When I found myself booking a trip to Bangkok, there were two things I was most excited about. First, walking, gallivanting and simply getting lost in the streets of a metropolis — something that, as a Delhi resident, I find increasingly difficult to do. Second, eating my way through what is arguably the culinary capital of Asia, if not the world. But what if I could combine the two?
Now, I’m an adventurous eater. I’ll happily eat the weird thing. But going completely unplanned in a city with Bangkok’s depth of food was going to be a little ambitious. I needed a guide.
I found one — over four days, I ate my way through Bangkok’s street spots that feature in the Michelin Guide, a rather useful starting point for a hungry traveller.
Surprisingly, they weren’t all meals I fell in love with. A Michelin recommendation is a useful signpost, but it isn't necessarily a guarantee that a restaurant will speak to you. These were six of my stops and what I made of each.
This spot specialises in noodle soup with minced pork, served with an optional side of crispy fish skin. You can choose between a clear or tom yum broth, different kinds of noodles, and the usual toppings of minced pork, pork balls, spices and herbs. The tom yum broth has dominant flavours of lemongrass and kaffir lime, while the clear broth is meaty, herby and light.
The minced pork comes as one big chunk, so you have to break it up using chopsticks. Somehow, this ensures that every bite gets the same generous hit of pork. You’re eating off a plastic table, almost on the road — but the flavour does it justice.
Founded by Chef Andy Yang, who won a Michelin star in New York before returning to Bangkok, Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu is not exactly on the streets, but very much a local operation. You can watch the pad thai being cooked through a kitchen window as its aroma takes over the street.
I tried the chicken pad thai, recommended by the server, and it was the best I had on my entire trip. Sweet, spicy, sour, crunchy, fresh and acidic all at once — a symphony of flavours. The pork fat it was cooked in didn’t overpower the dish; it completed it.
A small portion, though. But delicious. One small red plate. Devoured. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Bangkok.
Eat brains? I had to really gear myself up for this meal.
Located in Bangkok’s old town, surrounded by beautiful old buildings, this little establishment specialises in pork brain and pork ball soup. Yep, you read that right.
The soup was good — herby and light. The pork offal, however, was not for me. The brain was creamy, almost reminiscent of a pâté, but it was hard to keep going back for more. The tofu felt misplaced, completely overpowered by the other parts of the pig.
I was probably one of the few foreigners who had visited, judging by how everyone around me wanted a glimpse of my reaction when I dug in. To their disappointment, it wasn’t one of excitement, but of unsettled curiosity.
Would I go back? Maybe not. Would I recommend you try it? Perhaps
Run by three people — a brother, his sister and her husband — Kolun.h was a delight to visit, partly because the owners are some of the sweetest people. It’s a corner shop that opens directly onto the street, with passers-by peering into your delicious-looking bowl of noodles.
I tried their recommended Hainanese-style dishes: noodles with crispy pork in clear soup, and noodles with stewed pork, crispy pork, boiled pork and pig stomach in a sticky soup. The former was light and herby, with a hit of richness every time I bit into the crispy pork. The noodles were goopy in a good way, and paired with their signature shrimp sauce, delicious.
The sticky soup was unlike anything I’d had before, with the consistency of leftover gravy that had seen a little too much cornflour — not as bad as it sounds. Its flavour was more pronounced than the clear soup’s, but the consistency wasn’t my favourite.
I’d go back for the clear soup any day, but only if they promise to keep serving that shrimp sauce.
Made from the current owner’s grandmother’s recipe, these pancakes come in just two varieties: sweet, topped with egg, coconut, sugar, persimmon and golden thread; and savoury, with coconut, shrimp, pepper, coriander root, red onion, bergamot, spring onion, salt and sugar.
The shop itself is long and narrow, with little more than a takeaway counter at the front — almost as if generations of culinary wizardry are hiding within.
The sweet one was familiar and delicious, dominated by grated coconut, sugar and the crispy pancake exterior. The savoury one was more unusual, with shrimp and coconut bringing an umami quality to the mix. It was also far more interesting texturally than its sweet counterpart.
Just two things on the menu, but worth a visit for sure.
I had plenty of mango sticky rice during my visit, but there was something different about K. Panich.
The rice was warm, the condensed milk warmer, and the juicy, sweet mango somewhere between room temperature and chilled. It also came with a small packet of moong dal — crispy yellow lentils you're supposed to sprinkle over the rice and milk. Not quite the usual combination.
K. Panich manages to source the sweetest mangoes, even though it was off-season when I visited. The contrast in temperatures, along with the crunch of the lentils, makes all the difference.
For all the lovers of mango sticky rice, look nowhere else. This is the real deal. A perfect 10/10.