Street food in Thailand

When it comes to food, not even the most authentic articles, photos, or videos do it justice. This is actually what happened during our visit to Thailand.

Prior to our first ever journey to Asia we watched so many videos of other travellers venturing through local markets in different locations in the land of smiles, that we could remember the Thai names of some dishes long before we were looking for a place to stay in Bangkok.

Story by Ivana Greslikova and Gianni Bianchini

Honestly, we had high expectations regarding the food scene in Thailand, and we were definitely not disappointed while having the first spoon of Pad Thai at one of the hundreds of food stalls on the Yaowarat Road back in 2013.

Suddenly the ambience of blinking colourful lights; busy roads packed with pinky taxi cars and motorbikes rushing through; the smell of fresh Roti pancake with banana mingling with intensive steam of chicken and pork skewers (Gai/Moo PBing) created a scene we’d been longing for so much.

A truly exotic street food destination we shared with thousands of locals and international travellers.

Lunches and dinners became culinary adventures as we were discovering the new neighbourhoods of Silom, Chatuchak, or Sukhumvit where we got our daily doses of Khao Pad fried rice, Som Tam papaya salad and some grilled chicken Gai Yang.

However, Bangkok wasn’t the only street food heaven in Thailand we were lucky to tuck into. While living in Chiang Mai and Udon Thani for more than eleven months we were grateful to sample some dishes of the northern cuisine, too.

Hunting for the best Khao Soy in town became the main mission; while doing a weekly shopping at the veggie market we couldn’t resist to get Thai Khao Lam – a warm sticky rice with red beans and coconut cream in a bamboo tube. We regularly re-visited the same vendor to get a Sai Krok Isan sausage at the Sunday market in Chiang Mai, and the street food dinner wasn’t complete without Khao Neeo Mamuang – Thai sweet sticky rice with mango or Itim Gati coconut ice cream.

Snacking on fresh coconut juice and pulp, fresh fruit smoothies, sliced pineapple, and red water melon or green mango topped with chilli and sugar was a daily ritual that was hard to give up when leaving the country.

Thai food knows how to make your tummy happy, and the best way to experience it is to start with amazing street food found here.