By Expedia Team, on February 24, 2015

Bangkok Food Starter Guide: Must-Eat Food in Bangkok

Best of Bangkok Food

Sweet Thai chili, diced peanuts, glass noodles, and curries in every colour of the traffic light. Let’s do the Bangkok Jam. Here’s our starter guide to delicious Bangkok food you must try when you visit the city.

Expedia: Asia’s Food Havens – Starter Kit

In this series, Expedia highlights the best food to try in each city, as recommended by locals. Start here to find out the must-try popular local dishes that should be on every tourist’s list. Plus famourestaurants or hawkers you should visit to try the best of each dish. food2

Bangkok Must Eat #1: Pad Thai

This stir-fried rice noodle, often topped with finely chopped roasted peanuts, chilli flakes and a squeeze of fresh lemon, is among Thailand’s most famous signature dishes. Like anywhere else in the country, Pad Thai is a top choice among locals and visitors alike when it comes to Bangkok food too.

Pad Thai - Thai food

It is typically served with peeled prawns and bean sprouts. It leaves a slightly sweet aftertaste.This dish feels fairly light, but in fact fills you up nicely. Always a great choice for lunch or dinner.
Easy to find on the streets of Bangkok.

Best Restaurant in Bangkok for Pad Thai: Thip Samai Pad Thai

A long-established favourite, even for locals. The Bangkok restaurant opens up onto the street, with long queues for their traditional-style Pad Thai cooked on charcoal stoves, giving it is a deeper flavor.
Lots of variations on Pad Thai here, including the popular omelette-wrapped “Superb Pad Thai”. Takeaway, OK!

Thip Samai Restaurant
313 Maha Chai Road
Samran Rat, Phra Nakhon
Tel: +66 (0) 2221 6280
Open Daily: 1730 – 0130

Bangkok Must Eat #2: Papaya Salad (Som Tam)

Shredded unripe papaya in a mixture of sweet, sour, spicy and tangy flavours – with a crunch. Due to the unripened papaya, the long strips of papaya are firm to the bite. The unripened fruit also creates a savoury flavour to the dish, rather than sweet.

Best Papaya Salad in Bangkok: Som Tam Nua

The two floors of Som Tam Nua on Siam Square are popular specialists for som tam. Of course you can get other kinds of Bangkok food and Thai dishes, but there’s a whole variety of som tam in particular to try here.

It’s a quick casual dining setup, and there’s often a queue.

Som Tam Nua
392/14 Soi Siam Square 5
Rama 1 Road
Tel: +66 (0) 22 51 4880
Open daily, 10:45 a.m.-9.30 p.m.

Famous Bangkok Street Food Market: Yaowarat (Chinatown)

Stretching for 1.5km, Bangkok’s Chinatown offers a great variety of Thai-Chinese food. It’s most lively at night when all the stalls are open. Not just a tourist haunt, Yaowarat is where the locals gather to eat Bangkok food as well. Stir fry, glass noodles, seafood… lots of tasty options.

(Photo CC2.0: Pietro Motta)

Don’t bother waiting for queues to get shorter. Just jump in.

If you don’t have much time in Bangkok, go to Yaowarat street food market with an empty stomach and eat your way through Chinatown. You’ll pass some of Bangkok’s landmarks and must-visit streets within this area. For something a little more social, sign up for the Yaowarat Night Foodie Walk.

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