Southeast Asia is famous for many things including historical sights and natural wonders not to mention the kind and helpful people, but there is one thing that everyone will mention among the first things when talking about a trip to the region: food. This is so even if the local food may be very different from country to country in SEA. In this post, I will talk about food, restaurants and eating in Thailand.
For me, the country in Southeast Asia that has the best food and the most options is definitely Thailand. This is after spending a long time in all the countries in the region including the smaller ones too, like Brunei. You are no longer forced to select the good old fried rice or chicken rice, which may, after a time, become awfully boring.
Besides the having plenty of options, food in Thailand is very reasonably priced. Even in Bangkok, you will rarely pay much more than 50 baht for a plate, and portions are not tiny. Spicy? – yes, but come on, this is Southeast Asia!
I also enjoyed it very much that you could also have several options if you wanted soup, which I am a fan of. You have “international” dishes, the ones that are available in other countries of Asia or Southeast Asia too, but most of the time, they are localised versions, with spices and ingredients that are more enjoyable for Thai people – and me.
Prices may, or very often will, be higher in very touristic areas like resort islands (Samui for example), but even then, you won’t have to pay too much for a meal, especially if you only go to simple restaurants rather than famous ones or luxury hotels.
Below, I will recommend you some of my favourite dishes that I had in Thailand in various places including Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Koh Samui. These are generally available all over the country, so you will easily find them wherever you go in Thailand.
Wonton soup
Wonton itself is a dumpling filled with either meat or vegetables, and it originates in China. One of the ingredients of the wonton soup is this dumpling, but as you can see in the photo above, it has lots of other ingredients too, including pork, celery and other vegetables.
I have a separate post where I write about how I regarded the wonton soup a possible cause of my upset stomach, but later I realized the culprit must have been something else. Strangely, when I look at the server logs, I see that a lot of people find that post of mine when they want to discover if wonton soup is good for an upset stomach. Well, all I can say is I have no idea, but I strongly doubt.
Tom yam soup
Tom yam is a Thai soup, the name is also Thai: yam is a salad, and tom means boil (the way of preparing the soup). It is a little sour, and has lots of vegetables in it, and an egg. It is usually served with shrimp, which I don’t like. But luckily, in Chiang Mai they also served it with chicken, so I could also enjoy this delicacy.
Sukiyaki soup
Sukiyaki is originally a Japanese food, but in Thailand, it has been localized, and it has actually become one of the most famous Thai foods that are available in Thai restaurants all over the world. The name is usually shortened to “suki”, even on menus. The ingredients include some type of meat (beef or chicken), and lots of veggies. Of course it is spicy (but that goes without saying).
Rice soup
Rice soup is not my favourite, but I found it so strange, that I actually wrote a separate minipost about it in my “Story Behind a Picture” series. Read more about it there.
The good old chicken rice – the Thai way
“Chicken rice” is the name of a food that they sell everywhere around Southeast Asia. And the name already has almost all that you get on the plate if you order a portion. Stewed or sometimes fried chicken pieces and rice. For me, this dish was really nothing special, and rather bland to be honest. I actually thought one can only resort to it when he is simply hungry and wants to eat something cheap quickly, rather than wanting to enjoy a good meal. I was more than surprised when one American guy I met said chicken rice was delicious 🤨.
Chiang Mai was the only place where they elaborated chicken rice to a level that was already really delicious and enjoyable. This plate above costs 50 baht, and it has yummy yellow rice and two types of chicken plus some cucumber.
Another thing no note here is the soup that you can see in the photo. I loved it when in many countries in Southeast Asia, you get a small cup of soup with the food you order (unless you order soup 🙂
Khao soi soup
I’m really sorry, but by the time I managed to take my camera out of its bag, for some reason, half of the khao soi had mysteriously disappeared from my plate 😏
Khao soi (pronounced kho soy) is perhaps the most famous Thai food in the north, especially in Chiang Mai. It is a very delicious soup made with egg noodles, chicken, curry sauce and various vegetables. I just couldn’t have enough of it. In restaurants, you get some onions and a piece of lemon on a small plate with it, which you can mix with the soup if you want to (yes, you want to!).
In Chiang Mai, there are quite a few places that specialize in khao soi, and mainly sell this soup together with a few other dishes perhaps. One of them, Khao Soi Khun Yai, is near the northern gate, and is so famous that there are huge queues in front if the entrance around lunch time. It actually only opens for lunch, and when they have sold everything, they put up a sign notifying further customers that everything has been sold out. I have tried it once only, and to be honest, I didn’t find their khao soi any more special than what I had in other restaurants.
Markets
Markets are always a good pace to grab some food either for take away or for eat-in, because there are often food stalls with simple tables and chairs. These places tend to be cheap, and most of them offer delicious food. In thailand, there is a lot of seafood and fish too to select from.
Food courts
Another place I love in Southeast Asia is the food courts. If you see a larger mall, you can be sure that they will have a food court too. This is of course usual all over the world, but the difference is that here, food courts are not home to overpriced and tasteless food only. There are very simple food stalls too, where you can have all the usual fare with low prices.
One of the places I was a regula at in Bangkok was the food court at the Tops Supermarket in the Sathorn district, but you can find Tops at many other locations, too. They have this strange system, where you first need to get a card which you can only use at the Tops food courts, you fill it up with as much money as you want, and you can only use these cards when paying at the different food stalls. There are dozens and dozens of them, and prices are very reasonable (50-60 baht will already buy you a meal), and the food is good.
