I’m a sucker for noodles. So when I come to Bangkok, I almost never go for Thai food unless friends want to go. I make a beeline for Pork Noodles and other types of noodles if there is enough stomach.
What’s there not to like – the most airy noodles (they give you only a small portion) sitting in a smorgasbord of minced pork, the softest intestines, liver, fish balls and fish cake.
You add the four basic ingredients at your table – Chilli flakes, sugar, peanuts, fish sauce.
Heavenly.
PORK NOODLES
For the longest time, I have been raving about Bangkok Pork noodles. My favourite used to be at Soi 20 until I discovered the Rung Rueang noodles at Soi 26.
http://www.vkeong.com/eat/rung-ruang-noodles-bangkok/
I compared all 3 pork noodles and this is my verdict :
1. Sukhumvit Soi 20 noodles 7.5 / 10
2. Sukhumvit Rung Rueang bigger red shop on the right – 7.5-8 / 10
3. Sukhumvit Rung Rueang Original smaller blue shop on the left – 9 / 10
The Sukhumvit Soi 20 is a completely different taste from Rung Rueang so perhaps it’s unfair to compare. Soi 20 has other things which RR doesn’t have like pig’s blood, braised chicken wings, quail eggs, french beans, crispy wanton etc.
But for straight up Pork ingredients and heavenly soup, original RR wins hands down.
SUKHUMVIT SOI 20 (opens about 830am to after lunch)
If you like chicken wing soup with cowslip flowers or yen ta fo, this is an absolute fantastic hole in the wall a 10 minutes walk away from the BTS Phrom Phong station – the address is 392/20 Sukhumvit, or Sukhumvit 20/1 (an alleyway between Sukhumvit Soi 18 and Soi 20)
DIRECTIONS TO SOI 20
If you were to take a cab, flash the above to the cab driver.
Soi 20 is a actually a long offshoot lane which connects the main Sukhumvit road to Rama IV road which runs parallel. If for any reason he drops you at the Rama IV end of Soi 20 (which is the wrong end), u have to ask him to drive to the other end of Soi 20 and alight there (if you walk it may take 10-15 minutes to get to the other end).
How do you know you are at the correct Sukhumvit road end of Soi 20 and not the Rama IV end ? Watch out for the BTS track – that’s the Sukhumvit end . The Rama IV end has no BTS track.
The Soi where the shop is located is actually not on main Soi 20 itself . You alight right at the entrance of Soi 20, walk a few steps more and you will see a small Soi which is a dead end.
I have included photographs of the shops flanking this small Soi above.
Also look across the street on the opposite end of the BTS track. The Raddison Hotel is directly opposite the Soi with the pork noodles.
Walk a little into that small Soi and the noodle shop is right in the middle of the Soi.
BTS
If you are taking BTS follow these instructions :
Exit Asok station and look out for and you will see Exchange Tower. Walk towards Exchange tower . Go down the bridge and look for the sign “Asok suites” . From there walk straight and you will eventually come to Lexus showroom on your right. Keep walking straight on and just after a shop called Thomson, the small Soi is right in between a shop called Vacharee and Cafe called mix and munch.
SOI 26 RUNG REANG NOODLES (830 am to about 330 pm)
Here’s a useful article about what the hype on Rung Rueang noodles at Soi 26 is all about:
DIRECTIONS TO SOI 26 RUNG RUEANG NOODLES
BTS
To get to Rung Rueang noodles, take the BTS to Phrom Phong station (one station after Asok). Once u come down to the Bridge to street level, you are directly at Soi 24 and should see the sign displaying Soi 24 . So you are just one street away.
At this point I would suggest you ask the locals which direction to walk to Soi 26 to ensure that you are not going the opposite direction ie to Soi 22.
If you are in the correct direction, you should not see Emporium which is the opposite way, but should see UOB Privilege Banking very soon and once you past UOB, you will reach the opening to Soi 26.
Walk into Soi 26 and keep to the right . Within 5 mins you will see the sign for Arize hotel and just past the sign you will reach the bigger Rung Rang (Red awning) and next to it is the smaller Original Rung Rang (Blue awning).
The Original RR (blue awning)
The Original RR takes the prize for al dente noodles. Try the noodles dry Tom Yam – it is dry but with just a subtle hint of Tom Yam – very good. Or if you’re not a fan of Tom Yam, try the simple dry version.
The minced pork is delicious and airy and the intestines are soft and silky.
And the soup – oh the soup. Grown men can tear and it takes you away to a special place and if you stared too long, you’ll probably breakdown and cry.
Because the turnover is so high, I saw the boss repeatedly putting enormous chunks of minced pork into the soup to flash cook the minced pork, before removing them and loosening them in another pot.
Do that throughout the day and all that goes into the orgasmic soup.
THE BIGGER RR (Blue Awning)
The bigger RR tastes like the original but to me, only 85-90% of the original. The minced pork is just a little harder and the intestines not as tender.
Consistency of the noodles is close but somehow the original just has that little edge in taste.
The fish skin is crispier and better at the bigger RR – noticeably so in fact . So even if you eat at the original RR, if you want to buy to bring back home packets of the fish skin, go next door to the bigger RR to buy them.
SIEA DUCK NOODLES
This famous Duck Noodles stall
is only open at night 730 pm to 12 am.
Both the soup and dry versions are delicious.
This shop is at Rama IV which is a main road running parallel to Sukhumvit. It is not near to any BTS as far as I am aware, so taking a taxi is the preferred way to get there.
Siea Duck Noodles
(เซี๊ยะก๋วยเตี๋ยวเป็ด)
Noodle House · Khlong Toe
泰文地址：2852-2856 ถนนพระราม 4, คลองเตย , กรุงเทพมหานคร
730 pm to 12pm
Siea Duck Noodles
2852, 2856 Rama IV Rd. (opp Sukhumvit 22), Klong Toei, Bangkok 10110
P’AOR LOBSTER TOM YUM NOODLES
Would you pay S$50 for a giant bowl of Tom Yum Noodle which has a medium sized lobster, two small stuffed crab shells, mussels, one stuffed squid, 2 medium sized fillet of salmon, one hard boiled egg?
If the answer is yes, then it’s good news for you since the prices just halved. Everyone shares the giant bowl so effectively it comes up to about S$25 per pax and that’s reasonable.
The place is not too far away – the BTS is Ratchathewi BTS which is only one station after Siam Station.
At Ratchathewi, when you walk down the stairs from the trains, exit to the turnstiles on your left . After coming down the bridge, walk away from the station following the flow of the traffic. At the next traffic intersection, turn left and continue walking.
Keep your eyes peeled for the soi on the opposite side of the road from where you are. Quite soon you will see petchaburi soi 7.
Yes you have to cross to the other side of the road which is a very busy three lane highway so it can be a little terrifying. You have to navigate carefully in small spurts and be quite brisk.
If you are alert, you should not be hit and there is at least a 50% chance you will be injury free.
Assuming you are still alive and not bleeding too badly, enter Soi 7. Walk straight for about 20-30 meters and take a first left turn when you can . This is the alley way linking soi 5 and soi 7 (hence the reference to soi 5 in the address).
P’Aor is a small shop somewhere in the middle of that alleyway on the right side. Look out for 68 which is its unit no. It has fairly colourful banners so it’s not too difficult to find.
I contemplated their giant bowl of lobster noodle for a while but decided that I couldn’t stare down that bowl. It was huge and the patrons were all sharing.
A look through the menu shows that there were at least 20- 30 variations with all sorts of ingredients. Everything else was priced like S$3-4 dollars per bowl.
Food was good and I think worth a visit. The tom yum broth looks nice and angry but it wasn’t as spicy as it looks. It was tasty and only if I had to behave like a cantankerous menopausal fussy Aunty and find some fault, I would say that it was just a trifle too tangy for my liking.
I was happy with the crab ball I ordered which was nice and crispy with full of crab flavour.
The prawn rolls were favourably mentioned and looks good in the pictures. But I did not try it during my visit there.
P’Aor (ร้านพี่อ้อ): 68/51 Soi Petchaburi 5, Between Soi 5 – 7, Phaya Thai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok | Opening Hours: (Tues to Sun) 10am – 9 pm, Closed on Monday
Closest BTS Station: Ratchathewi Station (about a 10 min walk)
WATTANA PANICH – Famous Beef Noodles
Wattana Panich is famed for the giant wok they use to cook their beef everyday.
Ok I wouldn’t call that a wok. More like a jacuzzi. After hours, the owners probably use that thing for a relaxing soak while sipping on Cristal champagne and nibbling on pork rinds.
At the end of each day, they will keep the leftover soup and add it to the jacuzzi the next day. So the soup is 40-50 years. Geez.
The famed beef was rich but yet not overpowering. The beef balls were delicate and the tendons, intestines and chitterlings were good too.
The braised pork trotter was melt in your mouth and sufficiently collagenic, although seasoning was a trifle mousy and tentative.
Address: Wattanapanit 336-338 sukhumvit 63 road., wattana, Bangkok, Thailand
Phone: 662-391-7264
Opening Hours: 10am to 8pm daily.
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