Spice Roads

Street-side is where it’s at for lovers of authentic Thai dishes, but eating like a local calls for knowledge only a Bangkok insider can supply. GREG LOWE serves up a street food primer

Along with smiles, temples and beaches, Thailand’s food has to be considered a marquee attraction. And while this fi ery form of culinary expression has conquered the globe, even the most diehard Thai food fan hasn’t tasted anything until he has sampled the mouth-watering offerings from Bangkok’s street hawkers and shophouses.

Venture into this delicious demimonde and you’ll soon discover the energy involved in preparing the cuisine’s trademark dishes.

Ingredients are bashed, smashed, crushed or chopped. Pestles are pounded, cleavers cleave and all manner of herbs and spices are boiled or fried.

The sizzle and crackle of food frying, the cloud of chilli vapours from the wok, the aromas of garlic, lemongrass and Thai ginger: all this combined with the constant banter of the cooks builds a real sense of gastronomic anticipation.

Still, many visitors to Thailand overlook the pleasures to be found in eateries located off the beaten tourist track. To help ease people into this exciting but occasionally intimidating culinary realm, here’s a look at some of
the best-known street foods.

SOM TUM

Well known as the trademark food from Isaan in northeastern Thailand, som tum is a salad consisting of green papaya that has been shredded and bashed about in a mortar, along with a mix of garlic, fresh and dried chillies, tomatoes, long beans, lime juice, fi sh sauce, dried prawns, palm sugar and peanuts.

The “klok” or “pok-pok” – Thai for mortar and pestle – is the quintessential apparatus. When you see one or hear its woodpecker-like call, you’ve hit the bull’s eye in the search for this distinctive regional dish.

Made from wood or clay, the klok differs from the granite mortar and pestle used to grind spices and create curry pastes. Making som tum, or some of the other spicy Isaan dishes, is more about releasing the flavours of the ingredients than turning them to mush.

After deciding on the sweetness and spiciness, the cook begins the frenzied shredding and pounding of ingredients, adding small amounts of herbs and seasonings to get the balance just right.

For the best som tum and other Isaan specialities, visit the shophouses and stalls on Soi Convent, around the corner from Sala Daeng BTS station.

KHAO GAENG

Easily identifi able by their rows of trays and saucepans brimming with different curries and vegetables, khao gaeng stalls offer great opportunities to sample a wide range of Thai foods. They’re cheap, too. Typically, a plate of rice with two different dishes costs around THB20 to THB30 (10 to 15 cents). Order as many as you like, just pay an extra THB10 (5 cents) or so for each addition.

Typical dishes include gaeng kiew wan (green curry), phad nor mai (stir-fried spicy bamboo), pao lo (belly pork with boiled eggs in an herbal sauce) and hua chet bo (stir-fried pickled radish).

Stalls selling southern Thai cuisine often feature the pak kred, a selection of fresh herbs and vegetables, that you can take by the handful to complement your curry. And Thais are not scrooges with their food. Point and say: “Chim gawn dai mai” (“Can I try some, please?”), and you’ll be given a spoonful.

Try the stalls around the streets of Patpong market after 5pm for some of the tastiest selections of these foods.

PHAD THAI AND SEAFOOD OMELETTES

Phad Thai, noodles fried with tofu, ground peanuts, chilli, lime, dried prawns, egg and fi sh sauce, is best cooked on a massive iron griddle. Few general restaurants boast this essential piece of equipment and the flavour suffers accordingly.

The street vendors and stalls that specialise in phad Thai are distinguished by this huge slab of metal, and watching the cook soften the noodles, fry the ingredients and combine it all with egg, is almost as enjoyable as eating the fi nished product.

Fans of seafood will be pleased to know that many of these stalls also sell hoi thod, a kind of seafood omelette made with fresh squid, prawns, fi sh, clams and mussels. Most places display all of the ingredients on ice in front of the griddle.

Among the best spots for phad Thai are Khao San Road and Soi Thonglor, near Thonglor BTS station.

NOODLE SOUP AND RED PORK

Bangkok and most Thai towns and cities are festooned with little family-run shophouse eateries. Many, like Chua Shua Huat – near the stairs below Sala Daeng BTS station – sell Chinese-influenced dishes such as kuay tiew (rice noodle) soup or moo daeng (red pork).

You can recognise them by the glass cabinets at the front full of fat white kuay tiew (rice noodles), fi sh sausage and pork balls, or glazed moo daeng (red pork) and deep-fried belly pork.

There’s also a great sense of history to many of these places. Some have been in business for half-a-century and are still being run by the original owners.

Everyone pitches in to produce offerings that include khao moo daeng (red pork with rice), yen ta fo (noodle soup with fermented red bean paste), bami giow nam (wonton soup) and po pia sod (soft spring rolls).

Overall, probably the best advice on choosing where to eat in Bangkok is to follow the locals. Thais are food-obsessed, and while Silom Road and Sukhumvit Soi 38 are standout foodie destinations, any shophouse or street stall crowded with Thais will take your taste buds on the journey of a lifetime.