Thai Street Food Guides

Flat geometric illustration of a busy covered market aisle with stacked fruit, baskets of vegetables, a fish slab on ice and hanging lamps, deep teal, mustard and cream

Street Food

How Thai Markets Actually Work, and Why a Rot Fai Is Not a Railway

Talat, rot fai, talat nam, wholesale and retail. The system behind every market in the country, and how to read one before you walk into it.

Flat geometric illustration of a covered night market lane with food stalls, string lights, a noodle bowl and a stall roof, deep teal, mustard and warm cream

Street Food

Chiang Mai Has Three Night Markets and Only One of Them Is Worth the Taxi

The Night Bazaar is the one everybody photographs and the Sunday Walking Street is the one everybody should actually be on. Here is the difference, with opening hours.

Flat geometric illustration of a round Thai dining table split into four quadrants of different dishes, with a mortar and pestle, a grill and a curry bowl, deep teal and gold

Street Food

The Food You Are Eating Is Not Actually Thai Food Unless You Go East

Central Thai is what the world learned. Isan is what the country eats. A region-by-region map of the actual differences, and why the menu in Bangkok is not the national cuisine.

Street Food

I Paid 1,500 Baht for an Omelette at a Stall With No Sign in English

A Michelin star, a charcoal wok, ski goggles, and the most expensive street food in Bangkok. What it costs, when to go, and whether the queue is worth it.

Flat geometric illustration of one enormous steaming noodle bowl beside four tiny teacup-sized bowls, with chopsticks and a bamboo noodle basket, deep teal, mustard and warm cream

Street Food

Boat Noodles, Yen Ta Fo and the Southern Laksa That Almost Ruined Me

A bowl the size of a teacup, four of them per sitting, and a broth you have to know how to ask for. Boat noodles, yen ta fo and southern laksa, with real prices.

Abstract illustration of a wok, a mortar and pestle, and a noodle bowl in deep teal, gold and coral

Street Food

Seven Days in Chiang Mai on 300 Baht a Day

I tracked every baht for seven days in Chiang Mai eating the way a local eats: morning khao kha moo, midday curry, evening noodles. The number that surprised me was not the food. It was the coffee.

Street Food

What I Actually Eat in Bangkok, and the Twelve Things I Do Not

After eleven years of eating in this city I have a short list and a long list, and the two lists have almost nothing in common with the ones in the guidebooks.

Flat illustration of a dense market lane with clothing racks, stall awnings and a tangle of overhead wires, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Chatuchak Is Not a Market, It Is 15,000 Shops and a Survival Test

Fifteen thousand stalls across a square kilometre, open Saturdays and Sundays only, and the single most common mistake is arriving at three in the afternoon expecting a market and getting a heatwave.

Flat illustration of a brightly lit convenience store counter with ready meals, fruit cups and a coffee machine, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Why the 7-Eleven in Thailand Is the Best Chain in the World

In most countries the convenience store is a place you stop because you have no choice. In Thailand it is a genuinely good restaurant, it is everywhere, and it is open when nothing else is.

Flat illustration of a bowl of curry noodle soup with a noodle press, lime wedges and chilli paste beside it, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Khao Soi, and the Eight Other Northern Dishes You Should Eat

Khao soi is the dish Chiang Mai is actually famous for, and the version in the tourism brochure is a coconut soup with a photograph on it.

Flat illustration of a tattoo machine outline, a design sketch and a healed traditional Sak Yant style design, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

Getting a Tattoo in Thailand, and the Part That Hurts Afterwards

Anyone can do a good outline in this country. The difference between a tattoo you will still like in ten years and one you will regret is the healed line.

Flat illustration of a rice plate with a small array of side dishes, a spoon and fork, and a bowl of soup, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Rice Dishes, and Why the Side Dish Is the Point

A bowl of rice with something on it is a meal in this country, and the something is chosen with an attention that would embarrass most restaurants. Get it wrong and you are eating the wrong meal.