“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 1 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 11 1166//77//2211 66::0022 PPMM 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 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 22 22//88//2211 1111::5566 AAMM 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 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 33 1166//77//2211 66::0022 PPMM 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. 4 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 44 1166//77//2211 66::0022 PPMM 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. 5 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 55 1166//77//2211 66::0022 PPMM 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. 6 TThhaaiillaanndd BBeesstt SSttrreeeett FFoooodd__iinntteerriioorr..iinndddd 66 1166//77//2211 66::0022 PPMM