The Best Street Food in Chinatown Bangkok – 14 Must-Try Bites
Bangkok is known for its excellent and varied street food, and there’s no better place to sample it than on Yaowarat Road, Bangkok’s Chinatown. Read on for a list of what to eat in Chinatown, Bangkok on your next visit, plus our top tour recommendation.
One of the best parts of a trip to Bangkok, Thailand is all of the delicious food on offer in the city. While Michelin-recommended restaurants are in no short supply here, the street food is where the city really shines. During our four month stay in Bangkok, we took two street food tours of Yaowarat Road, Bangkok’s Chinatown, and learned all the best street food in Chinatown Bangkok that you need to try on your next visit. In this post, we’ll outline all the top eats in Chinatown and what they should cost you. We’ll also recommend our favorite street food tour for those that prefer a guided experience.
Make sure to check out our post Your Complete Bangkok Itinerary for 3 Epic Days for a full travel guide on Bangkok, as well as our list of the top Bangkok restaurants and our favorite Bangkok bars to round out your itinerary.
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The Best Street Food in Chinatown, Bangkok - Your What to Eat Guide At a Glance:
Where is Bangkok's Chinatown?
Bangkok’s Chinatown is located on Yaowarat Road in the Sampheng area, and is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. Also known as the Dragon Road, it stretches from the Chinatown Gate at the dragon’s “head” to the Ong Ang Canal at its “tail.” But the real treat is the dragon’s “belly,” between Song Sawat Road and Soi Yaowarat 6. According to our tour guide, the “belly” of the street has the best feng shui for food sales, so this is where the majority of the vendors operate.
Getting to Bangkok’s Chinatown is fairly easy, as it’s located in the heart of the city’s tourist area. It sits in Sampheng near the Wat Mangkon MRT stop, a small area that butts up against Banglamphu, home to some of the city’s top tourist attractions like the Grand Palace and popular backpacker party zone Khoa San Road. (P.S. Not sure how the MRT works? Check out our Bangkok itinerary and travel guide, with everything you need to know about traversing the city via the MRT and BTS metro systems.)
Pro tip: Haven’t booked your flight to Bangkok yet? We recommend using Google Flights and Skyscanner. These sites help you compare all the airlines at once, plus give you tips on the best times to purchase. We use their price tracking features religiously to make sure we get the best deal!
Our Recommended Chinatown Bangkok Street Food Tour
Street food tours are an extremely popular activity in Bangkok and there’s no shortage of options, but we recommend this street food tour. The four-hour tour was a fun and easy way to sample a wide variety of Thai food (more than 10 tastings!) from different regions across the country, all while learning tons of fun facts and Thai phrases from our knowledgeable guide. Plus, we didn’t have to do any of the planning or logistics ourselves!
On this tour, we rode by tuktuk to six different locations, including three restaurants, Chinatown, the Flower Market, and a final cocktail at The Deck by Arun Residence, one of our top bars in Bangkok thanks to its excellent views of Wat Arun and the Chao Phraya River. We ate a large variety of foods, from northern Thailand’s khao soi (a coconut curry noodle soup) to the Isan dish yum pla duk foo (crispy catfish salad) to delicious banana roti (a sweet stuffed pastry) and even fried insects! Our group was about 10 people, so it was easy to hear the guide and stick together, and everything ran seamlessly from start to finish. Book your tour here:
The Best Street Food in Chinatown Bangkok
Without further ado, let’s get into our list of what to eat in Chinatown Bangkok! This Yaowarat street food guide will set you up for success with what to order and what it should cost. Note that we last visited Chinatown Bangkok in December 2024, so some price inflation may have occurred by the time you visit.
Pro tip: When you’ve finished your food tour, head to Widdershins for a cocktail, a third-floor speakeasy on Yaowarat boasting a balcony with the only bird’s-eye view of Chinatown.
Thai Classics
While you can purchase Thai classics like pad thai, red and green curry, pad ga prow, and mango sticky rice in Bangkok’s Chinatown, we recommend saving your stomach space and eating these elsewhere. You definitely shouldn’t miss them during your visit to Bangkok, but they are highly available all over the city, while many of Yaowarat’s street food is not. Better yet, consider learning how to make some of these classic dishes for yourself in a Thai cooking class like this one, which was one of our favorite activities during our time in Bangkok.
Savory
Grilled Squid
One of the most common street foods you’ll see in Bangkok’s Chinatown is squid on stick. While the chewy texture isn’t for everyone, it’s a classic Yaowarat street food that’s worth a try. You can get the squid prepared in a variety of ways, so make sure to check out which sauces a stand has on offer. One stick will run you about 40 baht (~$1.30).
Shrimp Dumplings
Dumplings are a popular street food in Bangkok’s Chinatown that are a safe choice for even picky eaters. You can get dumplings in a variety of flavors like shrimp, pork, or vegetable, but we highly recommend the shrimp. They were like hot little pockets of joy, and well worth the 40 baht (~$1.30) purchase price.
Smoked Duck Spring Rolls
Spring rolls are common throughout Bangkok, but Chinatown was the only place we saw this particular flavor of smoked duck. They were a bit pricier at 110 baht (~$3.30), but well worth it for the tray of crispy rolls. The flavor was subtly spiced and smokey, not a common flavor profile in Thai food, so it was a great contrast to other dishes we ate.
Satay Skewers
Satay skewers might be the most iconic Thai street food out there. Stands offer a variety of meats and marinades. The most commonly-offered meat is pork, but chicken and beef are also widely available. These are usually pretty cheap, starting at 25 baht (~$0.75), so feel free to order a couple of different types to compare and contrast the flavors.
Stir-Fried Hong Kong Noodles with Crab Meat
Stir-fried rice or noodles with crab meat is a subtle and tasty dish popular throughout Bangkok, but only on Yaowarat Road can you get them over stir-fried Hong Kong noodles. We got ours at Xie Chinatown, a highly-rated street-front restaurant in the heart of Chinatown. This dish will cost a bit more due to the healthy portion of crab meat (320 baht, or ~$9.75), but it’s a big serving – consider this a “main course” of your Bangkok Chinatown street food tour.
Kway Chap
Kway chap is a popular Thai-Chinese food you can’t find many places outside of Chinatown Bangkok. It features rolled rice noodles in a flavorful, peppery broth, often with pork or offal (think intestines, liver, or stomach). Expect to spend 70 baht (~$2.30) or more, depending on your toppings. Nai Ek is a popular spot to try this dish.
Shark Fin in Brown Soup
It’s not every day you have the chance to try something really unusual, but a street food tour of Bangkok’s Chinatown is the perfect opportunity. We recommend giving shark fin a go, a Chinese delicacy and imperial-era status symbol that represents well-being, success, and prosperity. It’s not as scary as it sounds, with the shark fin tasting like a slightly chewier white fish, though we weren’t a fan of the viscous brown sauce. This was another dish we tried at Xie Chinatown and it cost about 350 baht (~$10.70) due to its premium ingredients.
Fish Maw Soup
Fish maw soup is another one for the adventurous eaters of your group. It’s a traditional Chinese soup made with the air bladders of fish, which are dehydrated and then rehydrated during the cooking process. This results in a unique, spongy texture that absorbs all the flavor of the broth. Fish maw is also acclaimed for its high collagen content, so it’s great for keeping your skin and hair healthy. Expect to pay about 100 baht (~$3) for this dish.
Fried Insects
Sweet
Fresh Fruit Juices and Smoothies
You’re going to need something to wash down all these tasty morsels, so we recommend you hit up one of the many juice and smoothie stands. From classic options like orange and watermelon juice to more tropical varieties like pomegranate and passionfruit, these vendors will whip you up a fresh drink right on the spot, and all for the low price of about 50 baht (~$1.60).
Iced Teas - Chrysanthemum and Longan
If you’re looking for something a bit more unique to Thailand, you can also try some of the local varieties of iced tea, like popular chrysanthemum or longan fruit. These teas run quite sweet, so make sure you’re in the mood for that, but they’re also delicious and refreshing. Iced teas typically cost around 35 baht (~$1).
Thai Pancakes
We hope you saved room, because we have three delightful desserts for you to finish off your tour of the best street food in Bangkok Chinatown. The first is Thai pancakes, or khanom buang, which are super thin and crispy crêpes folded into the shape of a taco and filled with a sweet or savory filling. Each taco gets a healthy smear of a sweet meringue, and then is topped with either a shredded sweet egg-yolk or salty dried shrimp. They’re small tacos you can eat in one bite, and you can get them as cheaply as 15 baht (~$0.50).
Banana Roti
Thai roti is a thin, crispy, and slightly chewy flatbread similar to a puff pastry. It’s pan-fried until golden brown and then filled and/or topped with sweet treats like condensed milk, Nutella, or fruits. In our opinion, you can’t beat the warm and gooey filling of fresh bananas. Make sure to wait a moment to scarf this tasty treat down – they’ll serve it to you piping hot, and you may burn your tongue! Banana roti will cost about 40 baht (~$1.30).
Coconut Pancakes
Finally, what better way to end a street food tour than with another snack on a stick – kanom krok, or Thai coconut pancakes. Cooked in little round molds, these pancakes have a crispy exterior and a soft, chewy interior. Once cooked, they’re served on the end of a stick like a lollipop, the perfect treat to enjoy on the move. You’ll need to like coconut to enjoy these, but as long as you do, you can’t find a better treat for 40 baht (~$1.30).
FAQs for Bangkok's Chinatown and Street Food
When is the Best Time to Visit Chinatown Bangkok?
The street food market on Yaowarat Road is open every day of the week. However, most vendors don’t start setting up until at least 5pm. For the best experience, we recommend arriving no earlier than 7pm.
Do Yaowarat Street Food Vendors Accept Credit Card?
No. While many restaurants in Bangkok accept credit cards, street food vendors definitely won’t. We recommend keeping at least 1,000 baht (~$30) on hand at all times. Don’t forget our pro tip on withdrawing from ATMs in foreign countries!
Pro tip: When offered an exchange rate by an ATM, you can – and should – always decline the rate displayed. This rate often includes a heavy markup on top of the market exchange rate. Declining the rate will not stop your transaction, but rather allow your personal bank to set the rate instead.
Should I Book a Hotel in Chinatown Bangkok?
We wouldn’t recommend staying in Chinatown itself, as the traffic can be really chaotic, making it difficult to get in and out of your hotel or hostel. However, nearby Banglamphu is a great choice, as it puts you right in the middle of the tourist action – great for short stays. If you have a bit more time in the city, we highly recommend the Sukhumvit area as well, home to some of Bangkok’s best bars and most delicious Bangkok restaurants. We’ve included some of our top hotel recommendations below – learn more about them in our Bangkok itinerary and travel guide.
- Sukhumvit:
- Sereine Sukhumvit 39 – 8.8 average rating
- IR-ON – ⭐⭐⭐, 8.8 average rating
- Skyview – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 8.9 average rating
- Ascott Thonglor – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 9.2 average rating
- Banglamphu:
- Corridor 2407 – 8.9 average rating
- Khoa San Social Capsule – 9.4 average rating
- Mad Monkey – ⭐⭐, 9.4 average rating
- Chakrabongse Villas – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 9.4 average rating
Do I Need to Speak Thai to Order Street Food in Bangkok?
Definitely not. We had no issues interacting with people in the service industry in English during our 4 months in Bangkok, though knowing a few key words will definitely win you some brownie points with the locals. Practice these ones before your trip:
- Hello/Goodbye – sawasdee – sa-wat-DEE
- Please – karuna – gah-roo-NAH
- Thank you – khob khun – kop KOON
To be polite, it’s important to speak slowly and add male/female particles to your phrases. Use khrap – khrap if you’re male and kha – kah if you’re female. For example, as a woman, I would say hello as sawasdee kha – sa-wat-DEE kah. Additionally, a bow with your palms together called a wai when saying hello shows respect. The higher your hands, the more respect you show.
Want to learn more? Check out our guide 120+ Thai Words in English for Travel & Tourists.
Where Can I Learn More About Bangkok and Why I Should Visit It?
Right here! We lived in Bangkok for four months and have a full travel guide and itinerary for Bangkok here, along with recommendations for our favorite bars in Bangkok, Bangkok’s best restaurants, and a guide on Why You Should Visit Bangkok for Loy Krathong Festival. We also have a travel guide on Koh Phangan, an island popular for its Full Moon Party. Check out all of our Thailand travel guides here.
Final Thoughts on the Best Street Food in Chinatown Bangkok
We hope this guide of the best street food in Bangkok’s Chinatown helps you in curating the perfect tasty tour of the area! Whether you decide to walk Yaowarat on your own or take a guided street food tour, you’re sure to leave with a full belly and a smile on your face. Let us know what your favorite street food in Bangkok is!
Looking for more recommendations on what to see while in Bangkok? Check out our post Your Complete Bangkok Itinerary for 3 Epic Days, along with our accompanying guides to Bangkok’s best bars and can’t-miss Bangkok restaurants.
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