10 Thai street snacks you must try
Thailand is a street food paradise. Period. And you don’t do Thailand right if you haven’t eaten from a street vendor or sit on a street-side to eat once. Thai street food vendors can serve particular dishes or everything, just like a restaurant that pops up on a street side. There’re several famous street food neighbourhoods in Bangkok. In this blog, we’ll talk about snacks that are commonly found prepared by street vendors. They’re available throughout the country. So, next time you see them on a street, be brave and give them a try!
Remember that Bangkok is a big city and there are tons of possibilities for foodies to dive into local experiences. One of the best ways is to take a tour with a local food expert like Bangkok Food Tours and Smiling Tuk Tuk.
1. Coconut Pancake
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: kha nom krok = ขนมครก
WHAT TO EXPECT
Made with flour, coconut milk and lots of sugar in a pan that shapes them into half-spheres, Khanom krok is a little crispy on the shell but is soft and gooey inside. Sweet and creamy, they are plain or come with adds-on at your choice. The famous adds-on are corns, spring onions, taros, and pumpkins. These days, you can find modern recipes, such as seafood toppings. Honestly we don’t think they taste as good as the classic ones but do give them a try if you see them at night markets around Bangkok.
HOW TO BUY IT
The vendor will put 2 halves together. 8 pairs are usually sold for ฿20.
2. Pork Skewer
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: moo ping / moo yang = หมูปิ้ง / หมูย่าง
WHAT TO EXPECT
Moo yang or Moo bing can be eaten as snack or as a light meal. The skewer uses a fatty cut or the sirloin, which is unhealthy but makes it heavenly tasty. Marinated with oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and sugar, it has sweet and salty flavor. Another recipe famous among vendors these days is the milk marinated one, which we think tastes more or less same as the original recipe.
HOW TO BUY IT
฿10/skewer. If the skewer is big, it can be ฿20. Buy a bag of sticky rice (Khao niew) with your skewers to make a light meal. A bag of sticky rice costs ฿5 – ฿10.
3. Sweet Roti
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: roti = โรตี
WHAT TO EXPECT
A popular type of Thai street snacks in tourist neighborhoods like Khao San Road, Roti vendors are photo and video worthy. The vendor tossing, massaging a dough, and cooking it on a hot pan with bare hands (sometimes) is like a free show you can enjoy as you wait for your delicious Roti. The dough mixes flour, butter, egg, and palm oil. You can order plain, or put toppings like chocolate, Nutella, banana, corn, and cheese on. When finished cooking, there is another drizzle of sweetened condensed milk on top. Yes, it’s a real sweet affair.
HOW TO BUY IT
Plain Roti costs between ฿7 – ฿10. One topping costs another ฿5. How much you pay for your Roti depends on how fancy your toppings are. But it shouldn’t cost more than ฿30.
4. Fried Insects
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: ma laeng tod = แมลงทอด
WHAT TO EXPECT
This is the Thai street snack that puts Thailand across global media. Thanks to travelers taking photos with scorpions on skewers or as they are about to put deep fried crickets with their mouths, fried insects have been popularized. The most popular insects on the menu are bamboo worms (rod duan), grasshoppers (takatan), and crickets (jing rid). Deep fried with fragrant herbs, and drizzled with salt and pepper, they’re great with beer. What about the scorpions? They’re not that tasty. But worry not if you want to try them, the venomous stings have been removed from their tails.
HOW TO BUY IT
A hundred grams of fried insects cost between ฿40 and ฿60.
5. Thai BBQ Skewers
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: ba be kiew = บาร์บีคิว
WHAT TO EXPECT
Same same with Kebab but different, Thai BBQ comes on skewers. Lightly marinated and glazed with ketchup, they tastes rather sweet. Pick your meat between chicken, pork, and beef. On the skewer, you also get a cherry tomato, slices of onion, green pepper, and pineapple. The vendor will put a generous amount of ground pepper before serving.
HOW TO BUY IT
A skewer costs between ฿10 – ฿20. Beef is usually more expensive than chicken and pork.
6. Thai Crepes
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: kha nom bueng = ขนมเบื้อง
WHAT TO EXPECT
Nicknamed sweet taco, the folded crispy crepe is about 3-4 inches in diameter. The batter of the crepe is made of flour, egg, and sugar, then cooked on a griddle until it turns golden brown. The soft meringue-like cream, made of egg white and sugar, is filled on top. Then it’s your choice of sweet or savory flavor. If sweet, your topping will be sweet egg yolk threads and perhaps raisins. If savory, the topping will be spring onions, pork threads, shrimp, and egg.
HOW TO BUY IT
Usually 7 pieces for ฿20. Some vendors serve a ‘traditional’ recipe. Their toppings are more fancy and may cost up to ฿10 a piece
7. Thai Japanese-Style Crepes
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: kha nom tokyo = ขนมโตเกียว
WHAT TO EXPECT
Khanom Tokyo is a Thai street snack that is among school kids’ favorites. You didn’t miss-read it, the snack is called Tokyo. It was believed to be sold for the first time in Bangkok is 1967 at a Japanese department store. The thin flat pancake of also 3-4 inches in diameter comes in sweet or savory fillings. The sweet ones are custard cream of vanilla, pandan-leaf, or taro flavors. The savory fillings are sausage and minced pork or quail egg and minced pork. Some vendors offer a combo: a bigger pancake with sausage, quail egg, and minced pork inside.
HOW TO BUY IT
A sweet filling costs ฿3 – ฿5. Sausage and quail egg ones are between ฿5 – ฿10. The combo is between ฿10 – ฿20.
8. Shaved Ice with Syrup
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: nam khaeng sai = น้ำแข็งใส
WHAT TO EXPECT
A great Thai street snack to fight the tropical heat. Think Ice Kacang in Malaysia or Bingsu in Korea, it’s the same concept. A bowl of coned shaved ice is poured with colorful syrups at your choice. Beneath or on top of the ice, you can choose the toppings: red beans, grass jelly, corn, coconut jelly, ice cream, and Sabja seed. The challenge if the toppings are underneath the ice is, can you dig holes in the ice to reach the toppings without destroying the beautiful cone?
HOW TO BUY IT
A bowl of this shaved ice snack costs between ฿20 – ฿30. Upcountry, you can find one for ฿10 – ฿20.
9. Northeastern Thai Sausage
WHAT TO EXPECT
The delicious pork and sticky rice sausage comes in balls of full bites. Marinated with garlic and other spices, they can be a bit naturally sour. They’re eaten with bird-eye chillies, raw cabbage, and sliced ginger. Wrap them all together and pop in your mouth, and expect an explosion of extreme Thai flavors.
HOW TO BUY IT
One sausage skewer costs ฿10 – ฿20.
10. Fried Banana
NAME OF THIS THAI STREET SNACK: glu-ai tod / glu-ai khaek = กล้วยทอด / กล้วยแขก
WHAT TO EXPECT
Another Thai street snack of all time, deep fried banana is sweet, crispy, but of course oily. The flour batter mixed with shredded coconut and sesame seeds gives it a little creamy taste. Often, the vendors also offer other fried delicacies like tapioca and taros.
HOW TO BUY IT
A paper bag of 7-8 pieces of fried banana costs ฿20.
