Visitors to Bangkok, Thailand find choosing a street food stall to eat at very confusing. There are tens of thousands of street food stalls all over the city. Most are incredible, some are not, but as a visitor how are you supposed to know the difference? As a long-time resident of Bangkok, I’ve eaten at hundreds if not thousands of the city’s street food stalls and can tell you when you are in Bangkok and looking for great food, look no further than these Bangkok best street food stalls. You won’t be disappointed.
Chinatown – Known as Yaowarat by Thais, Chinatown is the best place in Bangkok for street food. Of course, as you’d expect, the best food here is mostly Chinese, although some Thai street food stalls are excellent too.
Chinatown is famous for its fresh seafood stalls and Thais will travel for miles to eat there. I recently ate at a Chinatown seafood stall with nine Thai friends. For the ten of us, we ordered ten dishes, including a plate of enormous prawns, tom yam geung (spicy shrimp soup), fried rice with shrimp and squid, sauteed squid and a huge fried fish. The total bill was only 3,100 baht ($94). Just less than $10 each. Very cheap for seafood that fresh.
Sukhumvit Soi 38 – This wonderful area of Bangkok street food stalls is the most popular after the bars and nightclubs close. I recently went with a Thai friend around 1am and the area was crowded with diners.
Try the chicken satay with peanut sauce, a bowl of noodles, squid, fried rice, hot coconut cakes, or the famous mango and sticky rice. The street stalls here are open until early in the morning (3am, 4am) so you can relax over a drink and some amazing food without feeling rushed. Next to Thong Lor BTS sky train station.
Chatuchak Weekend Market – Known by Thais as one of the best places in the city for street food, Chatuchak Weekend Market has everything. Why not try a ‘moveable feast’. Walk around the market picking up snacks as you go.
For an average price of 10-20 baht, (30-60 cents), you can sample a nice mix of Thai food. Pork or chicken satay is excellent, as are several Thai noodle stalls. Pad Thai also makes an appearance here with several stalls selling a satisfying plateful. Squid or octopus on sticks, little fish made out of pancake batter, or khanom beuang (crispy coconut pancakes) are equally satisfying.
Just avoid the stalls selling cold french fries, cold chicken nuggets and cold fish – they’re basically for the tourists and nothing there tastes good. Chatuchak Weekend Market is next to Mo Chit sky train station.
Pratunam – Another great place for street food is the Pratunam area. Again, mostly at night, Pratunam has loads of street stalls selling everything from pad Thai and noodles to food on sticks. Pratunam is known for chicken and rice, and I have several Thai friends who will travel halfway across Bangkok just to eat it. It comes with a delicious sauce, very tasty, and the chicken is moist and succulent. Yum.
Street food stalls are all over Bangkok, with some setting up in the mornings, some at lunch and some only serving dinner. Try these four wonderful areas, then branch out a bit. Walk the neighborhoods and, if anything looks good at a certain street stall, try it. It probably will be.
Photo – Jaaron, Creative Commons License
