Bangkok is a street food heaven. When you travel in Bangkok, you need to eat street food, either get a take-away from a food cart or actually sit and eat on a street side! In this blog, we’ll introduce you to Wang Lang Market. It is the best Bangkok’s street food market that opens during the day. Imagining a bustling market packed with street vendors selling exotic and colorful Thai dishes and snacks? Read on!
Also check out other blogs related to Bangkok street food markets here
10 Thai Street Snacks You Must Try
5 Bangkok’s Fresh Markets Travelers Shouldn’t Miss
7 Off-Tourist-Radar Areas to Eat Street Food in Bangkok
Top 5 Night Food Markets and Spots in Bangkok
Remember that Bangkok is a big city and possibilities for foodies to dive into local dining experiences. One of the best ways is to take a tour with professional food tour agencies like Bangkok Food Tours. Our Thonburi Food & Canals Adventure Tour takes you to 2 street food markets, one of which is Wang Lang. You’ll be fed with tons of delicious Thai food and a fun boat ride via canals.
Briefly about Wang Lang Market
Wang Lang Market is located on the west bank of Chao Phraya river. The area is a part of Bangkok’s Old quarter and preserves a super local vibe. The maze-like market is filled with alleys crossing one another, and cramped with vendors and shops selling clothes, accessories, and fashion items. Good place to pick up cheap and fashionable ladies’ clothing.
Yet, the main draw of the market is its street food. You’ll find stalls offering hot meals and snacks to be taken away in plastic bags. These are namely meat on skewers, fresh fruits, bakery, fried meat balls, spicy papaya salad, and smoothies. There are plenty of restaurants and street stalls that serve specialty like a variety of noodles, pork rice, Northeastern Thai food, and rice with curries.
Wang Lang Market serves early risers. Most stalls close after 2 or 3pm though some restaurants remain open until early evening. Expect the market to be crowded and busy during lunch hours.
Navigating Wang Lang Market
Wang Lang Market doesn’t have an official entrance. It’s on your left after you leave the pier, opposite to Siriraj Hospital, and stretches about 300 meters on Pran Nok Road. Once you see street cart vendors crowding the footpath, that’s the market. However, deeper through alleyways is where the fun begins. When you first enter the market, it could be overwhelming. But if you’re a foodie, the sight of plenty of food will make you happy.
What to Eat at Wang Lang Market
1. Khun Daeng’s Kway Jab Yuan (คุณแดงก๋วยจั๊บญวน)
Kway Jab Yuan or Vietnamese Rice Noodle with Pork Spare Ribs. The noodle is round soft and sticky. The soup got thicken during the cooking process. Slow simmering makes the pork meat tender it easily falls off the bone. The broth is sprinkled with fried shallots, onion and parsley. Delicious! Khun Daeng sorts their ingredients from best sources. Some come from Thailand’s upcountry. Their black pepper comes from Pune, India.
Opens 10am – 7.30pm, daily
2. Sai Mai’s Egg Noodle Soup with Shrimp Wonton (สายไหมบะหมี่เกี๊ยวกุ้ง)
This restaurant is best known for their homemade biteful shrimp wonton and egg yellow noodle. The soup comes with bog choy (Chinese kale), sprinkled onion and parsley. You can also add pork meat and crab meat to it. Once here, get a dessert to finish off your meal. Sarim Tab Tim Krob is colorful flour in iced coconut milk loose syrup. Sarim is flour threads in pink and green. Tab Tim Krob is made of tapioca flour and colored to look like pomegranate seeds.
Opens 9.30am – 7pm, daily (till 5pm on Sundays)
3. Yupin’s Som Tam (ส้มตำเจ๊ยุพิน)
Som Tam is spicy green papaya salad with tomato, cow pea, peanut, garlic, dried shrimp seasoned with fish sauce, palm sugar, lime, and lots of chili. You can have Som Tam Thai with all the ingredients mentioned, or order Som Tam Pu (with black crabs) or Som Tam Plara (with fermented fish). Yupin serves other Northeastern Thai dishes too. Her grilled chicken (Yai Gang) is the best. You can get chicken, pork, beef, duck salads. Note that every dish comes with lots of locals herbs, spices, and chili.
Opens 8am – 7pm, daily
4. Frozen Egg Coconut Ice Cream (ไอติมไข่แข็ง)
We are familiar with egg being a well mixed ingredient in ice cream. But this recipe takes raw egg yolk and lets it freeze on the ice cream itself, creating the layer of frozen egg with mild salty flavor coated on the ice cream before scooping to serve. The egg matches well with the flavor of creamy and sweet coconut ice cream. You can choose toppings like jelly, sweeten fruits, taro, plum, red beans, and so on.
5. Pa Tim’s Khanom Tang Taek (ขนมถังแตกป้าติ๋ม)
Tang Taek is sweet crepe with lots of sugar and sweet fillings. The fillings are such as soft meringue cream, corns, sweet egg yolk threads, sesame seeds, shredded coconut depending on your choice. Tang Taek means to be broke. The dessert has earned this name because it’s cheap. It was cheap back in the day and is still cheap! (50 cents/piece) Pa Tim’s Tang Taek are known for their variety of fillings and the generous amount of fillings.
Opens 7am – 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday
How to Get to Wang Lang Market
The easiest and the most fun way to get to the market is by Chao Phraya Express river boats. From Saphan Taksin BTS Skytrain station, take an Orange Flag boat to Pier No.10 (Pran Nok). The fee is 15 THB. It takes around half an hour. From the market you cab walk 2 km to the famous Wat Arun temple.
