It’s late, the streets are getting emptier, yet life is still in full action on the sidewalks in my neighborhood in Ladprao, Bangkok. The aromatic smells from big pots of simmering broths go through the air, servers walking up and down, serving customers like me and getting the midnight grab order ready for delivery. I sit down, order within 5 seconds as I already know what I want. There’s only one thing I want here, really. Not to diss the other dishes they do, they’re good as well no doubt but this one dish, that you can devour for breakfast, lunch or dinner is simply hitting the spot every single time. You get your condiments, pickled chili, fermented chili sauce, soy & sugar, I always skip the sugar but the others are essential when ordering this typical noodle-soup dish, but made to perfection here at this spot. Stringy, thin egg noodles with a little bite to it with crispy pork, Thai red pork, homemade pork wontons, Thai herbs – served dry, meaning the broth, the soup is served on the side. What I love about this dish is that is so simple, yet so tasty and every person can individually dress the dish up to your own liking. Slurp, slurp, slurp, nobody cares just keep going. The fermented chili starting to hit, a few drops of sweat come down the cheeks, sweat drops of pure happiness.
Another late night streetfood shop that is open even longer (until 4am) is located just 500m apart. This is another gem that I like to hit up after a long night of service, coming back home super late from work. This is a tom-yum soup noodle dish that you can order in different variety of proteins. This is the best I’ve tasted in my 13 years in Thailand and eating Thai food all my life. The broth is sensationally well balanced with spice, acidity, creaminess, richness In flavors, tasty noodles, some soybeans for crunch and perfectly cooked meats and seafood. Same story here, you build your own dish but to be quite honest, with this one I don’t need much, its perfect as it is - maybe a sprinkle of crushed peanuts and a touch of more extra dried chili and you're good to go.
This is Thailand, this is streetfood at its best, great food available at any time to any budget and that’s one little reason why I love living in this city! These people are the true culinary heroes of mine, working their behinds off every day for the average-Joe, just like me.
Amazing Bangkok, amazing Thailand!