If you go to Thailand on holiday, you will most likely find that the local food is one of your highlights. You will find this both delicious and cheap. Here are some of my favourite Thai food dishes.
1. Tom Yum Egg Noodle with Red Pork (baa mee tom yum)
2. Egg Noodle with Wonton and Red Pork (baa mee kieo nam moo daeng)
At noodles stalls you are often spoilt for choice as there are at least five different kinds of noodles. Then you can choose either dry or with soup. With wontons and with red pork or fish balls. These are my two favourites. The first one is hot and spicy. The other is up to you how much of the four flavours you add.
3. Chicken in Yellow Curry (khao mok gai)
4. Chicken Rice (khao mun gai)
These two are always very popular. You can choose either fried chicken or boiled chicken. They both come with sauces and a bowl of chicken stock. The yellow rice has turmeric.
5. Noodles Fried in Soy Sauce (pad si-eel)
6. Crispy Noodles in Gravey (rat naa mee grob)
Like the earlier noodles, you can choose any kind you like. I prefer the wide noodles and the crispy egg noodles. The same stall usually sells both of these dishes.
7. Chicken curry (gang gari gai)
8. Green Curry with pork (gaeng kieo moo)
9. Green curry with bamboo shoots
10. Red curry with pork
There are so many different currys and soups. Difficult to be comprehensive here. Two that I missed here are massaman and penang curry. The traditional Thai curry are coconut milk based.
11. Tom Yum Chicken (tom yum gai)
12. Coconut Soup with Galangal (tom kha gai)
I like the bottom two soups a lot. Tom Yum is the dish made with lemon grass and galangal. The latter dish has more galangal and coconut milk. Tom Yum is often cooked with fresh prawns. But, it is equally as good with chicken.
13. Fish cakes (tod mun pla)
14. Satay Pork
There are so many roadside snacks that there is only room for two favourites here.
15. Grilled chicken and sticky rice
16. Som Tam
Som tam, made with shredded green papaya and sauces such as lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind paste and also crushed garlic. It is often eaten with grilled chicken and sticky rice. I never grow bored with this dish and can eat every week.
17. Fried noodles with dried shrimp (pad thai)
18. Fried mussels in batter (hoi tod)
The last two dishes are often sold together. The first one, pad thai, is popular with most foreigners. Like any dish, the recipe varies a lot and I will often cross the town to eat at my favourite food vendor. The second dish is fresh mussels fried in a batter that also includes an egg. I like the crispy version of this one.
This list is by no means comprehensive but gives an idea what you should try and eat on a short holiday in Thailand. Feel free to add your own favourites in the comments section. If I don’t have them already over at our sister site www.ThaiStreetFood.com then I will add them soon.
Richard,
I was just in Bangkok recording Thai for an online language course that we are putting together. Your photos & descriptions make me want to head right back again.
We will be needing “visuals” for the Thai version of our site. We Hope to open by the end of the year with Chinese, Turkish and English, soon to be followed by Japanese, Bulgarian and Thai. Searching on line and taking our own photos works pretty good, but your photos are just what we look for, clear, uncluttered, and “partial” shots. Not overdone.
Please do check out our site, the basic course, (about 35 hours of study) is free, and if you think that you would like to contribute to the Thai version, I would love to hear from you. Bad news is that we would not be able to compensate you at this time. We are on a real shoestring kind of budget. But still, do check out the site if you have time.
Kurt
Sulantra.com
The food looks so delicious!
The food looks really yummy!
I agree, it’s so easy to find noodle stalls in Thailand.
Thanks for sharing the pics.
Thanks foranother mouthwatering article, Richard!
Good to see you’re still with the same school?
I used to work with Steve in Pathum Thani.
Your blogs are good medicine for homesickness.
Keep up the good work!
Hi Richard,
i’m from The Netherlands.
I was many times in Thailand, my mother is born in Thailand. The Thai food…yummi.
My favourite: tom kha gai and sam tom.
Thanks
Aloi mak mak!
I’m in south Orange county in Calif. After looking at the pictures, I had to grab the CP brand – frozen noodle and wonton soup that I just bought from Costco (warehouse store).
Not as good as the real one in Thailand, but that the best I got or drive an hour to Hollywood Blvd.
You are killing me with those pictures.
I like Khao Mok Gai a lot. Thai-muslims make it really delicious.
I enjoy the sweet and sour sauce, although it can be a bit sweet.
Thnks. data My Favourite Thai Food, I Love Thailand and people be benevolent
Delicious i like this food.