Traveling to a foreign place can be scary sometimes. New modes of transportation, language barriers, and food choices can cause a lot of confusion. Even if you’re winging your plans, I highly recommend booking a walking food tour. On our second day in Thailand, we got to experience the Historical Bangrak Food Tour. Our meet up spot was one of the Skytrain Exits, making it easy to get there. Our guide was Moh, she spoke great English and was super funny.
Our tour consisted of Mom & Pop restaurants, where recipes have been passed down for generations. Bangrak is full of diverse flavors, many that have mixed with Thai influence. I love that this tour supports small communities like this one.
Our first stop was a street cart, where we got to try yummy jackfruit. Jackfruit is yellow on the inside and has similarities to Juicy fruit gum, it’s totally edible though! The outside is large bumpy peel.
Our next stop was an eatery most known for their roasted duck. At this stop we had FIVE dishes to taste, we were getting so much right off the bat. The first dish was roasted duck on a bed of rive with a side of cucumber. We topped it off with a honey, sugar, vinegar dressing, and it was amazing! The second dish was a common Thai dish, papaya salad. It was so refreshing in this hot climate! We even got to see how they made it. Next we tried some sticky rice, and our guide suggested that we put some of the papaya salad dressing on top for some flavor. Next was Nam Tok Moo, pork mixed in with spices and mint leaves. The last dish at this stop was a chicken mushroom soup, which was kinda spicy for me. In Thailand, I’m able to test out my spicy tolerance, and I know I can’t handle Thai spicy level yet.
Next, we walked to a temple and learned about some Thai etiquette. While our guide explained temples and 5 rules, she let us try this colorful coconut candy. It was so good, she even had extra and let us try more.
Our next restaurant stop was a Muslim Thai place. Here our guide explained different types of curry. The dish we tried was an egg naan flatbread with cucumbers, and panang curry which had noodles in it! This place was a fusion of Thai and Indian, it was so unique and delicious!
After, that we walked over to Miss Lee, a small hole in the wall restaurant known for their fish ball soup. On the wall, it said a bowl was only 50 baht (about $1.50). Here you can choose which type of noodle you’d like. The soup was a pink broth, a mix of ketchup, fish balls, fried tofu and some vegetables. It was so good, one of the kids on our tour and asked for another bowl for himself! The perfect pairing for a spicy soup, a cold refreshing bottle of coca cola. For some reason, it always tastes better in a glass bottle.
We walked down Silom for about 15 minutes and passed by a Buddha tree, where local wrap colorful fabrics and offer Red Fanta, apparently, the color red is lucky! A local also splashed us with water since it was day 2 of Songkran.
Our last stop was a nicer restaurant called Kalpapruek. Here, we tried a flatbread that you can dip in green curry. Our last taste was a scoop of ice cream, they saved the sweetest for last. I got young coconut and Andy got tamarind. Our guide suggested that we mix the two flavors to create an amazing combination.
Everything we tasted was “aroi mak”, meaning “very delicious” in Thai. I think the best way to get to know a city is by their food, and through their food you can learn more about their culture. What was great about this tour was that we got to taste unique dishes instead of the common Pad Thai and Thai Tea that we all know and love. Their pricing is totally reasonable, considering all the food you get. After 4 hours of walking and eating, I was full and my stomach was happy. Thank you Bangkok Food Tours for having us!