It’s our second night in Bangkok. Tonight we’re going to go on a “foodie tour” focused on Thai street food. We try to go on some sort of a food-oriented tour whenever we’re someplace that might have a good one to offer. The tour tonight ought to be good because 1). We’re in the land of wonderful Thai cuisine. 2). It’s at night, and 3). We’ll be going from place to place via tuk tuk.
Midnight Food Tour by Tuk Tuk
The tour we signed up for is called “Midnight Food Tour by Tuk Tuk.” When we signed up, they provided us with detailed instructions for how to reach the initial meeting point. They even provided a paper with instructions in Thai that we could hand to a taxi driver to get us there. (Their thoughtfulness was comforting, but the fact that they thought they had to go to that extent was worrisome. Was the destination that hard to find?)
Just to be on the safe side, we went to the meeting point early. It was near the entrance to a shopping mall. Were we supposed to stand there on the street, or maybe go inside the mall? By the time we figured out that it wasn’t in the mall, our guide appeared and greeted us. We’d been at the right spot — just a little early.
Pretty soon everyone who was taking the tour had gathered. There would be twelve of us — twelve people in six tuk tuks. Our guide had everyone introduce themselves. Our tour-mates were from all over the world. Everyone was ready for some fun. You can’t not have fun riding in a tuk tuk, (even if you might not be going where you think you’re going). They’re just fun.
Crispy Catfish
In no time, we were off to our first stop. I had expected tour destinations to be vendor stalls, but they were more like open-air restaurants. At the first place, we all sat at a long table. Several dishes were brought out as everyone helped themselves, family-style. Our guide did a nice job of telling us what we were eating, and giving us some background about the dishes and the type of cooking involved.
All of the dishes were really good. I only remember one in detail – crispy catfish with green mango salad. (“Yam pladuk fu” in Thai, I think). To make it, they grill a catfish, mix the grilled meat with bread crumbs, and fry it. The result is a thing that looks like a big sponge.
You can’t see anything that resembles a fish on your plate. However, in case some people were worried, our guide made it clear that we were having “crispy catfish,” and not “crispy cat.” Ha ha. It was very tasty. When we were finished, everyone climbed back into their tuk tuks and sped off into the night.
Guay Tiew Ku Gai – And I’m not kidding!
At the next destination, the specialty of the house was Guay Tiew Ku Gai. Of course! Good ol’ Guay Tiew Ku Gai! I had never heard of it before, either. The other name for it is “Chicken-Fried Noodles.” Our guide explained that this dish, like a lot of Thai cuisine, has Chinese DNA.
To make chicken-fried noodles, they fry chicken, rice noodles, egg, garlic, green onion, and spices in pork fat over very high heat. The noodles get crispy on the outside, but stay soft on the inside. It was amazing, but really, I have no words to describe how good it was. There’s a photo of it at the top of this post.
There were some non-foodie stops on the tour, too. We took a walk though Bangkok’s biggest flower market. It’s huge. We’ve noticed so many beautiful, fresh flowers since we arrived in Bangkok. They seem to be everywhere – even along the freeway near the airport. This must be where they come from.
We also went to the Grand Palace. Some areas were closed because it was night, but I’d say night is the best time to go. There were no crowds, it was nice and cool, and we had our own, personal tour guide to explain everything to us.
Pad Thai at Thipsamai
But let’s get back to the food. The last food stop we made was for pad thai. Back home, pad thai has always been my go-to Thai dish. But I thought pad thai was just another thing to order on a Thai menu. I didn’t know that it’s practically the national dish over here.
Pad thai didn’t become the Thai national dish because it tastes so good. It became the Thai national dish by decree(!). The man who made the decree was Thailand’s ruler in the World War II era. His shortened/western name is “Phibun.” He was a very interesting fellow. (We’ll come back to him before leaving Thailand).
In the 1940’s, Thailand experienced a serious shortage of rice, the main staple of the Thai diet. Suppose you’re a rice farmer. It turns out that if, instead of eating the rice you’ve grown, you make noodles out of it, your rice will go a lot farther. And pad thai consists primarily rice noodles.
With this in mind, Phibun’s government created a campaign to get people to eat less rice and more rice noodles. A new dish called “pad thai” was the noodle dish of choice. The Thai government issued a government-sanctioned pad thai recipe. They even provided means for vendors to get street-ready pad thai cooking stations. Pretty soon – and ever since — pad thai was everywhere in Thailand.
On the tour, we stopped for pad thai at the most famous place to get pad thai in Bangkok. It’s called “Thipsamai.” It’s been here for 70+ years. Their claim to fame is that they’ve remained true to the original pad thai recipe.
Out in front, cooks were cooking up pad thai in big woks over huge flames. It was fun to watch — from a distance, for sure. Our group was ushered through the throng of people outside and into a nice dining room in back.
I ordered one of their specialties – shrimp pad thai encased in a paper-thin coating of cooked egg. It was really good, of course.
One More Stop – A Roof-Top Bar
The last stop on the tour was at a roof-top bar. I couldn’t tell you where it was, but we had a spectacular view of Bangkok at night with its lit-up temples. It was nice to be outside in the fresh air.
The four of us got even more fresh air on the tuk tuk ride back to the hotel. Our two tuk tuk drivers took advantage of the nearly empty streets to have a friendly race. Nothing too dramatic, but really fun, just the same.
It was after midnight when we got back to the hotel. The foodie tour exceeded all of our expectations. We’d only been here a couple of days, but we were already loving Bangkok. Tomorrow we’re heading out of town for a one-day excursion by train.
To be continued…
