The New York Times recently ran a travel story by Joshua Kurlantzick about Bangkok street food. Austin’s phenomenal blog Real Thai gets a deserved mention, and I’m not just saying that because he gave me shout-out today due to our mutual love of all things waffle-related (i.e. the infamous Thai waffle-coated hot dog that I scarfed down in Kanchanaburi).
From the NYT piece:
…After culling through Thai food Web sites, I often arrive in Bangkok carrying a list of street dishes I must try — unripe mangoes dipped in sweet chili sauce, charcoal-grilled fish sausages, tacolike shells filled with shredded coconut. Every time I mention my list, real Thai gourmets tell me noodles, the ultimate quick snack, should be the real test of any street stall.
“Noodles are one of the great Thai secular religions,” wrote the longtime Thailand food critic Ung-aang Talay, adding that Thais think nothing of plodding across Bangkok to sample a new dish. Nearly every street in Bangkok has a vendor selling thin, slightly sweet egg noodles; wide, chewy rice noodles; pad Thai topped in gooey omelets. Even, occasionally, the northern Thailand noodle specialty known as khao soi. As the Thailand food blogger Austin Bush has suggested on his knowledgeable site — www.realthai.blogspot.com — khao soi reflects the many foreign influences on Thailand cuisine. Khao soi blends egg noodles with a mild, Indian-style broth and toppings of crispy noodles, shallots and pickled cabbage, a Burmese touch that adds an acidic flavor cutting the rich, oily curry.
There’s also a slide show of images by Josef Polleross that’s worth checking out.