Thailand is famous for its special street cuisine, especially when you visiting Pattaya. You will not disappointed about street food in Pattaya because each street food is a harmonious combination of each special spice and fresh ingredients. Moreover, a great thing is that the delicious dishes are all made by talented hands of “street chefs”. In my view, Pattaya is definitely a wonderful place for you and your friends to explore Thai street cuisine. This article will give you information about 3 street food destinations to help you have an unforgettable experience when enjoying street food here.
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1. ALONG SOUTH PATTAYA ROAD
Location: Thanon Pattaya Tai, Muang Pattaya, Amphoe Bang Lamung, Chang Wat Chon Buri, Thailand
Street food, snacks in Pattaya are easy to find but they are much cheaper on South Pattaya. Along South Pattaya Road, there is a lot of delicious food sold on the stalls you should try. Here is some famous Thai street food along South Pattaya Road you will like to enjoy:
1.1. Tom Yum
This is one of the most delicious soups in Thailand. Traveling to Thailand without eating this soup is considered as yet to come. The street chefs use seafood or chicken with coconut milk, lemon leaves, gingers,… to cook Tom Yum, whose taste makes tourists only eat once to remember this taste forever. If you cannot eat spicy food, you should say “No spicy please” to the waiter.
Price: 80 – 150 baht
1.2. Papaya Pattaya Crab Salad
This is not only Pattaya’s best delicacy but it is also one of Thai top 10 delicious dishes. Papaya Pattaya Crab Salad is mixed papaya salad with dried beef, fresh chilies, fish sauce, dried shrimp, lemon juice, peanuts, etc.
Price: 35 – 50 baht
1.3. Stir Fried Morning Glory Thai style (Pad Pak Boong Fai)
Morning glory, known as water spinach, is much-loved in Thai cuisine for ít tender shoots and leaves that take on Thai flavors beautifully.
Besides three above dishes, you should also try grilled food on South Pattaya Road to feel all the originality and diversity in Thai street cuisine such as grilled chicken rice, grilled salt carp, grilled snakehead fish, grilled shrimp, grilled squid, scorpion grilled with a variety of grilled skewers.
1.4. Moo Ping
This is amongst the most commonly found quick bite of the various Pattaya street food. Moo Ping is grill pork served on a wooden skewer along with sticky rice and chef’s own sauce. Besides pork, chef also use fat chicken, basted in marinades which has tender taste.
1.5. Mango sticky rice
Mango sticky rice is a famous street food in South Pattaya Road. The dish is a great combination of sweet, slightly, salty glutenous sticky rice drenched in slurry coconut cream sauce and fragrant slices of tender yellow-ripe mango.
Moreover, South Pattaya Food Street is very close to Walking Street Pattaya. However, the prices in Walking Street are more expensive than those in South Pattaya Road. You should enjoy the cuisine at South Pattaya and then walk to Walking Street for sightseeing to save money.
2. WALKING STREET PATTAYA
Location: Soi 13 – 16, Southern end of Beach Road, South Pattaya.
Opening hours: All day
Walking Street Pattaya is the biggest and busiest destination in Pattaya. This street is not only an entertainment paradise with many bars, nightclubs, sex shows but it is also a street food paradise with plenty of street food stalls around Walking Street entrance. There are many kinds of street food here from chicken, pork, roast beef to Turkish lamb, seafood. Just go to Walking Street, you do not need to worry about what you eat for all day because street food vendors are always available on the road. Once walking down the sidewalk, you will definitely see a variety of snack such as insects fried crispy, skewers, grill squid, grilled octopus, noodles, etc.
2.1. Pad Thai style street food
It is called like that because it will have different color and taste if you eat at restaurants. This famous Thai dish is stir-fried noodle with shrimp, tofu, tamarind pulp, fish sauce, garlic or shallots, red chili pepper, and palm sugar.
2.2. Satay
Maybe Thailand is the kingdom of food on wooden sticks. From classic chicken satay to sausages, fish, fruit, even steak all can be found on glorified over-sized toothpicks when in Walking Street Pattaya. The prices are quite reasonable, chicken and pork around 10 baht a stick, beef steak and pork chop satay for 20 baht a stick. Some vendors have much cheaper prices.
Price: 5 baht – 20 baht
2.3. Bugs
Bugs are served dead and most often lightly stir-fried I oil to give them a crispy crunch. You can enjoy grasshoppers, beetles, and cockroaches or you can also mix them before eating. No trip to Walking Street is fun without trying some creepy crawlies.
2.4. Fresh coconut:
Taking a coconut in your hands with a straw sticking out the top of it seems to be fun when walking around Walking Street.
Price: around 40 baht
Besides these above famous street foods, vendors in Walking Street also offer a large selection of food that never makes you hungry when visiting here.
3. THE FOOD COURTS IN THE SHOPPING CENTERS
You should go to shopping centers such as Royal Garden Plaza (right next to the entrance of Walking Street), Central Festival Shopping Mall (next to the Hilton Hotel). These addresses have many restaurants, where you can both shop and eat comfortably. The prices are quite reasonable, especially in Central Festival – the most beautiful shopping center in Pattaya.
3.1. Royal Garden Plaza:
Location: 218 Pattaya Beach Road, South Pattaya
Opening hours: 10:30 – 23:00
There is a wide range of food options to choose from food courts at Royal Garden Plaza.
There are many choices of international restaurants and cafes as follow:
– KFC
– Burger King
– Starbucks
– Coffee World
– Au Bon Pain
– Sizzler
– Pizza Company
– Benihana
Moreover, you can enjoy your meal with a great view of Pattaya Bay if you come to the Food Wave on the third floor. This food court offers a large choice of food specialties from all over the world. Perhaps, Food Wave is also an ideal place for fantastic “selfies”.
3.2. Central Festival Shopping Mall:
Location: Next to Hilton Hotel, 333/99 Moo 9, Pattaya Beach Road, South Pattaya
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
Central Festival dedicates two floors to restaurants, cafes. Meal options include a wide range of world cuisine including plenty of Japanese, Thai, Indian, and a growing number of Russian outlets. A great food court option at Central Festival Mall is FoodLoft. It offers several food islands covering all world cuisine, al fresco dining, looking out over Pattaya Bay. Besides, like Royal Garden Plaza, many restaurants, as well as cafes, are available.
– Starbucks
– Burger King
– McDonald’s
– KFC
– Carl’s Jr
4. THEPPRASIT ROAD NIGHT MARKET
Location: Thepprasit Road, Jomtien
Opening hours: Friday – Sunday 17:00 – 23:00
Thepprasit Road Night Market is one of the most popular local shopping destinations in Pattaya with an extensive parking available and impressive stalls. Therefore, this market attracts many locals as well as tourists every evening from Friday to Sunday.
Thepprasit Road Night Market is also known as “Pattaya Weekend Market” and “Kankheha Thepprasit Market”. Here tourists will be impressed by the colorful array of street food from fresh fruits, juices to fried bugs, sticky rice, noodle, seafood. There are quite many places to sit down and eat or you can buy food and take away.
If you want to visit one market in Pattaya, Thepprasit Road Night Market will be an authentic experience for you to enjoy delicious Thai street food.
The above are 4 destinations for you to enjoy your meals in Pattaya. They are surely heavens of street food that you cannot miss in your trip to Pattaya. Hope this article will help you have funny and significant experiences during your trip in Pattaya.