Street Food

[H24]

I've always avoided street food to avoid getting sick but I want to give it a try next month. 

Any good places where the locals go and I won't end up purple faced and shitting for a week?

 

 

 

[pykster]

I often buy from the vendors outside nana, you have a bit of everything, including nana burger. Tons of place along sukhumvit between nana and Cowboy too.

[ianjamesmax]

Some of the best street food I've ever had is on Suk. next to Benjasiri Park.(just up from the Emporium)

Never got the trotts

[lev123]

on Soi 11 across from the Au Bon pain (closer to the Suk) there is a great little place to get soup (place has a few chairs and tables) and usually during the day there are one or two folks selling fried chicken.  Both are amazing.

[willow]

I have never had a problem with street food and I have eaten a lot of it over the years. Couple of tips make sure you see them cooking it and eat it straight off the charcoal, that is so hot nothing nasty survives. Do not eat the end of the day left overs that might have been in the sun for several hours.

[H24]

Thanks, will bite the bullet and give it a go. Worst case scenario, I will fucking regret it lol

[GlobeTrekker]

I've always avoided street food to avoid getting sick but I want to give it a try next month. 

Any good places where the locals go and I won't end up purple faced and shitting for a week?

Mate, I am eating all kinds of street food for 2weeks now, not a single issue. I was even eating in "restaurant" where rats were spread on the floor in chinatown and I am ok lol, dont worry, but go for fresh cooked and watch where locals are eating, now I am eating for 40bahts right across the street from Soi Cowboy every day.

[khagai]

I have been eating street food for years.  Start with the soup, it's hot and everything is cooked. It's called kwaiteow, then you tell the person if you want small rice noodles (sen lek) or large rice noodle (sen yai) or egg noodles (a little larger than angel hair pasta -- baamee).  Then you should know if the noodle shop specializes in which kind of meat:  chicken (gai--not really common);  duck (phet), in which case you will get a little duck meat:  pork (moo), in which case you have a choice (and you can mix and match) of pork meatballs (luukchin moo-  not like our meatballs), moo sap (minced pork) or moo mang (sliced pork): beef (neua, same selections as pork), of fish (luukchin baa (fish) and the broth may be a standard broth or yen ta foo.  There are also different kinds of broth available, but start out with the standard broth.

 

The soup is NOT spicy, and usually what makes good kwaiteow is the broth, some will be sweeter, some less, and very popular places guard their broth secret.  No one will agree on what is good kwaiteow or good som tam, just like with farangs there is no agreement as to what is a good hamburger or a good pizza, everyone has their own taste and opinion.

 

To follow up on an earlier poster, yes, don't eat at end of day if you think certain foods have been out in the sun.  Also, in this same vein, if you are going to try som tam at a street vendor, be aware of a couple of things.  First there is som tam thai, which is the shredded papaya, carrots,peanuts,  dried shrimp, peppers and usually a tiny crab for a salty taste with a sauce in a mortar and pestle (I won't go through the Danny Kaye routine). 

First I would lose the crab, it tends to sit in the sun all day, doesn't do a whole lot for the flavor anyway, and I have had a lot of friends (Thai and farang) get sick from it.  Second, you can specify  how many peppers (a rule of thumb, one met (the way you order peppers), relatively mild but a farang will taste it, 3 met -- medium, if you are not used to Thai food, this will be hot to you, and 5 met or more, hot, even for a Thai).  The other style of som tam is som tam baa laa which is an Isaan specialty, it has approximately the same as above and baa laa is added.  Baa laa is an anchovie paste and is very salty and (too many) fishy tasting.   Personally, I don't care for it, however if you like anchovies on your pizza, you will probably like baa laa.  Also be aware, most places that make som tam have two mortar and pestles, one for som tam thai and one for baa laa, because if you only have one, the baa laa flavor will linger in the pestle and affect the taste of som tam thai.  Some/many of the street vendors only use one, and the flavor can get contaminated.

Anyway, good luck in your street tastings--be adventurous, odds are heavy that you will NOT get sick, just use your good judgment.

[leocom6]

i never had any problem with street food right outside nan you can get some really good soup any place on soi 11 is always good

[Scoop]

If you're into street food then you should head over to Sukhumvit Soi 38.  It's a very short walk (3 minutes) from the BTS line at the Thong Lor exit.  It opens in the early evening and goes until 1:00AM or so.  Some stalls close early when they sell out of their offerings.  The venders tend to be a bit more hygienic than the typical street stall you see populating the touristy areas. Prices are quite reasonable and many have picture menus and some are also in English.  It's worth the visit for the variety and experience.

[H24]

Thanks for all the info guys, 3 weeks to go!

[SoapyBubble]

In various parts of the world where street food is common it advertises itself, if the stall is busy it's usually because it's selling good food that people want to eat.  I ate a lot of street food in HK last trip and you soon get to know which stalls are the best, lets face it if you ate something that left you sitting on the pan for two days you aint going back there again!