Where You Should Eat in Bangkok According to a Pro Chef

This curry will change your whole world of Thai cuisine.

[Pam speaks in foreign language]

. Hi everyone, I am Pam Pichaya Soontornvanakij.

And today, I'm gonna take you

to my favorite spot in Bangkok.

[upbeat music]

That's a perfect bite.

This is Where the Chefs Eat.

Here we are, Lim Lao Sar,

my favorite fish noodle soup.

Let's go

[both speaking in foreign language]

See, this restaurant is actually in between two buildings,

as you can see.

So this neighborhood is called Song Wat,

which is very close to Yaowarat or Chinatown.

I decided to open restaurant here.

It used to be abandoned with old buildings, but nowadays,

the new generations value the heritage building.

This place is also become well known,

and more people started to come.

As you can see, there's a queue outside as well.

So for me, seeing a restaurant that I grow up eating,

grow also in business is something that is very special

for me to come back here.

[both speaking in foreign language]

See, this is one of my favorite plate to order here.

It's actually almost like a dumpling,

but the wrappers of the dumpling is made from fish,

and it's very bouncy, and it's usually sold out.

But she kept it for me because she knows

that I must order this one and the noodle.

And you can see the top, it's very simple,

and then the top is seasoned with fried garlic oil.

Just like that, eat it with a noodle, perfect match.

[motorbike engine roaring]

This is normal situation

where there's a lot of cars in the alleys.

You know, this is normal.

[upbeat music]

So see, this place is very special.

The soup is super clear.

Ah, you can taste the ocean in a good way,

very clean taste.

And then find noodles.

Mix everything first because the vinegar is at the bottom.

And my trick for eating this noodle is not putting

on a spoon because we don't have soup.

I do like this.

Mm, wow.

So the noodle is very gooey and stretchy.

And my first bite, I can feel the slippery of the noodle.

But everything about this place is clean.

Clean flavors, you can taste the seafood,

and you hear for the quality of the noodle,

the fish balls, and the dumplings.

That's it, I'm gonna try the dumpling.

They use only the belly part of the fish

to make the wrappers.

I just know that today.

So that's why it's very suckling,

very fatty in a good way, and very moist, amazing.

Well, every time I come here,

I feel like it's very warm welcome.

It feels like, you know, my mom cooks for me.

[upbeat music]

So right now, we're at Rung Rucang noodle shop,

and it's the best Tom Yum noodle ever for me, guaranteed.

So it's a must place to visit, and it's always crowded.

So make sure you come early,

or you have to line up.

[Tor] Hello. I'm excited.

[Both] Oh. Hi.

And this is my husband and my partner,

and my business partner as well, Tor.

I know he's gonna be here because it's his favorite also.

Yes.

We like different things from this place.

Yeah. So let's see

who's better at ordering.

So Rung Rucang, this noodle place is

in the middle of Sukhumvit.

When we were dating-

[Tor] Yeah. Before we got married,

we come here like once or twice a week.

We love it so much.

How many bowls you gonna have?

Usually, I do three. Three.

Let's see. And with different noodles

for each bowl. Okay.

Ordering noodles in Thailand is very complicated

[Tor] for first-timer. Yeah.

Because first of all, you need to choose the noodles.

[Tor] Yeah.

And there's like six kind of noodles;

the big one, the medium one, the small,

the egg noodle, the glass noodle,

and like a dumpling noodle, almost like a [indistinct]

And then the second one is whether you want soup or dry.

He ordered dry,

I ordered soup. Always dry.

And after that,

you have to choose your proteins or toppings,

whether you want all ground pork

or you want liver as well, or you want intestine.

You have to be very specific, right?

[Tor] Yeah. And we are very specific

of what we like.

And then you order whether you want peanut or not, right?

[Pam] Yeah, I don't do sugar- Yeah.

So I ask for not putting sugar in.

Ordering noodle is very customized

and very detailed for each person.

I'm sure, you see the camera man,

he has his own version of ordering.

He like the same one like me.

Okay.

[upbeat music]

[Tor] So here it is. Oh my God.

Wow, okay.

This is mine.

This is mine.

See, so different.

So you ordered two?

[Tor] Yeah. Yeah.

One thick, one small. Okay.

[Tor] I need to eat this one first.

So in Thailand, we have a box of utensils like this one.

And you just grab your own.

So spoon, and you have to eat with this metal spoon.

It's the best.

Don't go with the plastic one.

This is the best.

And this kind of chopstick reminds us

of like childhood, right? Yeah.

So you see, the broth is not like a clear broth.

You can tell that there's a lot of cooking meat

in here already.

So what you do is we mix it. Mix it well,

and this too. Yes.

[indistinct] Oh, this is a must.

It's fish skin fried.

It goes well with noodles.

So I ordered the small noodle,

you ordered the big one.

This is how he loves to do, rolling the chopstick.

But that's not how I do it.

This is, you're not good at chopstick.

No, I'm not.

So this is a tip for first-timer for chopstick.

You can roll it like that.

So usually, what I do when I get a bowl of noodles,

I would taste the soup first,

whether I need more salty or sour.

Oh my God. He's in heaven right now.

I get the noodle, decent amount,

and then I swirl in the spoon,

so you don't get splash.

And then top with the pork.

Oh my God, then soup.

And then right there, that's a perfect bite.

Perfect amount of noodles, perfect amount of ground pork,

and soup inside as well.

Let's enjoy, cheers.

[Both] Cheers. Yay.

Hmm.

And this one, usually in principle,

you don't put crispy thing in soup,

but for Thai people, we always put like crispy,

whether it's pork or fish skin into the soup.

It just add that crunch but not crispy to the bite.

It's weird, right?

Put fried food in the soup.

Let me explain the taste of the soup.

In Thai, we call [indistinct] which means like,

it's very simple, but in the same time,

there's a lot of flavors of pork and pepper,

and salty, and that's it.

But it's the most balanced soup,

very simple, but it's very difficult to perfect it, you see.

Really worth waiting whole day just to eat this bowl.

[Pam] He finished. Oh, I finished.

Eating too fast.

How do you feel? Really good.

I love it.

[upbeat music]

So right now, we are at Sri Trat,

one of my favorite Thai cuisine.

They serve eastern rustic food.

I love the food, of course, and the vibe

and you know, the whole experience here.

So let's go and see.

[upbeat music]

So the owner of this restaurant is called [indistinct]

We became good friend,

and actually [indistinct] mother,

as you can see in the picture,

she used to be in the beauty pages.

She's also helped the kitchen,

you know, creating the recipes

because she came from Trat, which is close to the sea,

and they would get the best produce from there,

the best fish.

They also get the spices from Isan.

So it's very unique, and it adds up with the whole flavors,

and complexity for this restaurant.

[upbeat music]

Wow, so this is my favorite appetizer.

It's very refreshing.

It's made from pork and barracuda.

And the dressing here is, this is something super unique.

My first time trying a dressing like this,

and it's actually very popular down in Trat.

Let's taste.

So it's just like a salad bowl, but it's Trat style,

with lemon grass, cabbage,

barracuda meat, you know, boiled,

and some pork.

Then you get a little bit of this dressing,

which is like chilies, lime,

a little bit of sugar, and brittle peanut.

So it's something very nutty,

and the same time, spicy and sour.

It's just another level.

Let's try.

I love when a dish has a combination of sourness,

some freshness, and herbie,

a little bit of sweet and salty.

The crispiness of the peanut brittle is amazing.

So the sugar gets very crispy when it dips in the sauce.

This is the perfect appetizer.

You guys have to come and try.

[upbeat music]

So our second dish is a dish

that is almost like a snack before the main course.

This one, I usually use my hand,

because you can see, it's a whole fish.

So the fish is called sillago fish.

And you can actually eat the whole fish,

including the fins, so let's try.

Mm, wow.

There's actually some bones in there, see.

But you can eat the whole thing,

and it gives that more texture,

and the flavor good salty, umami and garlicy.

The garlic we use is called Thai garlic,

which is different from what you can find in Europe,

because this garlic,

you can eat with the whole peel as well, see.

And it's very fragrant.

Usually, it comes in a very small bulb.

It's not like the Chinese garlic where it's big.

It adds up with the whole aromatic of the dish, over here.

Mm, super crispy.

[upbeat music]

So here we are, our main course,

and this is my favorite top of the top list

for this restaurant.

It's called chamuang,

which is like pork with chamuang leaves.

The sourness of the stew doesn't come from any lime

or tambourine juice.

It comes from this leaf.

He choose this leaf very particularly.

It cannot be too young,

otherwise it cannot give that sourness,

and it cannot be too old,

otherwise it's gonna be too vibrant.

So let's taste.

You always have to end up your meal with rice,

sometimes curry in Thailand.

A lot of people around the world,

would imagine an ordinary curry with coconut, but actually,

some of them doesn't contain any coconut milk as well.

So this is a version that doesn't contain any coconut milk.

This curry will change your whole world of Thai cuisine,

so must try this one.

So my perfect bite for this curry is get the pork belly,

the fatty part.

Get some of the chamuang leaves on top,

rice at the bottom.

This is the bite of your life.

It's so delicious.

I grew up in Bangkok,

and even though I studied abroad, like in New York,

Bangkok is always my home.

I cannot live anywhere apart from Bangkok,

because I love the vibe, the busyness of it,

the charm, and the food here,

I cannot live without Thai food.

[upbeat music]