Amazing Local Thai Food Just Off Khao San Road in Bangkok
One of my absolute must-dos for Bangkok was to sync up with fellow Arizonan expat, and travel foodie master blogger and YouTube sensation Mark Wiens of Migrationology. His food updates from Asia over the last few years have inspired me, and left my mouth hankering for a visit to Southeast Asia. Of the various folks who inspired me to make the trip to Asia and got me VERY excited about eating my way across the region, the two at the forefront were Mark (Migrationology) and Jodi (Legal Nomads).
So, when it turned out Mark was going to be in town and free to grab a quick meal, I was thrilled. After a meetup down in the Khao San Road area, we set out to find and introduce me to some fantastic local Thai eats.
The place Mark and his lovely wife/co-camera woman took me to was situated about 5 minutes walk from the tourist district, fully authentic and situated at roughly at 243 Phra Sumen Rd.
We settled in and I left the ordering to them. What followed was a mouth-watering, aromatic, eye watering, flame breathing culinary adventure and intro to a number of new dishes I hadn’t had the opportunity to explore yet.
It was good, it was fresh, at times it was spicy and just like a good dish always inspires, I was left struggling not to pick up and lick every plate along the way.
I also learned some great advice and wisdom: Know all those veggies in many Thai soups? They’re there mostly for flavoring, not consumption. Turns out, all these years, I’ve essentially been eating the equivalent of the garnish and wondering why it was so intense and pallet annihilating.
So, without further adieu, here’s Mark introducing the dishes we tried. For more bite-by-bite introductions to amazing foods from the region hit up Mark’s blog. Even if you’re not a food person, you’re going to find yourself watching more than a few videos.
Follow Mark at Migrationology or jump straight to his YouTube Channel.
You can also see Mark and Andrew Zimmern take on Bangkok’s food scene here in his video here.
Never knew you were supposed to avoid the veggies in Thai soups. To be fair though. cilantro is pretty hard to push out of the way! 😛
haha, it is indeed! And my understanding was you can eat as much or as little as your personal preference suggests. The small veg is intended to be eaten, so that probably includes the cilantro, but the really big pieces of things like lemongrass etc. – not so much!
Amazing. Thanks for the post. Now I’m hungry.
Thanks! Yeah it was mouth watering. Every time I re-watch this video I get very very hungry!
I always love eating where the locals eat as well… too bad I don’t have a strong stomach, as each and every holiday I seem to get sick for a few days because of the food… doesn’t stop me from trying everything though:)
Definitely look into probiotics! They did wonders for me – never had a real issue in my 19 day trip despite normally having a fairly temperamental stomach! And yes, even when it goes a bit wrong…still worth it right!?
Thai food is amazing and so cheap!
Though Khao San road did end up making half of our group ill when we visited! Such a shame, but I will be back for sure 🙂
Just read your tip above about probiotics. May have to give those a go on our next trip!