If you’re planning to make a trip to Bangkok and you’re still clueless on how to fill your itinerary up, why not pay a visit to Bangkok’s bustling Chinatown?

Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown, is a culturally rich area that’s packed with plenty of history, stunning architecture and of course, food. It’s the perfect place to check out if you want to learn and experience the way Thai and Chinese cultures have intermingled and co-existed in Bangkok for years.

The streets here are lined with a plethora of food vendors, temples, monuments and locals going about their daily lives and there is always something happening at any point in time. This can make it quite overwhelming for first-time visitors so if you are worried about being swept away and lost in this hectic enclave, you can refer to this guide for some ideas.

Photo Credit: dumtok 

GOLDEN BUDDHA TEMPLE (WAT TRAMIT TEMPLE) 

Wat Tramit houses the largest golden Buddha in the world and this breathtaking monument that stands at 3m tall sits majestically on an altar surrounded by traditional Thai golden arches. From the top of Wat Tramit, you also get a fantastic view of the ornate Chinatown Gate that is just a stone throws away. There is also a museum in the temple that teaches you about the history of Yaowarat and how it came about.

661 Charoen Krung Road
Talat Noi, Samphanthawong
Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Tel: +66 89 002 2700
Daily: 8am – 5pm

Photo Credit: beyond.frontiers 

CHINATOWN GATE

Standing tall and proud in the middle of Chinatown is the Chinatown Gate, an ornate ceremonial gate that sits on a large traffic island at Yaowarat Road. Constructed in 1999, the gate was built to symbolise the loyalty of the Chinese community to King Bhumibol of Thailand and it was opened just in time to celebrate the King’s 60th birthday on the Throne.

Photo Credit: yaizamartinezrodriguez

KUAN YIM SHRINE

Kuan Yim Shrine is one of Yaowarat’s most vibrant attractions and it features a 900-year-old statue of Guan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Throngs of both locals and tourists alike come here to pray, especially during the holiday season, and the place is always filled with smoke and incense.

606 The King’s Birthday Celebration Arch
Yaowarat Road
Bangkok, 10100
Tel: +66 91 769 0824

HAVE BRUNCH AT LHONG TONG 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!

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

Photo Credit: drewparrett

TALAT KAO (CHINATOWN OLD MARKET) 

Talat Kao is a 200-year old open-air market in the heart of Chinatown and here, you can watch the locals go about their daily lives as they go marketing for fruits and vegetables and trade items with one another. Foodies can also fill their bellies with plenty of scrumptious street food that is readily available at every turn. We recommend trying their Chinese food; there is no better place to try it than in Chinatown!

Soi Lat Krabang 5, Lat Krabang
Bangkok 10520, Thailand
Tel: +66 99 383 0304

Photo Credit: gerdaaboushanab 

SAMPENG MARKET 

This long, narrow street is a wholesalers idea of paradise. Expect rows of stalls selling a mish-mash of random items like fabrics, clothes and electronics for dirt cheap prices. If you bulk buy, you can get an even larger bargain so you can come here with some friends for even better deals!

96 Chakkrawat, Samphanthawong
Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Daily: 9am – 6pm

Photo Credit: ambshencho

PAK KHLONG MARKET (FLOWER MARKET) 

Skip the night markets and check out Bangkok’s famous flower market instead. If you love flowers or colourful sights, this is the perfect place to admire the spectacle of colours and to snap some pretty shots for the gram. Here, you also can witness both locals and tourists purchasing gorgeous, fresh flowers for whatever purpose.

Chak Phet Road, near the Memorial Bridge or Saphan Phut Chao Phraya pier
Daily: 24-hours

HAVE DINNER AT NAI EK ROLL NOODLES 

Situated at the heart of Chinatown, Nai Ek Roll Noodle is a humble stall that specialises in —you guessed it — roll noodles, as well as some of the crispiest deep-fried pork we’ve ever tried. The food here is so good that they’ve even earned themselves a place in the Michelin Guide

442 Khwaeng Samphanthawong
Khet Samphanthawong
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10100, Thailand
+66 2 226 4651
Daily: 7.30am – 1.30am

ENJOY YAOWARATS FAMOUS TOASTED BUNS

Yaowarat Toasted Bread sees perpetual long queues on the daily made up of both locals and tourists. What makes the bread here stand out from anywhere else is its filling; each perfectly toasted and buttered bun comes generously chock full of a filling of your choice and they have sinfully good options such as condensed milk and sankaya.

Yaowarat Road
Khwaeng Samphanthawong, Khet Samphanthawong
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10100, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 224 0677
Sun, Tue to Fri: 6.30pm – 12am
Sat: 6pm – 12am
(Closed on Mondays)

EXPLORE THE STREETS OF YAOWARAT AT NIGHT 

The streets of Yaowarat are undoubtedly exciting in the day, but the entire place truly comes alive when the sun goes down. Watch the various street food vendors slowly set up their stalls and see the bright lights come on, illuminating the streets with a soothing neon glow. The place looks very different at night and you’ll feel like you’re in a completely different area altogether.

Photo Credit: cassidyfowler 

HAVE DRINKS AT ENJOY THE VIEW AT SKY VIEW 360° ROOFTOP BAR OF GRAND CHINA HOTEL 

End of the hectic day with a chill session of drinks and a magnificent view at Sky View 360°. This gorgeous restaurant that is perched atop Grand China Hotel provides diners with a breathtakingly beautiful 360° overview of Chinatown and Chao Phraya River. Here, they have an international-style menu that has something for everyone as well as fizzy cocktails and ice-cool drinks.

215 Yaowarat Road
Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 224 9977
Daily: 7am – 12am

]]> https://www.ladyironchef.com/2019/10/yaowarat-day-guide-bangkok/feed/ 0 https://www.ladyironchef.com/2019/08/hunk-seafood-bangkok/ https://www.ladyironchef.com/2019/08/hunk-seafood-bangkok/#comments Mon, 12 Aug 2019 16:55:43 +0000 Melissa Teo https://www.ladyironchef.com/?p=186765 Continue reading →]]>

If you’re planning to visit Bangkok soon and you’d like to pay a visit to a place that has some dinner time entertainment, we have the perfect recommendation for you.

Located at the bustling Hua Mum Night Market, Hunk Seafood is a stand-alone eatery that specialises in seafood and, well, hunks.

The restaurant became a huge hit amongst both locals and tourists for their scantily dressed hunks who find joy in wriggling around in skimpy costumes while shrieking along to whatever song the restaurant is playing. The seafood here honestly isn’t the best but the entertainment sure makes up for it.

If you plan to pay this place a visit, we recommend that you take a Grab down as the place is a little inaccessible.

Once you step into the restaurant, you’ll be greeted by a horde of excited men dressed in tight revealing tops and very short skirts. They change their outfits pretty often and when we paid them a visit, the apparent theme of the day was Japanese schoolgirl.

If you’re brave enough to endure their high-pitched yelps and aggressive body movements, you can even try to snap a picture with them!

In terms of food, the menu here is nothing too fancy and they have basic seafood dishes as well as seafood sets.

First up, we had a go at their Bamboo Clams (100 baht). In all honesty, the bamboo clams were not that great and a little too unfresh, sandy and fishy for our liking. To mask the taste, we recommend dunking it into one of the provided sauces before consumption.

Our favourite dish out of the lot was the Grilled River Prawns (350 baht Medium/600 baht Large). The prawns were comparatively fresher and had a lovely springy texture. We also appreciate how easily we could peel them off their shells.

The cherry on top of the cake was the generous amount of roe that came with each prawn; creamy and buttery, it definitely elevated the flavours of the prawn. The dish also came with a side of Thai green chilli sauce but the prawns were so good on their own that we felt that they could do without the sauce.

If you’re planning to come in a large group, we recommend that you get the Seafood Platter (290 baht) which comes with cockles, mussels and clams.

The Seafood Platter was a tad bit disappointing as the seafood had not been cleaned very thoroughly and you got bits of sand in almost every bite. We once again masked the taste by dunking the seafood in the provided sauces. It would definitely have tasted much better if they had been cleaned properly and it’s a complete shame because, at that price point, it really is quite value-for-money.

All in all, it was a rather interesting experience and we had no regrets. However, we hope that for any future visits, the seafood would be more properly cleaned out.

Hunk Seafood
11 Prasert-Manukitch Road
Khwaeng Lat Phrao
Khet Lat Phrao, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon
Bangkok, Thailand 10230
Daily: 6pm – 12pm