When visiting Bangkok’s Chinatown for the first time is may be hard to know where to go and what to eat first, there are so many great options.
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Chinatown’s street food prowess is well known — this is an area of Bangkok that is regarded as having some of the best street food in the city, if not in Thailand or even the world. While we would argue that there is great street food to be had in just about every part of Bangkok, there’s little arguing that you’ll find it hard to go hungry wandering the streets of Yaowarat.
One ethical recommendation from us: stay away from the shark fin soup that is sadly still widely available in Chinatown, despite growing agreement that the shark fin trade is both unsustainable and unnecessarily barbaric (the shark’s fins are generally removed while it is still alive, with the rest of the creature left to waste or even thrown back into the water in order to save space on fishing boats).
Easily accessible street food can be grazed on in and around Chinatown at all hours of the day, but the street food scenes for which Yaowarat is famous really come alive at night. Large crowds of hungry foodies trawl the streets, as stalls set up along the pavements churning out both the usual Thai street food staples and other dishes with more Thai-Chinese influence.
Street food prices in Yaowarat tend to be slightly higher than elsewhere in Bangkok, but that’s reflected in the quality of ingredients used as well as the skill of the cooks at some of these long-running stalls. Of course, you can also spend a pretty penny at one of the myriad of more expensive sit-down restaurants that line Yaowarat Road — but, as always in Bangkok, spending more is no guarantee that you’ll get a better or more memorable meal than you can have on the street (the opposite is often true).
Among the favourites is daytime rice-and-curry stall Khao Gaeng Jake Puey (daily, 3–9pm; Mangkon Road). This spot is about as photogenic as street food stalls come, with its backdrop a mishmash of decaying advertising plastered across the front of a shophouse. This is a bustling side street where, come mid-afternoon, a cart with various types of curries and stir-fries arrives to feed loyal regulars. Khao Gaeng Jake Puey is unlike most stalls of its kind in that it has no tables, only a couple of rows of plastic stools for you to perch on, with your lunch on your lap — but it’s worth the effort for the likes of green curry, penang curry, and stir-fried crab. Just get there early — things get going mid-afternoon and often sell out pretty soon after!
Also worth checking out for its famous, gourmet-style but nevertheless dirt-cheap khao moo daeng barbecued pork on rice is Si Morakot (daily, 10.30am-6.30pm; Soi Sukorn 1), a shophouse restaurant with a stellar reputation. Just along from it, Chongki (daily, 9.30am-7.30pm; Soi Sukorn 1) serves what’s regarded as some of Bangkok’s best pork satay skewers, alongside the obligatory peanut sauce, ajaat vinegar relish of cucumbers, shallots, and chillies and, if you fancy it, some toasted bread to soak up all the juices.
Hidden away down Soi Plaeng Nam (just off Yaowarat’s main stretch), there are keenly priced, delectably grilled giant river prawns — of the kind Ayutthaya is famous for — waiting to be enjoyed with the ubiquitous chilli-heavy Thai seafood dipping sauce. You’ll be able to recognise Kung Pao Patutong (daily, 6pm-midnight; Soi Plaeng Nam) from the charmingly kitsch retro decor inside — and of course the huge shrimps on the grill out front.
You’ll also find numerous large, fairly brash seafood restaurants set up of an afternoon and evening along Yaowarat Road itself and the streets around it, including at the top of Soi Texas where two competing and equally popular restaurants, Lek & Rut (daily, 5.30pm-2am; Soi Texas) and T&K (daily, 4.30pm-2am; Soi Texas), sit within close proximity to one another, spilling out onto the street from their bricks-and-mortar premises. In addition, slightly further inside Soi Texas sits renowned boiled blood cockle stall Hoy Kraeng Pa Jeen (Tuesday to Sunday, 5.30pm-1am; Soi Texas), where you can perch at a counter stool and tuck into some of Bangkok’s finest freshly boiled blood cockles and mussels, accompanied by made-to-order dipping sauces.
Another Expique pick for Chinatown feasting is Guay Deow Kua Gai Suanmali (Soi Thewi Worayat, Luang Road), a stir-fried chicken noodle vendor recognised in the 2017 Michelin Awards with a Bib Gourmand mark. This delicate dish takes wide flat rice noodles and stir-fries them with chicken and plenty of pepper — the noodles are frequently served on a bed of lettuce leaves and with a liberal dousing of Sriracha chilli sauce. Also awarded a Bib Gourmand is another favourite of ours, Guay Jub Ouan Pochana (daily, 6pm-3am; Yaowarat Road) which serves Chinese-style guay jub rolled rice noodles in a hot, peppery broth with pork belly. The evening-only stall sets up right outside the dilapidated Chinatown Cinema, where there’s a bathroom if you need a toilet break — it’s worth making a visit if only for a look at this slice of Bangkok history. And if you’re craving dessert afterwards, head to Jae Aun Bua Loy Nam King (Tuesday to Sunday, 7–11pm; Yaowarat Road) for the namesake sweet dish of black-sesame-seed-filled rice-flour dumplings in an aromatic ginger broth.
Enjoy both guay deow kua gai stir-fried chicken noodles and bua loy nam king ginger soup with sesame dumplings — plus heaps more Thai food deliciousness — on our evening Food and Tuk Tuk Adventure.
Chinatown borders the Little India district of Pahurat, where you’ll find plenty of options for delicious Indian food, including at cheap-as-chips streetside Toney Restaurant (daily, 11am-10pm; Chakphet Road). Meanwhile, Chinatown and its fringes are dotted with a number of authentically vintage coffee and tea houses, filled with chain-smoking old Thai-Chinese men reading the newspaper and catching up on the neighbourhood gossip. These are great places not just to soak up the old world atmosphere and the lovingly maintained interiors from years gone by, but also to tuck into strong, no-fuss hot or cold coffee with heaps of condensed milk, and similarly no-frills dishes like Thai-style American breakfasts and toast topped with coconut egg custard that’s not unlike Singapore’s and Malaysia’s own kaya spread. The three big-time old-style coffee shops worth checking out are On Lok Yun (daily, 5.30am-4pm; Charoenkrung Road), Kope Kya Kai Te (daily, 6am-3pm; Prachathipatai Road), and Eiah Sae (Monday to Saturday, 8am-8pm; Phat Sai Road).
When it comes to drinking, you’ll find both standalone bars and those in hotels and guest houses right across the Chinatown area but, to check out one of the most happening spots on Bangkok’s cocktail scene, it’s worth heading to Soi Nana, on the fringes of Yaowarat and just a six-minute walk from Hualamphong MRT station. Here you’ll find bars that have made huge names for themselves in just the last two years or so, including the high-end likes of Teens of Thailand (daily, 7pm-midnight, until 1am Fridays and Saturdays; Soi Nana), Tep (daily, 5pm-midnight, until 1am Fridays and Saturdays; Soi Nana) and Asia Today (Tuesday to Sunday, 7.15pm-1.15am; Soi Nana), as well as cheaper, more rough-and-ready spots like Bar 23 (Tuesday to Sunday, 8pm-midnight). While you’re on Soi Nana, make time to look into Oneday wallflowers (daily, 10am-8pm), a beautifully impressive hidden-away florist set in a gorgeous maze-like building that also houses the NANA Coffee Roasters coffee shop (Thursday to Tuesday, 11am-7pm) — so popular that on weekends you’ll almost certainly be met with a queue for a table — and, by night, the Wallflowers Upstairs bar (Thursday to Sunday, 5pm-midnight). Also worth investigating is the newly trendy bar and restaurant scene centred around Charoenkrung Soi 28 and 30, again on the edges of Chinatown and towards Saphan Taksin — head here for cocktail joints like Tropic City (Tuesday to Sunday, 7pm-1am; Charoenkrung Soi 28), craft beer spots such as Let The Girl Kill (Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm-midnight; Charoenkrung Road), and restaurants 80/20 (Wednesday to Monday, 6–11.45pm; Charoenkrung Road) and Jua (Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm-midnight; Charoenkrung Road), plus art galleries including Soy Sauce Factory (Monday to Saturday, 11am-11pm; Charoenkrung Soi 24) and Speedy Grandma (Wednesday to Sunday, 1–6pm; Charoenkrung Road).