Owing to my background as a chef I have never been able to persuade myself to “eat off the streets”. That is in reference to Bangkok Street Food. Over more years than I care to remember I have watched (indeed taken video footage) of various Bangkok street stalls, which I then showed to the students at the Melbourne Hospitality College where I lectured two days a month.

I have been aghast at the lack of hygiene. Vegetables sitting in milk crates in the scorching sun all day; fish and meat lying on three layers of melting ice once again in the scorching sun; Soi dogs urinating on the vegetables in the crates; the plastic plates washed in dirty water in big plastic buckets; the risk of cross contamination by using the same cutting boards for fish, poultry, pork and vegetables; big plastic containers of various sauces sitting on the dirty pavements; the litany could go on and on but by now I think I have made my point.

When I showed the video footage to the students at the college some years ago now, some were clearly aghast, others horrified, whilst others who had been to Thailand said “yeah, the hygiene is non-existent but the food is great”.

Over the years, I have watched in amazement at the comings and goings of the Sukhumvit Soi 33 Street Stall which is a few metres in from the fume-laden traffic sewer known as Sukhumvit Road.

My wife, who is a lecturer in food economics at a Melbourne Girls’ Private College was mortified when I told her that we were going to “road test” the famous street stall in Suk Soi 33.

Two of the reception staff at the apartment block where we rented for six weeks in Bangkok had gone way beyond their call of duty in looking after the incoming faxes, the outgoing same, diligently taking my phone messages and typing up reams of correspondence for me.

I felt that I could only repay them by taking them to a restaurant of their choice, but they rocked me when they said they would be more than happy to accompany us to the Soi 33 Street Stall, as they had heard my wife and I quarelling about the prospect the previous evening in the adjacent bar.

So it was that on a stinking hot Bangkok night, we arrived at the congested stall around 6.30 pm. Over the years I have seen BMWs and Mercedes pull up here and block one of the narrow arteries in the Soi while the chauffeur waited impatiently for the orders to be completed. I have watched in the mornings as scores of office-bound workers have sat down for their morning breakfasts here and I have also witnessed the motorbike “mafia” which rules Sois 33 and 24, dine here by the score along with taxi drivers, business men in expensive suits and Bangkok princesses who didn’t want anyone from Bangkok “society” to see them there.

I thought that it would be good idea for the two receptionists Anna and Swee to do the ordering, which they did in rapid-fire Thai, so fast, that I couldn’t translate what they had ordered.

Whilst the “madam” who was clearly the boss of the stall barked orders to the wok “stirrers”, I slunked into the nearby 7 Eleven and purchased four bottles of mango juice and two bottles of green tea.

Upon my return I found that we didn’t have to wait long for the food orders to be completed. I paid for them, neatly packed in plastic containers with plastic spoons and knives and forks and cardboard plates. The four of us headed for the overpass across Sukhumvit Road and a few minutes later we were sitting on a park bench in Benjasiri Park, one of the few places of greenery in the otherwise grey metropolis of Bangkok.

It transpired that Anna and Swee had ordered the following (with translations provided by Anna): Gaeng Moo Tepo (pork curry with water spinach); Gaeng Ped Gai (curried chicken); Paad Loog Chin (deep fried pork balls with vegetables) and Paag Tom Gathi (vegetables boiled in coconut milk), 1 x medium container of steamed rice.

If this seemed a lot for one grumpy old Aussie man and three charming women, I will have to point out that the containers were on the small side and the meal could in no way be described as expansive.

As Anna and Swee had done the ordering we soon found out that the food was hot, hot, hot. I ruefully thought about the prospect of moving to a nearby fire hydrant as the mango juice and green tea only heightened the “fire danger” rather than pacifying the flaming embers on the tongue and palate.

Anna confirmed my earlier summation that this particular street stall was regarded as one of the best in Bangkok and she and her family ordered food from there quite often so it turned out.

At this stage the thought occurred to me that if I was judging the students’ presentation back in the Melbourne Hospitality College, they would have been severely marked down for allowing the sauce to overpower the natural flavours of the food.

This then started a discussion with Swee who was very defensive about her Thai food. I encouraged Swee to close her eyes and firstly I offered her a spoonful of the curried chicken and asked her to identify it. She did so correctly. I then offered her the pork curry which she then correctly identified once again. Then I clicked “she was identifying the sauces”. I asked her if she could truly say that she could taste the chicken and the pork. She thought for a few moments and shrugged her shoulders and said “Honourable Emdee, I don’t know, have never thought (about it)”.

We finished the meal in the lights of the lovely park and I insisted on flagging down a taxi and getting the girls back to Wattana where they resided.

My wife and I adjourned to the nearby Bulls Head Inn for a few relieving ales to quell the fires that still smouldered on our tongues and palates.

Over the drinks we agreed that the food was tremendously tasty, but overpowered by the sauces. That the base ingredients (pork and chicken) were of a low standard, but one would never know it because the sauces disguised everything.

We came away from the experience with the thought that if one were to order food that is cooked immediately in the cauldrons of the woks, that any residue from the appalling lack of hygiene would be removed by the application of the fierce heat.

But we wondered what would happen if one were to order Som Tam or some other uncooked dish?

Overall we enjoyed the experience and we will probably do it again one day. I know most tourists don’t even think twice about eating Bangkok Street Food, and if it wasn’t for our professional backgrounds, we would probably be one of those tourists as well.

VERDICT: This hugely popular Bangkok Street Stall operates from around 6.30 am to 7.30 pm or thereabouts. The hygiene is atrocious, the Soi and the Road are amongst the most polluted in Bangkok, but this doesn’t appear to have any effect on the vendors. It is popular with Thais of all backgrounds and visitors alike.

LOCATION: Take the BTS to Phrom Phong station alight on the side OPPOSITE side to the Emporium Shopping Centre. The stall is almost on the corner of Soil 33 and Sukhumvit Road.

COST: FOOD: Pork Curry with Water Spinach, (65 baht); curried chicken (70 baht); deep fried pork ball with vegetables (60 baht); vegetables boiled in coconut milk (55 baht); 1 x container steamed jasmine rice (25 baht). DRINKS: 4 x bottle of mango juice (25 baht each); 2 x bottles of green tea (25 baht each).

TOTAL COST: 425 baht (or 106 baht per person which at the time equalled $AUD17 for the entire bill or $AUD4.25 per person).

SCORE: This is street food, so giving the usual scores for ambience etc is out of the question so it just leaves the food and value for money. Food: 7/10; value for money 9/10. Total: 16/20.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: From a western chef’s perspective, any dish that is overpowered by the sauce in order to disguise the flavour of the base ingredients is a BIG NO NO! However, this is Thai Street Food, so it is probably pointless for a western chef to offer selective criticism of what is regarded as one of the leading 10 cuisines in the world.

NEXT WEEK: We revisit two of Bangkok’s most popular food courts, namely the 6th floor of MBK and Central Chidlom’s “The Loft”.

My background as a backpacker, as in forest and trees, makes outdoor, less hygienic cooking more acceptable to me. Besides, if you follow it up with a fifth of Johnny Walker, you'll kill all the bugs anyway!

I always find it humorous that people believe that, because they can't see the conditions, hidden behind kitchen walls, the hygiene standards are better.

I was sitting across from a fancy Silom eatery one day. The entrance is a masterpiece of granite and gold hardware. In the alley, next to the building, was the staff, doing the prep!

Also, observing kitchen staffs (dozens), using public toilets, I have never seen one wash their hands after using the facilities. I'm sure they are waiting to use the kitchen's sink!

What appeals to me is that the street cart and stall vendors aren't "chefs"; they're cooks. They cook one thing, the thing that made them think they could go into business. Most often, it was the dish, not the desire that started the business.

Been visiting Bangkok since the 90's and lived here since 2007. The only times I have fallen ill, due to food, was from "proper" restaurants.

I'm not a big fan of Thai street food, the hygiene for one puts me off, plus it always seems the same old stuff, no imagination at all, and most of the ingredients are of the lowest quality, including carcinogenic-laden used cooking oil sold out the backdoor of the super stores.

I am however a big fan of street food in S'Pore and Malaysia, in those countries the cleanliness, quality & variety puts Thailand to shame.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

Excellent report as always emdee. I have not eaten from the street stalls in bangkok but have in krabi and samui with no bad results. although to ba fair I have not had a lot.

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Agreed BobMac, if one is going to eat "street food" or "hawker" food as it is known in Singapore and Malaysia, then it will always be the latter for me.

Singapore's stringent food handling legislation is strictly enforced and Malaysia whilst still a little way behind is also more than acceptable.

The hawker stalls in the various centres of Singapore, KL and Penang are light years ahead of the carts on the Sois of Bangkok. Besides that, I've always had a fond place in my palate for Singaporean and Malaysian food since I worked there in the mid 1970s.

Many Aussies I know who swear by Thai Street Food recite the mantra "I've never once been sick eating off the street"! Do it often enough and you will get sick - that you can bet on.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I still rate Indonesia as the worst place for food handling and consequent food poisoning so they would rate one, whilst Bangkok would rate between 2 and 3 whilst Singapore rates a 10.

That was a fascinating read Emdee but I think I'll give it a miss if you don't mind I'm a bit more susceptible than others and have to be very careful where and what I eat. Having said that we ate recently in the KL hawker street had no ill effects.

Cheers Geri

Actually I think most food retailers in Thailand needs a damn good shake up. I've given countless in-house training courses to hotel & restaurant staff, and I'm always ramming it into them - wash your hands, wash your hands. You see them in their spare moments squeezing pimples, squeezing each others pimples, going through each others hair like monkeys, then they start touching plates, cutlery and food. Hopefully one day in the not-too-distant future tough hygiene regulations will be enforced in Thailand.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

That reminds me of the Indian restaurant in one of the Soi's under the multi storey hotel in Patong (no longer there I'm glad to report)

I had the misfortune to be sat facing the inside of the (empty) restaurant so I could see what the waitress was doing with her tea towel wich was in fact a dirty rag... first she wiped the ashtrays then the dishes and then cutlery.

What is the saying? 'What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over' .... so true !!

Auntie Lee's, some of the best chicken I've eaten!

Sorry Curt,

I couldn't buy anything from Auntie Lee. The stall on Suk Soi 33 looks well ordered and organised when compared to this! People such as Auntie Lee should be taken off the streets and put into cheap "hawker" centres, just as Malaysia and Singapore have done. The food wouldn't taste any different (hopefully) and the hygiene would be lights years ahead of what is depicted in your graphic photos.

But of course Thailand being what it is . . . maybe I should just leave it at that.