วันจันทร์ที่ 17 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2555

The best of thai food in bangkok

The best of  thai food in bangkok

From jungle curry to oyster omelets and everything in between, where to find the best of  Thai food in the City of Angels

By Chawadee Nualkhair
Photographs by Jason Michael Lang
There is such a thing as being spoiled for choice. Bangkok, a city of almost 12 million people, appears to boast nearly as many places to eat, from the lowliest curbside cart vendor to the toniest of five-star hotel restaurants, offering everything from batons of deep-fried dough to truffled risotto. Yet as dazzling as the Thai capital’s food scene may be, the sheer breadth of options can bewilder the visitor—especially when it comes to homegrown cuisine.
Like big-game safari hunters, those in search of Thai food tend to focus on the Big Five: eggy pad thai, basil-strewn green curries, spicy lemongrass soups, fiery globs of green papaya salad, maybe a satay stick or two. Yet untold rewards await the more intrepid diner. If you know where to look in Bangkok, all the facets of Thai food are there for the taking: the slow dried-chili burn of southern food, the subtle complexity of a “royal Thai” meal, the heady satisfaction of a no-frills seafood platter, and these days, even the perplexing concoctions of Thai-style molecular gastronomy.
So, what’s for dinner? Whether it’s on a crowded Chinatown footpath or in a hotel dining room surrounded by a legion of servers; whether it’s served in a chipped noodle bowl or garnished with a flourish of coconut foam, the tastiest Thai food in Bangkok awaits at the following locations.


Taking It to the Streets
Most Thais consider the sidewalk to be the ultimate preserve of the die-hard gourmet, and will stop at nothing (rain, car exhaust, roaches) to get their fill of some of the best food that the kingdom has to offer.
Bangkok teems with street stalls, each featuring a different specialty or strain of Thai food. Pad thai, fried chicken, rice congee, and soup-noodle vendors abound, while more rarefied offerings—oyster omelets, sublime coconutty sweets, fermented rice noodles with curry —require a little more patience to suss out. It’s no stretch to say that street dishes number in the hundreds here, which is why they can be so fun (or challenging, depending on your point of view) to explore.
Service with a smile at Polo Fried Chicken, the city’s beloved purveyor of Isan-style fried chicken
Service with a smile at Polo Fried Chicken, the city’s beloved purveyor of Isan-style fried chicken.
Spicy squid salad (nam tok pla muk) is another Polo specialty.
Spicy squid salad (nam tok pla muk) is another Polo specialty.
The least intimidating introduction to Bangkok street food is probably the loose collection of evenings-only stalls located at the entrance to Sukhumvit Soi 38. Known to locals simply as Soi 38, this side street near the Thonglor sky train station offers a vast range of Thai staples: grilled pork satay paired with a generous helping of pickled cucumbers and shallots; fiery-sweet pad thai; silky egg noodles with Chinese-style wontons; and that perennial favorite, mango on sticky rice (khao neow mamuang). All vendors here enjoy a devoted following, and have a reputation for being hygienic. Best of all? A gigantic meal for four will typically set you back a mere 400 baht (about US$13).
Another good place to dip a figurative toe into the waters is Polo Fried Chicken, a longstanding outlet off of Wireless Road that spec-ializes in the pungent flavors of Isan, as Thailand’s rural northeastern region is called. The stand—also known as Gai Tod Jeki—is so successful that it now boasts an air-conditioned dining room, a delivery service, and a vastly expanded menu that includes, inexplicably, southern Thai favorites such as gaeng trai pla (fish-entrails stew). But stick with what brought Polo Fried Chicken its horde of customers in the first place: crispy, deliciously meaty fried chicken, garlanded with deep-fried garlic and accompanied by sticky rice and a sweet red chili dipping sauce.
No survey of Thai street food is complete without a mention of Chinese-style grilled duck or barbecued pork on rice. The best place to get this is always up for debate, but one of the oldest and most popular vendors of this dish is Jibgi Ped Yang, across the road from the old Nang Lern wet market in Banglamphu. Juicy cushions of meat come with clear bowls of broth flavored with scallions and lime and generous portions of fluffy white rice. It’s the perfect lunchtime treat.
Bangkok Restaurant: A table at Jibgi Ped Yang.
A table at Jibgi Ped Yang.
Bangkok Restaurant: Roast duck in scallion broth is a specialty at Jibgi Ped Yang, one of the city’s oldest and most popular vendors of the dish.
Roast duck in scallion broth is a specialty at Jibgi Ped Yang, one of the city’s oldest and most popular vendors of the dish.
By now, any longtime Bangkok food fans reading this may be thinking, “Been there, done that.” So consider this: Nai Mong in Chinatown, home to what may possibly be the most succulent oyster “omelets” in the city—crispy disks of egg and flour topped with a bounty of barely cooked shellfish. Lovers of all kinds of seafood, meanwhile, will have to work a tad harder to find Elvis Suki, tucked in a side alley across from the Hua Chiew Hospital. Here, one-of-a-kind grilled scallops paired with slivers of pork, Thai-style seafood sukiyaki, and a whole sea bass grilled in banana leaves set pulses racing.
If noodles are your thing, head to Lookchin Anamai in the Huai Khwang area (it’s across from another medical landmark, the Bangkok Hospital). Named for its famous grilled meatballs, served slathered in a sweet chili sauce, this eatery is praised also for its rice noodles in beef broth, quick service, and reputation as one of the cleanest street stalls in the city. Of equal repute is Raan Jay Fai, just down the road from an old whitewashed citadel called Mahakan Fort. Manned by Jay Fai herself (loosely translated, the name means “Sister Mole”), the one-person “kitchen” churns out plate after plate of pad kee mao goong—stir-fried noodles with shrimp, chilies, and holy basil.
Old-school Favorites
Not surprisingly, some of the most faithful Thai dishes in Bangkok come courtesy of the old-fashioned restaurants in the inner city, all of which have been around for decades. One such gem is Methavalai Sorndaeng, a favorite of Thai grandfathers everywhere. Here, 1950s decor and sedate Thai music performances (evenings only) combine with hard-to-find central Thailand treats such as kratong tong (tartlets filled with minced meat) and khao tang (coin-shaped rice crackers topped with minced pork and prawns) to create a sort of time warp that dispels the clamor of Ratchadamnoen Avenue outside.
Diners in search of a more casual vibe need look no further than the original, much-lauded branch of Krua Apsorn. Plaudits certainly don’t extend to the decor—think school cafeteria—or the Samsen Road location, which can be frustratingly difficult to get to. Instead, the draw here is the well-made, well-executed food: hoy mangpu pad cha (mussels stir-fried with basil and chilies), gaeng som (southern Thai-style curry with lotus stems and prawns), and deep-fried chicken wings. Another oldie but goodie is Sanguan Sri, set on Wireless Road in a gray, nondescript building that has all the charm of a bomb shelter. Open only for lunch, the restaurant is routinely packed by Thais looking for old-style curries, often accompanied by plates piled high with kanom jeen (Mon-style fermented rice noodles).

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