
Lunch at Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu
After Maeklong Railway Market, our next stop was Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu. This is my favorite food stall that serve pretty average, typical Thai food（煮炒档口）. The uncle that obviously the chef here, and the aunties that worked here, all were "not very young". Hence. every time I visit this stall, I always feel lucky that I could still have a hearty and perfect meal here. Really have to appreciate this before it's gone. The uncle and aunty cook every dishes to perfection. No joke!
The dishes that I love most are of course the tom yum goong and the omelet. The broth of the tom yum goong was extremely rich and buttery, very aromatic, and the freshwater shrimp were unbelievably juicy and springy. And their omelet, how do you make something so simple so incredible tasty? Even all their other dishes were great. It's all because of the "wok hei" and their excellence control of the "fire" (火候)
I also love the fruit juice stall just opposite of Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu. They only have drinks for takeaway, and they have a huge variety of fruits to choose from. These juice go extremely well with the food at Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu.
After lunch, we took a boat to travel along Chao Praya to get to Icon Siam. ICONSIAM has one of the largest shopping malls in Asia, which opened to the public on November 2018. This was a new spot that none of us visited before so we were quite excited.
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| I couldn't resist, so we ordered some food here too |
This mall was very cool. There were areas selling local crafts, and there were also areas that were absolutely luxurious.
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| Very luxury-looking cinema |
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| Toyota Alive Cafe and showrooms |
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| You can even play some driving games here |
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| Of course they have collectibles hobby shops |
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| Isn't this cool? (I forgot what shop is this) |
All the luxurious cars in the mall.
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| Apple Iconsiam - the first Apple Store in Thailand |
Right outside of Apple Iconsiam is the beautifully decorated ICONSIAM Park, with the panoramic view of the great city by the river.
The other big highlight of ICONSIAM Park is the magnificent "Light of Siam”, created by Sittivut Yavichai.
Do also plan your time properly to catch the The ICONIC Multimedia Water Features Show. Every day 6:30pm and 8:00pm, you can watch this full-fledged water dance show that features remarkable colors, sound and multimedia.
Dinner at Pee Aor Tom Yum Goong
After Iconsiam, we went to Pee Aor Tom Yum Goong for dinner. Of course we had their famous Tom Yum Goong noodle, and we ordered also a few other dishes on their menu. Lovely.
Day 2 (Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market + Train Night Market Ratchada)
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| La Locanda |
The next morning, while waiting for others to get ready for our adventure to Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market, I went to the cafe next door (La Locanda) for a simple breakfast (Too hungry, and Khlong Lat Mayom is not very near).
Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market
Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market is my favorite floating market in Bangkok. It is big but not touristy, and there were so many varieties of food to sample. Walking from the entrance to the food court seating are, there were so many things to see, there were a mixture of flavours and fragrance, so vibrant and colourful.....
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| My favorite goong ob woon sen |
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| Som Tum |
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| Pla pao |
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| This aunty sells very tasty thin sliced BBQ pork |
Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market has a relatively small "floating part", but it is as charming as other floating market.
Som Tam Jay So (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส)
Som Tam Jay So is a very famous stall in Bangkok, located down a quiet side street in Bangkok's Silom business district. It is said to serve the best Issan food in Bangkok. I couldn't judge if the food they served were really authentic, but I loved most of the dishes here.
Besides their famous som tum, I also love their laab neua. It wasn’t very spicy, but yet very flavourful.
Their grilled chicken wings (pik gai yang) was cooked perfectly. And they have very good grilled pork neck (kaw moo yang) too.
Because of the horrible heat, we were not in the mood to visit tourist attractions. Instead, we spent hours in a cafe near where we stayed.
Rot Fai Market Ratchada
Until the heat was bearable again, we went to Rot Fai Market Ratchada.
I think we were greeted with heavy rain (did we? Or I mixed up with another trip?) Anyway, I remembered that we were not fond of Rot Fai Market Ratchada. There were too many people. We couldn't find proper seats for meal. When we finally found one table, the stall food quality was unfortunately not very good.
Due to the dinner at night market was not satisfying, we went back to Chinatown and look for some street food vendors. Must have some good food before calling it a day.
Teens of Thailand
Since we were staying in Chinatown, of course, we have to visit Soi Nana. We went to Teens of Thailand as it was in the Asia's 50 Best Bars list.
This bar was like something Wong Kar Wai might conjure up. Much of the shop-house's original architecture remains, with vintage Thai furniture scattered around the place.
They served some very unusual gin tonic, including "local thai tea" or "chrysanthemum" and of couse we have to try them.
Going Home
On our last day, I had a very simple breakfast at the street we stayed before we went to airport.
So, this was how I gained weight fast (just 2 days 3 nights!) in Bangkok.
Other itineraries:
2017 - Germany: Upper Middle Rhine Valley One Day Tour (Stay tune)
