Ask any Singaporean living overseas what Singapore food they miss and we can bet with you that the majority of them would say chicken rice. Chicken rice holds a special place in many of our hearts and it is no mystery why this simple yet flavourful dish has always been a crowd favourite.

We aren’t the only place in the world that has chicken rice though; Bangkok has its own rendition of the dish and while they both may look pretty similar, they do have their differences too.

We tried out Bangkok’s famous Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice on our recent trip to Bangkok and here is how we feel it compared to Singapore’s Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice is a Michelin Bib Gourmand awardee and it started out in 1960 as a simple pushcart stall by a Hainanese immigrant in Bangkok. Today, it is bustling eatery in the middle of Pratunam and it never fails to attract swarms of both tourists and locals alike. 

We ordered one large plate of chicken (120baht) to share amongst ourselves as well as some rice (10baht). The serving size is pretty generous and definitely very value-for-money, especially if you come with a big group of people. Aside from the fresh slices of chicken, the dish also came with a cube of blood pudding.

The meat served to us was very lean and some of the slices were covered in slithers of chicken skin which added more flavour and texture to the chicken. While the chicken was fragrant and flavourful, its flesh was not quite as tender and as succulent as the ones you can find in Singapore, which we found a tad bit disappointing.

To enhance the flavour of the chicken, we recommend smothering it in some of their signature chilli sauce which consists of fermented bean paste, ginger and fermented chilli. The chilli added a lovely spicy kick to the chicken and definitely enhanced the flavours of the overall dish. We have to admit that if we had to choose between Singapore’s Chilli and Bangkok’s we would have a pretty hard time!

All in all, we still prefer Singapore’s Hainanese chicken rice over Bangkok’s chicken rice as we prefer our meat to be more on the tender side. However, Bangkok undoubtedly serves up some pretty solid plates of chicken rice as well and we highly recommend that you give it a try if you’re ever in Bangkok!

Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice
960 962 Phetchaburi Road
Khwaeng Makkasan, Khet Ratchathewi
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10400, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 252 6325
Daily: 6am – 2pm, 5pm – 2am

We will never run out of things to eat in Bangkok. Period.

This gluttons paradise is home to a smorgasbord of scrumptious grub that we wouldn’t mind getting fat for. From cooling husks of coconut ice cream to fiery bowls of Thai green curry, Bangkok hands down has some of the best food that we have ever tasted.

Whether it’s your first time stepping foot into this food heaven or if you’re a frequent traveller to Bangkok, we have here a guide of local food and snacks to give you some ideas on what you need to try on your next trip to the land of smiles.

BOAT NOODLES 

There are few things as addictive as boat noodles and we love the satisfying feeling of stacking all those finished bowls up high. The great thing about boat noodles is that because the portions are all so small and cheap, you get to try a variety of different broths and noodles till your heart’s content without feeling a pinch in your wallet.

Where to get it: Lung Prathunam Boat Noodles, Kin Tiew Kan, Baan Kuay Tiew Ruathong, Doy Kuay Teow Reua Boat Noodles

COCONUT ICE CREAM 

The Bangkok heat can get pretty unbearable at times and that’s why we love indulging ourselves in some Thai coconut ice-cream to cool ourselves down. We absolutely love the rich coconut cream base and we like to garnish our ice creams a sprinkling of peanuts, fruits, and candies.

 Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Hua Mum Night Market, Natthaphon Coconut Ice Cream

CHARCOAL CREPES 

Choose to have your crepes savoury or sweet—we had our charcoal crepe with sliced bananas. You are likely to find crepes in most night markets of Bangkok as it is a common snack you can find even on the streets itself.

Where to get it: Rot Fai Market Ratchada

Photo Credit: erikhasoewito

CRISPY PANCAKES (KHANOM BUANG) 

Khanom buang is a must-eat snack when you are in Thailand. It’s a Thai-style crepe that looks like a crunchy taco. It’s made with rice flour and stuffed with sweet meringue or savoury cream. Toppings vary from egg yolk threads to shredded coconut or chopped shrimp.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Rot Fai Market Ratchada 

DUCK RICE/NOODLES 

If you love duck, we insist that you try the Thai’s rendition of duck noodles and rice. We prefer it over Singapore’s any day and we love how their version features more tender and succulent cuts of duck.

Where to get it: Buay Pochana, Chatuchak Weekend Market, Pondtip Pratunam, Tung Sui Heng Pochana

Photo Credit: feebz9210

FRIED BUGS

This one isn’t for the faint-hearted (and that includes us). If you’re a brave soul who loves trying out new things, we recommend that you have a go at some fried bugs. Bangkok is one of the few places in the world that dishes out these critters like delicacies and you can often get your hands on some at most of the night markets there.

Where to get it: Rot Fai Market Ratchada, Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin, Khao San Road, Soi Cowboy, Klong Toey Market

FRIED QUAIL EGGS 

Fried quail eggs are one of our favourite street snacks in Bangkok. They taste great, albeit extremely simple. The special seasoning used is a sauce that elevates the savoury taste. The egg is also usually not fully cooked, so the yolk bursts once you bite into it.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Chinatown, Ramkhamhaeng University Night Market, Hua Mak

LENG SAAP 

Leng Saap essentially translates to ‘Spicy Pork Bone Soup’ and it basically consists of giant portions of pork ribs and spine that are generously doused in a rich and addictively spicy broth as well as plenty of lime, coriander and chilli. We’ve tried the one at Golden Mile Tower back in Singapore and were instantly hooked, and we pleased to say that the ones here in Bangkok taste even better.

Where to get it: Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin, Rot Fai Market Ratchada

MANGO STICKY RICE

The vast abundance of street food might be a tad too overwhelming for first-timers to Thailand, but one will never go wrong with this classic Thai dessert. Made with coconut milk, fresh mangoes and sticky glutinous rice, this dessert is a delightful contrast of sweet and saltiness.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Talad Neon Night Market, Rot Fai Market Ratchada, Mae Varee Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango, Boonsap Thai Desserts, Muhammad Roddee, Je Meaw Sukhumvit 38

OLIVE RICE 

If you’re tired of plain white rice, why not try some of Thailands olive rice? We love how the rice has an aromatic olive flavour that pairs well with whatever dish it is served with it. It also tastes great eaten on its own!

Where to get it: Street outside Union Mall, Sanguan Sri Restaurant

PAD THAI

It would be a crime to come to Bangkok and not have tried the pad Thai here. This classic stir-fried noodle dish is chock full of different flavours from all its various components such as the nuttiness from the peanuts to the sweetness of the prawns and chilli. It isn’t hard to see why it’s so popular amongst both locals and tourists alike!

Where to get it: Thipsamai, Baan Phad Thai, Pad Thai Mae Am

PAN-FRIED SQUID EGGS 

Squid eggs do sound a little intimidating to people who have never tried them before but we promise you that they taste way better than they sound! Most places serve them in two ways: deep-fried or pan-fried. We prefer the deep-fried version which is first coated with batter for a crispy outer layer, before being deep-fried in hot oil and then drizzled with a tangy green chilli sauce for extra oomph.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Rot Fai Market Ratchada 

PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE (KHAO OP SAPPAROT) 

Nothing beats an iconic plate of pineapple fried rice and this well-loved Thai dish features fluffy Jasmine rice cooked with juicy pineapple chunks. Some places even serve up the dish in a hollowed-out pineapple which makes for a great photo opportunity for the gram.

Where to get it: Ko Eay Ko Kafaa, Tealicious Cafe

PORK TROTTERS RICE (KHAO KAA MOO) 

Whenever we are in Bangkok, we love to indulge ourselves in a sinful plate of pork trotters rice. Here, outrageously tender chunks of braised pork trotters lie atop a bed of white rice and then doused in a generous amount of braising gravy. We honestly wouldn’t mind getting a heart attack for this dish.

Where to get it: Bamee Sawang, Khao Kha Moo Truk Sung

Photo Credit: linhlengkeng

SALTED GRILLED FISH 

The Thai’s prepare their salted fish very differently from the Chinese. Here, they coat the entire fish in a layer of salt while discarding the skin. This interesting technique helps to preserve the moisture of the fishes flesh during the grilling process, keeping it nice, moist and chock full of flavour.

Where to get it: Rot Fai Market Ratchada, Pa Porn Pla Phao, Talad Neon

SOM TUM

For the uninitiated, som tum is essentially Thai-style green papaya salad. There are many roadside stalls selling fresh som tum that is prepared to order. Unripened green papaya is shredded and mixed with chilli, sugar, garlic, lime, fish sauce, tomatoes and several other ingredients to produce a spicy-sour taste that will have you lingering for more.

Where to get it: B-Story Cafe, MBK Mall, Chatuchak Weekend Market

THAI CHICKEN RICE 

While Thai-style chicken rice is somewhat similar to Singapore’s, the chicken is much drier and the rice is a little less oily. Many stalls specialise in both fried and steamed chicken rice and we sometimes have a hard time choosing between the two. We love the chilli sauce that accompanies the dish and it provides anything that is dunked into it with a savoury and fiery touch that packs a punch.

Where to get it: Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice, Kuang Heng, Kaiton Pratunam Chicken Rice

THAI ICED MILK TEA

To combat the sweltering heat, we love to get ourselves a cup of satisfyingly cooling Thai iced milk tea. Renditions of this popular drink can be found in many places around the world but nothing beats going back to the original. While the drink may get too cloyingly sweet at times, we still can’t help but slurp it down because it’s just so addictive.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Khao San Road, Rot Fai Market Ratchada, Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin 

THAI GREEN CURRY 

We love how creamy yet fiery a good bowl of Thai green curry is. The green chillies used give the dish its murky green colour and this is further enhanced with basil leaves and lemongrass. If you can’t take spicy food, be warned that this dish might be a bit too much for you.

Where to get it: Krua Apsorn, Methavalai Sorndaeng, The Sixth

THAI FISH CAKE 

Thai fish cakes are one of our favourite snacks in Bangkok and we love how they are easily available.  If you are lucky, these fish cakes will be freshly deep-fried in front of you, so you can have it piping hot with a generous drizzle of Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Where to get it: Pratunam Market, Chatuchak Weekend Market

THAI-STYLE OMELETTE 

There is something very addictive about Thai-style omelettes that make us prefer it to any other omelette out there. For some unbeknownst reason, the omelettes in Bangkok are the fluffiest and sweetest. Pair it with some rice and Thai green chilli sauce and you’ve got yourself a simple yet satisfying meal that’ll substantially fill you up.

Where to get it: Chatuchak Weekend Market, The Sixth, Raan Jay Fai, Nhong Rim Klong

TOM YUM KOONG 

Common but oh-so-addictive, a hearty bowl of tom yum koong is an ideal centrepiece for meals with large groups of people. The dish is creamy, spicy and tangy all at once and we could easily just eat it doused over a plate of rice without anything else.

Where to get it: The Sixth, The Place 168, Pee Aor

WANTON NOODLES 

If you love Singapore’s wanton noodles, you may wanna give the Thai version a try. Here, springy egg noodles are tossed in oil, soya sauce and chilli, accompanied with greens, small dumplings and slices of honeyed pork. We admittedly can’t decide if we prefer the Thai or Singapore rendition!

Where to get it: Sukhumvit Soi 38, Bamee Sawang, Nai Meng Ba Mee Poo, Odean Noodle

Nestled away in a crevice near Ratchathewi BTS station is B-Story Cafe, a botanical wonderland that not only looks picturesque but serves up fantastic food too.

You’ll feel like you’ve walked into a fairytale upon stepping into this magical French bistro-style restaurant. Brick walls and metal finishings are adorned with luscious green plants and pretty dried flowers that fit in perfectly with the mismatched chairs and tables. Every corner of this quaint, elegant cafe is Instagram-worthy and the place is a short respite away from Bangkok’s bustling city life.

Aside from the enchanting get-up, the cafes extensive menu is something else to get excited about. From local delights to your usual cafe nosh, B-Story dishes out scrumptious dishes that are as stellar as their interior.

We had to wait a fair bit for our food to be prepared but that was no problem at all because it gave us time to be mesmerised by their gorgeous interior.

We started off our meal with a bowl of their Som Tum Thai which for the uninitiated, is spicy Thai papaya salad.

We have to warn you in advance that the papaya salad here is really very spicy and we actually got a shock when we took our first bite. However, the fiery spice did not outshine the refreshing flavours of the papaya and we feel that this is a great appetiser and palate cleanser, especially if you’re about to have a very heavy meal ahead of you.

The dish that surprised us the most was this unassuming plate of Stir-Fried Cabbage with Thai Fish Sauce. We honestly weren’t very impressed when the server placed this on our table but we were proven wrong after taking our first bite.

The amount of wok hei in this dish was off the charts and we were shellshocked by how much flavour was packed into this otherwise sad-looking plate of vegetables. A serving of this goes amazingly well with rice and other dishes but honestly, we could eat it all by itself.

For something a little more filling and substantial, we ordered ourselves a plate of Basil Fried Pork Rice with Fried Egg. Each plate features a generous helping of your choice of basil fried pork or chicken, cucumber, a dollop of white rice and a fried egg.

The basil fried pork was chock full of umami and its juices provided a nice meaty flavour to the rest of the components of the dish. Overall, it wasn’t the best plate of basil pork rice that we’ve ever had but we like how it had an authentic and homely touch to it.

B-Story Cafe 
89, 70 Phayathai Road
Khwaeng Thanon Phetchaburi
Khet Ratchathewi
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10400, Thailand

Just recently, news has been going around about a stall at Golden Mile Tower that specialises in a popular Thai dish called Leng Saap. Since then, the internet has been splattered with pictures of a gargantuan mountain of pork and everyone has been scrambling to try this Instagram-worthy pile of meat.

Leng Saap essentially translates to ‘Spicy Pork Bone Soup’ and it basically consists of giant portions of pork ribs and spine that are generously doused in a rich and addictively spicy broth as well as plenty of lime, coriander and chilli.

We’ve tried the one at Golden Mile Tower and were instantly hooked, so naturally, when we were in Bangkok, we HAD to try the original to see how it measured up. And boy, were we impressed.

Leng Saap can be found in a number of places in Bangkok but the more popular spots are at the Rot Fai Train Markets. We had ours at the Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin Night Market but if it is too far for you, you can always hop on over to Ratchada Rot Fai Train Night Market instead. 

With Leng Saap, you either go big or go home, so we went straight ahead and ordered ourselves an XL (290 baht). If you are aren’t a picky eater, they have smaller portions available in M (150 baht) and L (220 baht) and if you’re coming with a big group of friends, go ahead and order yourselves an XXL for just 599 baht. For the amount of meat you’re getting, it is a complete steal.

If you can’t handle spice very well, we recommend that you tell them to go gently on the amount of chilli because Leng Saap can get unbearably spicy at times.

Skip the forks and spoons and just dig right in with your hand; the great thing about this place is that they provide plastic gloves for those of you who don’t like to get your hands all nitty-gritty.

We were blown away by how tender and lip-smackingly good the pork was; it was the literal definition of fall-off-the-bone. We didn’t need to do too much with our hands to get all that succulent meat out and we love how the fat to meat ratio on each piece was just right.

What truly elevated the dish was the pork bone soup which consists of crushed green chillis, a generous scattering of cilantro as well as plenty of zesty lime. Each mouthful of this ambrosial soup was tangy, savoury and spicy all at once and despite it being so spicy, we couldn’t help but gulp it down with tears in our eyes and dripping noses (no exaggeration here, the broth is REALLY very spicy).

While Singapore’s Leng Saap is phenomenal, trying the original is absolutely life-changing and if you don’t have this while you’re in Bangkok, you are completely missing out. Plus, this towering sight makes for a great picture for the gram!

Leng Saap
Soi Srinagarindra 51
Khwaeng Nong Bon, Khet Prawet
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10250, Thailand
Thu to Sun: 5pm – 1pm
(Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays) 

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If you’re in Bangkok and are on the hunt for eateries that not only have a smorgasbord of delicious food but also a unique layout, this is one place that you should add to your list.

Situated right smack in the middle of Yaowarat—Bangkok’s Chinatown—is Lhong Tou Cafe. This eclectic, cosy eatery is popular for their dim sum as well as their very interesting interior; both of which are incredibly Instagram-worthy.

The common thing about quirkily designed eateries is that they usually have pretty subpar food. This isn’t the case for Lhong Tou Cafe; we never thought that we would ever have some of the best dim sum of our lives in Bangkok and the dim sum here puts some of the ones we’ve tried in Hong Kong to shame!

We’ve attempted to come to Lhong Tou Cafe twice and the very first time we did, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a 2-hour queue which we left within 10-minutes. This time around, we went at an odd hour of 4pm and it had been raining as well, so we managed to skip the crowds and snag ourselves a table pretty quick.

What we absolutely love about this place is the design of the seating area. Here, wooden panels and metal pipes are strategically placed to form a double-decker structure where people can choose to either sit on the top level or at the cubbies at the bottom when they take their queue ticket.

We also love how the entire place was also filled with plenty of lush greenery, giving the entire space a lovely botanical touch.

We started off with a plate of Lhong Tou Shumai where 3 very plump dumplings were doused in a delightfully sweet and savoury sauce. The dumplings were filled with a generous amount of meat that was chock full of umami and the meat to skin ratio was perfect.

Next up, we had the Thai Tea Bun (which features a fluffy, fragrant bun that comes chock full of satisfyingly good Thai tea custard. Tear open the bun to reveal its rich, creamy contents and watch in satisfaction as it slowly oozes out of the bun. The custard here tastes remarkably like actual Thai tea and we highly recommend this dish to anyone who is a huge fan of the drink.

Salted egg lovers will be happy to know that Lhong Tou Cafe has a menu item that resembles the popular salted egg yolk buns that we have here in Singapore. What makes Lhong Tou Cafe’s Egg Lava Bun so different (and better) is its exterior. Instead of a soft, pillowy bun, the lava is encased in a flaky, crispy pastry that provides the dish with plenty more bite and flavour.

Break open the bun to let out all its sinfully good contents; the egg lava here is both salty and sweet at the same time with a distinctive salted egg taste. Coupled with its pastry exterior, we can safely say that this is one of the best salted egg items that we have ever eaten in our lives and we will undoubtedly be back for it the next time we are in Bangkok.

The most adorable and unique item out of the lot was the Shitake Mushroom Bun. This bun looks like a carbon copy of an actual mushroom and what makes it even better is its earthy shitake mushroom filling. Our only gripe with this one is that we wish that there had been more filling because it was so good!

All in all, we highly recommend this place and you definitely need to check it out the next time you’re in Bangkok.

Lhong Tou Cafe
538 Yaowarat Rd, Khwaeng Samphanthawong
Khet Samphanthawong
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10100, Thailand
Tel: +66 64 935 6499
Daily: 8am – 10pm

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