A guide to Thai street food

Charcoal grills are one of the most popular finds on Thailand’s streets. A never-ending row of vendors line up grilling various proteins including pork, squid, tiger prawns, chicken and even chicken innards. There are many ways pork on a stick can go wrong, but muu bing hits the spot every time. Slices of marbled and fatty pork are skewered and coated in a marinade of herbs, coconut milk, fish sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Although every vendor will have their own specialty mixture, Chef Nuch coats his tender pork neck in dark soy and condensed milk. Cooked over a charcoal grill, giving it a sweet and smoky char, it is the perfect PIC (partner-in-crime) to an ice cold Thai beer.

Noodles are a food group in their own right and an Asian diet staple. Phat si-io or phad see ew is a stir-fried rice noodle dish cooked in dark, sweet soy and tossed with meat or seafood and vegetables. The aromatic fragrance and almost caramelised flavour from Sip Song’s phad see ew comes from high heat and a special cooking technique. The noodles are imported from a local business in a small city outside of Bangkok and are tossed with butcher’s cut, also known as hanger steak. Each cow only has a few kilos of this very tender and juicy cut.

This treat – introduced by Indian immigrants – is best likened to a banana pancake or crepe. The dough is first stretched out and fried over a hot griddle. Bananas are placed in the centre and the dough is then folded over into a perfect package and cut up into bite-sized pieces. For an extra sweet ending, Chef Nuch finishes it off with a generous drizzle of condensed milk and Nutella.