Bangkok: Isaan Street Food #1

I was having a hard time trying to name this entry as I don't really know the name of the place I ate as I realised that we only say "Let's go eat 'Jim Jum' in front of N's house" for the past 5 years - we don't really know the name of that place! Anyway, street food is what Thailand is really famous for. I know that many foreigners are having a hard time whenever they saw street food; wanting to try as it looks so tasty but too afraid for the upset tummy. I wouldn't say I guarantee people would be free from diarrhea but maybe it's the trick that you must look out for 'freshly' made food which isn't hard to find. And if you are still afraid? try avoiding the drinking water and ice. I think they are more suspicious than super tasty food!

porched shank & grilled beef

Anyway, back to the topic. My friends have been talking about new menu at Isaan streetfood place near N's house that we visit often. So after coming back from seminar in Pattaya, I called up everyone to gather for a meal. When we got there, it started to rain. Fortunately, they have tables which are under weatherboard so we didn't get wet or had to turn away for other food. We ordered porched beef shank and grilled beef with spicy dipping as starter. The porched shank meat was fantastic! It was tender and went so well with Isaan-style (North Eastern part of Thailand is known as Isaan) sauce.

grilled intestines

F has ordered grilled pork's intestines and it was soooooooooo good! It wasn't too sticky and they did clean intestine very well so no bad taste or smell. We were really enjoying this dish that we asked for more and forgot about Cholesterol issue!

sticky rice & somtam khai kem

When you eat Isaan food, you cannot complete the meal without ordering Somtam. We ordered 'Somtam Khai Kem' or spicy papaya salad with salted eggs and 'Somtam poo plara' or spicy papaya salad with salted crab and pickled fish. The first one would taste neutral; not too spicy and more on sweet side, while the latter was spicy, more salty and more tasty (at least for me). The dish sounded 'put-off' anyway but if you taste it, there is no bitter taste or any bad taste in it at all.

pork jim jum and how to eat

The highlight of the meal is 'Jim Jum'. If you translated word by word from English to Thai, it would mean "Pick and Dip". It's the method of eating it. This is Thai style steamboat. There's no fish ball or any fancy stuff. Just meat with egg on top, vegetable and Thai-style soup with lots of herbs like lemongrass and mint. People would usually pick the meat and dip in the soup and eat it. But me and friends don't like the hassle of that so we just mixed pork with egg and throw all in the pot with vegetable. It was a great way to finish the meal with hot tasty soup!

The thinig about street food is dead cheap. We have ordered many more dishes than this and the bill came for Baht700 for 7 people. So cheap! It's definitely my fave place for Isaan street food!

Isaan Food Stall
Near Petronas Gas Station
in front of Soi Phaholyothin 24