Eating Through Thailand 🇹🇭
Bangkok Highlights
When the opportunity presented to fly over to Thailand it was an absolute no-brainer.
If you’ve been around here for very long you know that exploring food cultures and traveling are huge passions of mine. Growing up traveling around played a big part of that but I think it’s even more important now.
With YouTube, TikTok and other SM platforms you can just flip on a screen and “travel the world”. But I firmly believe there is no substitute for going and immersing yourself into other countries and cultures for maximum impact.
To date, “smell-o-vision” and tasting via video screens don’t exist.
This was my first international travel since the lockdowns and I’m already planning a few others for this year and hope to add the travel component more as part of Cooking with Octopod.
This trip was 3 cities, ~3 weeks.
Bangkok
Chiang Mai
Phuket
I’m going to write about some highlights to start and then will be making more in-depth city-specific guides over the next few weeks and listing on the Octopod Culinary site; these will include specific travel tips to avoid a lot of hassles most people don’t think about, saving you a ton of research time.
Will still be publishing recipes and other cooking alfa while some Thai recipes will be “peppered” in among the content. Next up will be my new fave cookbook releases, for example.
Thailand 🤤
The flavors of Thailand have always appealed to me.
Spicy, sour, salty and sweet… the cuisine is characterized by bold and aggressive tastes… dynamic flavor bombs, if you will.
Early in my cooking career, after long shifts of slaving over stoves tasting butter sauces, basting meats and more in a French fine dining restaurant, the cooks would be craving something to eat.
After you’ve been smelling browned butter, tasting cream-enriched vegetable purees and roasting meats the last thing you want late at night are heavy/rich flavors. This is why you’ll see cooks seeking out spicy, sour flavors like Thai or Sichuan.
Over time my love for these bold and spicy flavor combinations continued to grow and now I was finally getting to visit one of my favorites… Thailand.
I talked with a few friends, and some well known chef connections to make sure I had a solid play list of restaurants and street markets to hit. This proved instrumental as each meal or snack I had was hit-after-hit of amazing and memorable flavors.
My itinerary made sense for me. Starting in Bangkok, in a bustling food city with wet markets, street food venders every 20 feet and wide array of restaurants from Trad Thai to legit Neopolitan Pizza.
From Bangkok I would fly to Chiang Mai (just a ~1hr flight). This is the home of Khao Soi and Laap, among other delicacies. Chiang Mai is at the foot of a large mountain range with a number of beautiful temples and a large night market scene.
The air is less humid than Bangkok and the city itself is more chill and spread out.
To be honest, I fell in love with Chiang Mai and possibly will go back for a 3 month residency later this year (fingers crossed).
Finishing the trip in Phuket at some beautiful beaches seemed the perfect bookend to get some time in the ocean and also be in the heart of Southern Thai cuisine which is characteristically very spicy 🥵 🙌 with sour curries, fish offal and more deliciousness.
Bangkok
The 30 hour trip time wasn’t a joy but was worth every minute once I landed down in Bangkok.
My arrival time was midnight, so I hopped a cab to my hotel and crashed for about 6 hours.
I made sure not to sleep much during my flights over so I could, hopefully, fall asleep quickly and flip my schedule with no issues. This worked out really well and I had zero jet lag for the entire trip; the adrenaline of excitement probably helped as well.
Bangkok is hot and humid. I wasn’t even there during peak hot season or rainy season, and it was still noticeably hot and humid.
This made a morning routine of Thai iced tea and cold fresh-squeezed fruit juices a must 😂 🙌 . I couldn’t get enough of either.
Getting around in BKK was easy. The BTS and Metro subways are quick, efficient and clean. Eating and drinking aren’t allowed and I saw zero homeless, junkies or drunkards on the public transportation system. (The 🇺🇸 could take some lessons here, security officers were present but not intrusive).
I was planning to use Grab (which is the equivalent of Uber) then discovered the traffic in BKK is on par with NYC. This made me quickly parry to using the BTS/Metro trains and walking or catching a tuk tuk to the final destination.
My favorite mode of transport were the tuk tuks. The feeling of zipping in and out of traffic in a 3 wheeled-open wall, motorized “tricycle” was so fun 😂 . One note on these, the drivers will try and overcharge you, especially if you’re a blatant tourist/Westerner. It’s just part of the game. You just need to barter with them and reach an agreement. Most are cool. One guy was blatantly overcharging me for a fare, quoting 800 BHT; I declined, walked half a block and asked the next tuk tuk driver who offered 150 BHT which I took immediately, no bartering necessary 🙌 .
I was surprised how much I enjoyed being in BKK. It has an energetic city vibe but I never felt unsafe in any part of the city, day or night, that I was in. The Thai people for my entire trip were kind, friendly and treated me better than my home country.
One important note, you’ll encounter very few English speakers. Google translate helps a lot. I specifically avoided a lot of the tourist areas, and found the best eating places to be where I was the only westerner, no english on the signs or menus, and ordering food by pointing and getting some help from Google translate.
When I travel my itinerary is set by the restaurants and food stalls I want to hit, surprise surprise, and then will visit any parks/museums/etc that are in close proximity.
Food Highlights
Will list highlights here and put full list in City Guide. Could write multiple Substacks on BKK spots alone.
Err Urban Rustic Thai
Owned by husband (🇺🇸) and wife (🇹🇭) team behind michelin starred Bo.Lan (gained acclaim on Netflix “Chef’s Table”), the couple recently launched this eatery as a nod to rustic Thai home cooking.
Ordered a lot off the menu but still had items I wanted to try.
All the curry pastes are hand pounded in house and a lot of products are fermented in house. The flavors were absolutely fantastic and I would be eating here every week if I lived in BKK.
Mumuang Prieaw: Sour Green mango macerated in fish sauce and chilli powder
Satay Gai: chicken satay served with a lovely peanut sauce and toasted brioche.
Sai Krok Issan: Issan Style pork Sausage cured with organic gaba rice. The ferment on the sausage was spot on; the rice mixed in the pork was a lovely texture.
Lab peak Pla Meuk: Isaan style salad of squid wing & toasted rice
Tom Yum Kha Moo: Spicy soup of pork hock and pickled cabbage
Ma Keua Yao: Braised Minced pork with eggplants on steamed egg custard
Geng Kiew Wan: Green curry of chicken on the bone with all the best bits. The best bits are the organs and feet 🙌 . Absolutely delicious.
SOIE
Stopped here on my last day in BKK and it made me instantly regret that I wouldn’t be coming back for another meal anytime soon. This is a father-son combo that are cooking some of the most explosive flavor Thai food I’ve ever tasted.
A chef friend told me to check this out and if I moved to BKK, I’d try and settle somewhere nearby so I could lunch multiple times a week 😂
It’s moved from the original location and now it’s down an alley in the middle of a bunch of residential condos.
Like most of the good restaurants, expect to walk around for a half block or so where ever the Google maps pin drops 😆 The immaculately fresh seafood is on display as soon as you arrive
The crab curry was insane. The crab so sweet it made the vibrant curry sauce seem more intense by contrast.
The mackerel heads fried as crispy as potato chips. Served with a sweet dipping sauce which works well with the salty heads; the heads shatter into delicious shards while eating.
The shrimp salad stole the show. Most Thai places have a raw shrimp salad that bursts with flavors of aromatics, shallot, lemongrass, chili etc. What these guys do is boost the sauce with wasabi.
The sauce is so punchy but utterly addicting I just laughed in between coughs from the pungent wasabi. Served with a mild dill-like herb, the sauce accentuated the natural sweetness of the shrimp.
Rounded out with some perfectly stir fried rice noodles with egg. Simple and delicious.
Phat Thai Mae Am
This was a comedy of errors but completely worth the journey. Arrived at the location, in a dark alley (night time) and ask a few of the vendors by showing them the name.
Directed to a door which has a printed out, crude, map. They’ve moved locations… of course! 😂
Decide to walk it (looked like a short distance from the map), turned into a hike through BKK that lasted over 90 mins and lots of stopping and trying to figure out if I was lost 😑
When I finally arrived, drenched from the hot and humid weather, the owner told me they closed early that night.
She must have seen my dejected face because she fired back up her wok and cranked out some Pad Thai for me. (She’s been making Pad Thai for over 30 years now)
Served with the proper sides of banana blossom and Asian pennywort leaves, to provide a crunchy, astringent contrast to the slightly sweet noodles.
This was Pad Thai heaven… worth the journey.
Nailao (Pad Si Eiw & Lad Na)
Pad si eiw, rice: noodles fried with tender, marinated pork, egg and Chinese kale, is a Thai dish that’s travelled the globe. I’ll say you’ve never really eaten it until you’ve tried the version at Nailao. Perfectly seasoned, charred, smokey, with tender pork and crunchy greens. All for approx $1.70 USD
That’s all they serve here. Wet or Dry; that’s it. (Lad Na or Pad Si Eiw)
I tried both 😂 , the gravy was amazing. Silky and not gloopy.
Started in 1984, the owner is kind elderly gentleman that seemed extremely proud when I took my camera out to take a bunch of pictures as well as telling me he is a Christian and saying “Hallelujah” numerous times. 🙏
Jodd Fairs
This is a more touristy night market but there are so many vendors it’s a fun area to walk around and hang out, eating along the way.
You’ll see everything from Kebab, to Burgers, CornDogs… and some delicious Thai food as well.
The Volcano Pork Ribs are not to be missed. Huge pork ribs that are braised tender and served doused in a punchy broth with green chili. People line up for these and it’s worth the wait (5 mins, for the record but it looked like things got busier later in the night). Grab an order of Som Tum to enjoy on the side… and lots of Singha beer to wash it down 🍻
Nang Loeng Market
This is a market with some fresh ingredients, clothing, kitchenwares, but mostly prepared food. Perfect for lunch.
Also… I didn’t see one westerner or tourist in this market which was a plus IMO. I spent a few hours here, watching the early lunch crowd come and then seeing lines form.
That’s the secret… watch where the lines form and that’s probably a good bet on where you want to try.
I tried many things (there’s over 50 food venders in this market) the highlights were:
Boat Noodles
Duck Ka Pow (with heart, livers, served over rice, with an egg on top)
Roast chicken with some spicy dipping sauces.
S&K Seafood
In the heart of BKK Chinatown, this seafood joint has indoor and outdoor seating, but eating on the sidewalk is where it’s at.
Perfect people watching, there’s a lot of tourists in Chinatown but it’s worth going. For the record I came back here twice, the seafood was off the hook. (My favorite curry place of the whole trip was down an alley close by as well).
The grill is lit up on side walk and the sweetest prawns, scallops in the shell and whole fish are being grilled up to perfection.
This is where I figured out people order ice buckets so they can drop ice in their beer glasses because it’s so humid and hot eating outside. Somehow it fit perfectly in the mild lager.
Side note: bring paper towels in a backpack or purse when eating around. Most of the “napkins” are so thin they dissolve when trying to wipe your fingers off. And you’ll be eating with your hands a lot.
Impossible to list all of my faves… so there are at least 25 more restaurants/stalls and markets that will be in the Bangkok City guide
Leisure Spots
Not everyone wants to book their days based on restaurants… I don’t understand these people 😂 but if you are traveling you definitely want to see some sites and take in some non-food culture.
Here’s a few (more will be in the city guide)
Lumpini Park
This is similar in concept to Central Park in NYC though not as sizeable.
Lumpini Park is a hub for locals to walk, jog and participate in exercise classes. I saw people of all ages, toddler to senior citizens, participating in aerobics classes while Madonna “Material Girl” blasted over the PA. Was awesome 😆 🙌
The park also hosts frequent live music events and community gatherings.
There are also some gardens and water features I spotted walking through.
While I was there I noticed everyone stopped walking and stood still, I figured out the National Anthem had come on and everyone held in place until its’ conclusion.
Shopping Malls
BKK has numerous high rise malls which are fun to shop around in and escape the heat. Terminal 21 is a good option and the 5th floor has some of the best street food in all of BKK.
Emporium 5 has a skygarden on the 5th floor (ruined by Starbucks presence, but it’s whatever), dining options that take up 3 floors and a slew of designer shops.
The Commons is a “mall” but entirely a collection of different restaurants and specialty food shops.
Khlong Toei Market
This is a wet market that is the go-to for all fresh and pantry ingredients. Animal butchery and fish gutting all happening in stalls as you walk by.
Every piece of offal imaginable is for sale, as well as fruits, vegetables and rice of all kinds.
Do not wear open toe shoes or sandals if you want to keep your feet dry; it’s literally a wet market 😂 .
The Ancient City
It’s worth venturing out of BKK by about 30-45mins to see the remains of Thailand’s “oldest” city.
Beautiful structures, temples, shrines and structures are on display. You rent a golf cart and drive around, with some snack and drink stalls scattered throughout to keep you hydrated. (You’ll need a valid drivers license and passport to rent the golf cart).
Plan on spending a full afternoon minimum to enjoy all the sights.
SkyWalk
If you want the best skyline view in the city, head over to the SkyWalk and travel up 80 stories in a matter of seconds in an elevator.
The view that awaits is truly stunning. You can venture up a few more stories and find an open air viewing deck, with stadium seating and an array of food and beverage options to sit and enjoy.
The floor on part of the viewing deck is see through meaning you are looking straight down at the earth… if you have an aversion to heights, this will make your bollocks shrink up into your abdomen 😂
This was the most popular area. You are required to wear shoe covers and every Instagram thot and couple were posing to get plenty of selfies to post online. The people watching was pure gold 😉
At this point it’s clear that highlighting all 3 cities in one Substack was a fools errand. I’ll drop Chiang Mai and Phuket in between other Substacks
This only scratches the surface of exploring the wonderful city of Bangkok. I will update when the City Guide is ready with more details, travel tips, hotel alpha and a full list of eating spots.
Stay tuned for the next Substack where I will drop my favorite new cookbook releases 🙌
Amazing to be able to eat your way thru all of these different tastes, textures, smells! Yes smellavision would be a dream of mine. Bon appetite!