Oodles of noodles

I love noodles. Thailand is a wonderful place for a noddle lover like me. They have all kinds of noodles and I especially love the flat broad rice noodles which is called 'kway teow' (just like in Singapore). So far, any noodle stall that you eat at serves yummy (for want of a better word) noodles.

Generally, a bowl of noodles costs 25 baht to 30 baht (S$1 - S$1.50). This is if you eat from pushcart vendors selling by the side of the road or coffee shops.The servings are small, which are ideal for small eaters or a child. The Thais generally eat their noodles with fish sauce (what else), sugar, peanuts, vinegar and chili flakes.

Here are some of the various noodles found in and around Bangkok.

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'Kway teow lord'. Pretty healthy as it's served with tofu, egg, mushroom, fried garlic and dried shrimp.



'Bah mee' or egg noddle with fish, prawn and fried yam balls. This stall is more than 50 years old and found in an alley in Chinatown.

This is my newest favourite noodles. It is called 'bah mee yam kai yang' which means egg noodle with grilled chicken. For Thai food, 'yam' means a combination of sweet,salty, sour and spicy. Sounds overwhelming? It is not.

This noodle is sold in the food court in Emporium (one of my favourite department stores). The noodle is mixed with sugar, fish sauce, dried shrimp, chili paste, fried park lard, vinegar and a soya based sauce. It is topped with slices of grilled chicken and fried shallots. I love the explosion of tastes with all the different floavours combined and there was a time when I had it every day for a week!

This is a fried flat noodle called 'kway teow pad si yew' or 'noodle fried with soya sauce'. You can choose the type of noodles you like (ie thin kway teow or bee hoon). I generally like the broad flat kway teow as I find much softer than the ones in Singapore. It comes with meat and again you can choose either pork, chicken or beef. This kway teow can be found in most food places in Bangkok. My favourite is in a coffee shop near my house as the noodle has a smoky flavour to it.

This is the huge pot that churns out bowls and bowls of beef noodles otherwise known as 'nger toon'. It is actually the same shop that sells the kway teow mentioned above. It is an old fashioned coffee shop (ie rickety chairs, basic cutlery and no air-conditioning) that has scores of people stopping by for it's noodles. On weekends, there will be a line of cars parked kerbside.

This is only some of the types of noodles that can be found here. There are many more but it would take me too long to get photographing all of them to post. I have a thoery that it is hard to find a 'bad' bowl of noodles in Bangkok as generally any noodle stall sells tasty noodles. In my years here, I've eaten at many noodle stalls and not once have I come away dissatisfied.