The Ultimate One Day Thai Food Tour of Bangkok (Do-It-Yourself Guide)

You have one day in Bangkok, and you’re ready to go on the ultimate authentic Bangkok food tour for Thai food.

In this blog post I’m going to share with you all the details about how you can take a Thai food tour in Bangkok to eat all 4 of the major regional varieties of Thai cuisine in a single food packed day.

Get ready to eat Thai food!

First, watch the video

Press play to watch the full video of this Thai food tour in Bangkok now:

(Or you can watch it on YouTube here)

I’m going to warn you… you might want to pause the video and go grab a snack first.

The video is 27 minutes long, but sit back and watch the full video because it’s action packed and you’ll get all the details about this full food tour within the video.

Also check out Trevor’s video here.

Bangkok food tour – regional Thai food

My buddy Trevor James from The Food Ranger (also, check out his awesome food videos on YouTube) was in Bangkok for a few days.

We wanted to go all-in and get as much Thai food and eat as much of a diversity of Thai food in one single day as possible.

So we decided to go on a Thai street food tour of Bangkok eating all four of the major Thai regional cuisines in one day — Southern Thai food, Isaan (Northeastern) Thai food, Northern Thai food, and finally Central Thai food.

If you go to any of the restaurants mentioned in this do-it-yourself Bangkok food guide, be assured you’re going to eat the real deal!

[cta color=”yellow”]NOTE: If you want to explore authentic Thai food, The Ultimate Eating Thai Food Guide will teach you how and what Thai dishes to order and where (even if you don’t speak Thai)![/cta]

1. Southern Thai Food (อาหารใต้)

Restaurant: Ruam Tai Restaurant (ร้านรวมใต้)

There are few meals better to eat for breakfast than southern Thai food.

Southern Thai food happens to be one of my personal favorites regional cuisines of Thailand, characterized by lots of spices and chilies, soups, and curries.

Ruam Tai Restaurant (ร้านรวมใต้) is located just a short walk from Wang Lang Market (ตลาดวังหลัง), and it’s one of the best southern Thai food restaurants in Bangkok.

Dishes to order:

• Sour curry with taro stems (แกงส้มออดิบ gaeng som aw dip) – This southern Thai staple dish is a yellow sour curry made with lots of fresh turmeric and in this case taro stems. Here’s a recipe if you want to make it.
• Fish entrails curry (แกงไตปลา gaeng tai pla) – For a true taste of southern Thailand, order this black colored, fermented fish viscera curry. It will awaken your taste buds.
• Salted fried fish (ปลาเค็มทอด pla kem tod) – This is a salted fish, deep fried, then topped with chilies and shallots.
• Dry beef curry (คั่วกลิ้งเนื้อ khua kling) – Khua kling is a southern Thai dry curry, so basically all the spices of the curry paste, are coated onto the meat with no liquid.
• Cassia leaves curry (แกงขี้เหล็ก gaeng kee lek) – This is a creamy coconut curry made with pickled cassia leaves.
• Melinjo leaves with egg (ผักเหลียงผัดไข่) – One of my personal favorite Thai vegetable dishes is melinjo leaves stir fried with egg.
• Tree bean curry with shrimp (กุ้งผัดลูกเหลียง goong pad look liang) – Similar to stink beans, tree beans (parkia timoriana) have a crisp and pungent flavor.

You can really point and choose to whichever southern Thai food dishes you want to try when you eat at Ruam Tai Restaurant (ร้านรวมใต้), but this is exactly what we ate to give you an idea of the dishes available.

Ruam Tai Restaurant (ร้านรวมใต้)

Address: 375/4 Thanon Phran Nok, Bangkok Noi, Bangkok 10700
Open hours: 6 am – 8 pm daily
Prices: Dishes cost around 40 – 50 THB, our total meal cost about 300 THB

ที่อยู่ 375/4 ถ.พรานนก บ้านช่างหล่อ บางกอกน้อย กรุงเทพฯ 10700
เปิด-ปิด 6:00 – 20:00

2. Isaan (Northeastern) Thai Food (อาหารอีสาน)

Restaurant: Som Tam Jay So Restaurant (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส)

For some seriously spicy and authentic Isaan food on this Thai food tour of Bangkok, Som Tam Jay So (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส) is the restaurant to eat at.

Located in-between Silom and Sathon, the central business districts of Bangkok, this restaurant gets packed at lunch, everyone looking to get a dose of extreme flavor.

Everytime I eat at Som Tam Jay So Restaurant (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส), I come out so happy and satisfied that I can’t help but smile for the rest of the day.

Dishes to order:

• Sticky rice (ข้าวเหนียว khao neow) – Sticky rice is the staple of Isaan food, and you can take little balls of sticky rice and dip them into the dressing.
• Green papaya salad with fermented fish (ตำปูปลาร้า tam boo plaraa) – This is the ultimate comfort dish of Isaan, slivers of green papaya pounded with chilies, tomatoes, fermented fish sauce and crab.
• Jungle pounded salad (ตำป่า tam pa) – Directly translating to jungle pound, this mixture is not for the faint of heart – and it’s amazing.
• Minced catfish laab (ลาบปลาดุก laab pla duk) – A grilled catfish is deboned, then mixed with khao khua (roasted stick rice powder), chili flakes, lime juice, and fish sauce.
• Grilled pork neck (คอหมูย่าง kaw moo yang) – It’s a little on the fatty side, but if you love pork, you’ll love their grilled pork neck.
• Grilled chicken wings (ปีกไก่ย่าง pik gai yang) – As soon as you enter Som Tam Jay So (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส) you’ll know grilled chicken wings are one of their specialities.
• Sour soup (ต้มแซ่บหมู tom saeb moo) – A switch from the other dishes, this is a soup to balance out your Isaan meal on this food tour.

The Isaan food here is spicy and pungent, and the taste is just like you’d find in Isaan (Northeastern) Thailand.

Som Tam Jay So Restaurant (ร้านส้มตำเจ๊โส)

Address: Soi Phiphat 2, Khwaeng Silom, Khet Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500
Open hours: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm daily
Prices: our total price for everything came to 482 THB ($13.76)

ที่อยู่ ซอยพิพัฒ 2 สีลม บางรัก กรุงเทพมหานคร 10500
โทร. 085-999-4225
เปิดบริการทุกวัน 8.30 – 16.30 น.

3. Northern Thai Food (อาหารเหนือ)

Restaurant: Or Tor Kor Market (ตลาด อ.ต.ก.)

Northern Thai food is the most under-represented type of major Thai regional food in Bangkok.

There are a number of good northern Thai food restaurants (I’d really recommend Man Muang if you have a chance to go there), but for this do it yourself Bangkok food tour of Thai food we really wanted to stick to street food style restaurants.

Or Tor Kor Market (ตลาด อ.ต.ก.) is one of Bangkok’s gourmet food markets and you’ll find an extreme amount of amazing food — including fresh ingredients, takeaway food, and a food court.

In the market you’ll find a stall called Pen Jan Northern Food (ร้านเพ็ญจันทร์) that serves all sorts of Northern Thai food curries.

Dishes to order:

• Pork hanglay curry (แกงฮังเล gaeng hanglay) – This is one of the most famous of all northern Thai curries. It’s porky, sweet, and sour, and has a nice ginger and shallot taste.
• Hygroscopic earthstar fungus curry (เห็ดเผาะต้มเค็ม hed pae dom kem) – Yes, this is a real fungus, also known as barometer earthstar or false earthstar. They will pop in your mouth with juices.
• Northern Thai herb sausage (ไส้อั่ว sai ua) – To be honest, the sai ua isn’t nearly as good here as it is in Chiang Mai, but still worth a try.
• Roasted green chili dip (น้ำพริกหนุ่ม nam prik noom) – This is a wonderful roasted green chili dip that you can eat with vegetables or fried pork rind.
• Pork rind (แคปหมู cab moo) – Fried pork rinds are typically dipped in chili dip in Northern Thai food.

On this Bangkok food tour, you can just walk around Or Tor Kor Market (ตลาด อ.ต.ก.) and see whatever else looks good to eat as well (the green papaya salad and grilled chicken is excellent). It’s a great market to try durian as well!

Or Tor Kor Market (ตลาด อ.ต.ก.)

Address: 139/4 1, Samsen Nai, Phaya Thai, Bangkok 10400
Open hours: 6 am – 6 pm daily
Prices: Dishes all range in price, but most dishes cost around 60 THB per portion, but the mushrooms we ate were 80 THB per 100 grams – I think they are rare.

เลขที่ 101 ถนนกำแพงเพชร แขวงจตุจักร เขตจตุจักร กรุงเทพมหานคร 10900

4. Central Thai Food (อาหารภาคกลาง)

Restaurant: Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu (ร้านต้มยำกุ้งบางลำพู)

To finish off this full-on do it yourself regional Thai Bangkok food tour, you’ll finally need to eat Central Thai food.

There are many Central Thai dishes you could try, but when I think of Central Thai food, tom yum goong is one of the dishes I’m immediately drawn to.

One of my all-time favorite places to eat tom yum goong in Bangkok is Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu (ร้านต้มยำกุ้งบางลำพู).

The legendary Uncle, dishes up a flaming pot of street food tom yum that’s so full of tomalley (มันกุ้ง) that it’s actually chunky. It will blow your mind with flavor.

Dishes to order:

• Tom yum goong (ต้มยำกุ้ง tom yum goong) – This is their signature dish and you shouldn’t miss it, it’s one of the best versions of tom yum goong in the world.
• Shrimp omelet (ไข่เจียวกุ้ง kai jeow goong) – You don’t want to think about how much oil goes into this omelet, but it tastes incredible.
• Water morning glory & crispy pork (ผัดผักบุ้งหมูกรอบ pad pak boong moo krob) – To balance out the shrimp, you can order fried morning glory with crispy pork.
• Fried garlic shrimp (กุ้งทอดกระเทียม goong tod gratiem) – Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu (ร้านต้มยำกุ้งบางลำพู) specializes in freshwater shrimp, and another must-eat shrimp dish is their fried garlic shrimp.

These dishes are a mix of Central Thai and Thai Chinese in flavor and cooking style, and what a way to end this Bangkok food tour of the 4 major regional Thai cuisines.

Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu (ร้านต้มยำกุ้งบางลำพู)

Address: Thanon Kraisi (right in front of the big Banglamphu car park), Talad Yawd Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, Thailand
Open hours: 9 am – 6:30 pm daily
Prices: Our total meal cost 600 THB ($17.13) for everything

ที่อยู่ ถนนไกรสีห์ (หน้าอาคารจอดรถ กทม. ) ตลาดยอด พระนคร กรุงเทพมหานคร 10200
เปิดบริการทุกวัน 9.00 – 18.30 น.

Conclusion

If you follow this do-it-yourself Thai street food tour of Bangkok, you’ll have a chance to eat authentic Thai food from each of the 4 major geographical regions of Thailand.

From sour curries to flaming hot papaya salad, your mouth is going to be rejoicing from the variety and power of the Thai dishes served at each of these Bangkok restaurants.

By the end of this Thai food tour in Bangkok, Trevor and I were both stuffed and extremely happy!

Are you ready to take this Thai food tour in Bangkok!?

[cta color=”yellow”]These four restaurants and many more, plus tips that will help you to eat amazing Thai food are included in The Ultimate Eating Thai Food Guide![/cta]