Thai Street Food Guides

Flat illustration of a bowl of tofu, fresh herbs and chilli on a market stall, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Vegan in Thailand Is Trivial, Which Is Strange Given the Culture

Buddhism forbids killing on certain days every month, the country is full of monks, and a vegan can eat better here than almost anywhere in Asia without once explaining themselves.

Flat illustration of a Chinatown street with stall awnings, steam and hanging lanterns, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Yaowarat at Seven in the Morning Is a Different Country

Bangkok's Chinatown is best before nine, the stalls are a hundred metres long, and the thing to eat is a bowl of noodles standing up at a plastic table for thirty baht.

Flat illustration of a wok over a flame with a mortar, pestle and spice bowls beside it, deep teal and gold

Street Food

You Will Come Home Unable to Make Pad Thai and It Will Be Your Fault

The class teaches you twelve dishes in one day, you reproduce none of them, and three weeks later you are making one of them badly and happily every week.

Flat illustration of a glass of beer with foam and two bottles beside it, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Leo Is Thirty-Five Baht and the Good Beer Is Not in a Bottle

The cheapest beer in Thailand is not the one in the fridge, it is the one on draught in a plastic bag at a roadside stall, and it is genuinely better than most of what you will be served later.

Flat illustration of a street wok, a tangle of noodles, a lime wedge and a squeeze bottle, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Pad Thai Is Eleven Ingredients and Most of Them Are Not Noodles

The dish everybody thinks they know is built on tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, and cooked in about ninety seconds in a very hot wok.

Street Food

The Stall With Four Hundred Customers Is Safer Than the One Next to It

The food-scare in Thailand is about water and the water is fine. The three things that actually put you in hospital are much more specific.

Flat illustration of a glass of Thai iced tea with condensation, a straw and a teabag, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Cha Yen Is Not Iced Tea and It Is Not What You Think It Is

Six baht at a 7-Eleven, poured into a plastic bag, tied at the top, and it is better than almost anything you will pay four dollars for in a coffee shop.

Flat illustration of mangoes, a plate of sticky rice with a coconut drizzle and a fruit knife, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Thai Fruit Has a Calendar and Showing Up in the Wrong Month Is a Waste

Mangoes do not have a season, they have four, and they run north to south. A month-by-month guide and the dish that is genuinely worth the trip.

Flat illustration of market food stalls, a noodle bowl, chickens and stacked fruit crates, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Get to Damnoen Sadeu by Six and Eat Breakfast Among the Traders

The largest food market in Southeast Asia shuts its kitchens before the tourists arrive. Forty baht gets you the best breakfast in Bangkok.

Flat illustration of roti canai, satay skewers and a banana-leaf plate, deep teal and gold

Street Food

In Southern Thailand the Question of Halal Food Does Not Arise

Bangkok has a specific handful of streets. Three thousand kilometres south, ordinary food is halal and nobody is asking. The interesting version of the question is in the middle.

Flat illustration of a pancake griddle with small coconut cakes, banana pancakes and syrup, deep teal and gold

Street Food

Thai Desserts Are Mostly Things You Have Never Eaten

Nine of the ten best Thai desserts have no English name at all, which is why nobody outside the country orders them.

Flat illustration of a wooden pier over water, a longtail boat, a bicycle and market stalls, deep teal and gold

Street Food

The Floating Market Runs on Weekends Only and Nobody Tells You That

It opens on Saturday and shuts on Sunday night. Turn up on a Wednesday and there is nothing there at all, and people do this constantly.