24 Hours Eating ONLY Michelin Street Food in Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand is indisputably home to some of the best street food in the world. These are little nuggets of heaven right here. But hidden among tens of thousands of stalls, only seven have earned a Michelin recommendation, turning tiny stalls and humble alley restaurants into magnets for tourists and foodies from around the world. We decided to try every single Michelin-recommended street food stop, but not just that. We're on a mission to do it all in a single day. Let's see if these coveted spots live up to their reputation. Sawadee krab, and good morning. The markets here in Bangkok wake up well before I do, even before the sun is up. And by 7.30, when we arrive at the street market at Silom, locals and tourists alike crowd the street, purchasing produce and breakfast at the many stalls down the alley. Sawadee krab, good morning. We have a very important mission today, to try every single Michelin-recommended street food here in Bangkok. It's gonna be tough. We only have 24 hours to do it, but I could not be more excited. First things first though, we needed to come to our local market here in Silom to get one of my favorite morning treats before we make our way over to the first spot. So let's go. One stall in particular has caught our eye, and our noses too. These are pad thong go, originally brought to Thailand by Chinese immigrants in the 1920s, where they are called yo tiao in Chinese. Pad thong go are a simultaneously airy and crispy fried dough breakfast street food, served fresh here with sweet and condensed milk for dipping. It's mesmerizing to watch them chop fresh before they bathe briefly in a simmering pot of oil. But sweets are always better in pairs, as they say. Or maybe we're just sweet dudes. The next stall over is serving Thai milk tea, or cha yen. A quick lesson in Thai. And a perfect blend of tea, condensed milk over copious amounts of ice, and it is finally time to dig in. I know we're gonna do a lot of eating today, but we just couldn't say no to our favorite street vendors here at our market. These are little nuggets of heaven right here. They are perfectly crunchy and soft and sweet. It somehow is nostalgic, even though I've never had these in my life. It's like the freshest, softest, glazed donut ever. So good. In such an amazing way to start out the food day here. Soft, delicate, light, crispy, and sweet, nuggets of heaven is exactly what they are. It's refreshing. It's milky. It's a fun color. I mean, what is there not to like about a Thai milk tea? Amazing. Upper lip glistening in the morning sun and heat, we made our way down the lively street to our next stop of the day. What's amazing about Bangkok is that food is to be enjoyed everywhere. Outside, inside, on the sidewalk, in a restaurant, standing up, sitting on stools. Everywhere in the city is a spot where a meal can be shared and appreciated. Nestled down an alley not far from the street market lies Charoen Sang Silom, an establishment with 70 years of history and accolades decorating the walls, both local and global. This restaurant specializes in Thai pork knuckle rice or khao kha moo. The pork tenderizes and marinates in large steel pots from where it is then generously coated in broth before being served. So without further ado, let's give it a try. Whoa, okay, first impressions, this is tender. This is really tender skin on the outside. Wow, that's incredible. I think what I'm first going to do is just get a little bit of meat, you know, a little bit of broth and then mix it with a touch of rice and see what kind of magic happens here. Wow, incredibly, incredibly tender in a very rich broth as well that goes with it, along with that just so tender. I cannot emphasize it enough, meat on the bone. It's my turn. Oh wait, oh my god, that skin is so crazy. The fork just dips right into it like butter. Whoa, this is crazy. Wow, that pork just falls right off. I've never had pork like this before, ever, and I haven't even eaten it, but I just know from the texture. Cheers. Wow, that is a rich way to start off the morning. This has to be the softest, most delectable pork I may have ever had. It's slightly sweet, it's really delicious, and the flavor is almost mild. The real deliciousness comes from the texture of the pork and how soft it is. A lot of the reviews say this is a love-hate thing when it comes to eating the skin of the pork here, so without further ado. I'm definitely not a hater. Okay, if you're not a fan of like a slightly gelatinous texture, you're not going to be a big fan, that's just a fact, but honestly, the flavor is amazing, and once again, just like everything else about this fish, super, super tender. What a treat, folks. Tender, rich, soft, bursting with flavor, this recipe has clearly been crafted and perfected over decades of work. Starting off this Michelin adventure on a great note. I mean, how does it get better than this? We'll see. Our next stop, I don't know, I'm super excited about. We'll see. A brief trip by bus, foot, and train later, we arrive at a simultaneously famous and infamous spot in Bangkok, Ranjai Phai. We settled into our already well-formed line where return customers have learned to come prepared. Being newcomers to both the restaurant and the heat, Molly went across the street to grab a water for us to enjoy and pass the time. So one of the trickier elements of our 24-hour Michelin adventure is that this place in particular, Ranjai Phai, tends to have a long wait. Some people wait up to six and a half hours. Luckily for us today, I do not think that's the case. We'll see how long it takes. Luckily, only about 30 minutes later, we were into the restaurant and seated. I'll leave Molly to explain the reasons as to why this location has mixed ratings among the many that wait at its doors. We are officially in here at Ranjai Phai. And while standing in line, you actually order. We ordered one thing and one thing only, and that is the famous crab omelet. And this thing looks chock full of crab meat. Ethan and I both love crab, so I'm super excited. This place is a little controversial. It's definitely expensive as far as food here in Thailand goes. So I'm really curious to see if it lives up to the hype. There are people that really either love it or hate it. So let's see which camp we fall into. My God, look at that meat. This thing is crazy. Oh my God, that is some thick crab meat right there. That's just beautiful, beautiful crab meat. Forget that. I mean, delicious. If you like crab, you'll like this. Because even though it says on the menu crab omelet, this is straight crab, baby. Honestly, it's a good thing that we had a little bit of downtime in order to digest and really prepare ourselves for this crab omelet. And what can I say? Crispy crab. Very nice, very nice. Let me get some sauce with that. Honestly, it's a little bland. Am I a hater? Definitely put a little bit of that red sauce on. It almost tastes like a bit of a cocktail sauce with like a touch of extra spice to it. I don't know, worth the hype? That's tough to say, honestly. Is it worth the hype? Is it worth the 1,500 baht that we're about to spend on this when we could get, we could get so many other things instead of just get one crab omelet? Dare I say no, it's not worth it. But I do want to say while we're here that super respect to Jay Pai, who is the chef and owner, the founder, if you will, of this restaurant. And she's in here seven days a week cooking from 9 a.m. to end of the evening these dishes that are served here. And that's pretty incredible and a great commitment. Ethan and I love food and we're so happy to spend money on quality food. So this was an awesome experience to get to try. But what I will say is, especially with the Michelin star, you're expecting something that surprises your taste buds. A unique new experience that you could only have at this one place. And I just have to say that I think that this felt a little bit short for me. The crab meat is delicious, but it's quite simple and not super flavorful. This may have just fallen a bit flat for the two of us, but I don't want to be a hater. She does amazing work and we've had a great time. And who could say no to a big pile of crab meat? Am I right? That's just the thing, isn't it? No one asked to be bombarded by customers expecting greatness after a humble beginning and a dedication to one's craft. Alas, we set off to try one of the most well-recognized and iconic dishes in all of Bangkok, mango sticky rice. K-Ponic has a simple system that has been perfected over decades. Anyone noticing a pattern here? Simply order and then make your way across the street for the goods to arrive. By goods, I mean grates. Just look at that mango sticky rice. That was an interesting second stop we had there, but I am more than excited for this sticky rice. This recipe for mango sticky rice has been passed down for over 80 years. We're at K-Ponic and they also sell some scrumptious mango smoothies. So thick, I can't even stir. What I've heard people love about this place especially is how perfect the mangoes are. Even out of season, everyone says they are just the perfect, sweetest, stickiest, perfect mangoes ever. So let's try it. Wow, that rice is so thick and sticky for sure. You can see, look at that. Okay, that mango just, you know, I just put my fork in and it perfectly came off. Cheers. If you watched our three days in Bangkok video, you know we tried mango sticky rice then and I was kind of take it or leave it, you know. It's okay. This is a completely different dish. The rice is warm, it's sweet, it's coconutty, it's salty and it balances perfectly with this mango which is perfectly ripe. Honestly, you can get mango sticky rice on any corner in Thailand, on any corner in Bangkok but you need to try this one. Michelin got it right on this one. This is out of this world. Oh, it's so ripe. That is so good. What makes this mango sticky rice so different, what's so good is that the rice just actually is so much more moldy. That's not the right word. Moldy. It really chews really well with the mango which is also really soft and tender. So that gives it that extra cohesion I suppose because you wouldn't normally think rice would go with mango but when it's prepared in this way, you would be wrong. Little did we know that tragedy was soon to befall our Michelin to Michelin eat our way across Bangkok. Why? Okay, how'd I do? We have officially failed the Michelin street food Bangkok challenge due to poor planning. Boon Lert noodle is sadly closed today but the good news is we actually accidentally tried this noodle place two days ago so we went there and it was amazing. I mean, we'll play back that footage for you real quick so you can get the experience and do not worry, we will not be giving up and we must complete the challenge. We have to go to all the rest of the places so next stop, see you there. Indeed, when eating food like this, any shortcoming is easily remedied by moving towards the next great option. A simple restaurant on a busy street, Tang Suay Hung specializes in many dishes but today we are after their duck and noodle soup. Simple ingredients blended perfectly together, we caught our breath under whirring fans while enjoying the ambiance from our plastic stool and steel table. Thick noodles covered in broth and duck meat composed a simple yet beautiful ensemble. Well here we are for our next meal and I must say this came out piping hot. Service has been really friendly and it is just stunning. We decided to go with the thick wide noodles here in this it looks so good and the duck oh I bet it's just gonna be so tender so oh that's so good. The broth is really really quite flavorful and compliments it so well. Yeah, this is amazing. The duck is really nice and tender and I actually think the noodles are delicious. They have an excellent texture, very thick. I love like a thick noodle like this. It goes really well with the whole ensemble. What I'll say is the service here is great. The folks here are really really nice. That is a spectacular bite. Wow, I mean the noodle is slippery and soft and carries the scrumptious savory broth along with it perfectly. And then the bite of the duck, I mean I said this last time at the mango place but this might be my favorite bite of the day. We cleaned that bowl. Our next stop required grabbing a grab which by the way saying grab a grab has quickly become a catchphrase of mine in Thailand. Anyway, nearly in a food coma at this point we grabbed our grabs slightly out of town to a bustling street vendor, Bananarama 5. Fried snacks of all varieties coated the table but I bet you can guess what we were after here. There we go, we're here. Fried Bananarama. We just had the most lovely taxi ride over here. We got a grab, it was air-conditioned, the seats were like leaning back. I got a nice nap and all this eating, you know, gotta rest. We are here at Fried Bananarama, the fifth Fried Bananarama 5. I don't know how you say it. We got the classic fried banana and some taro balls. I think I'm just in a constant state of fullness today but that's okay. Even though I have been talking a lot throughout the day about all the different spots we visited and the variety even within the Michelin recommendations and it's been super interesting. This place is completely outside of the center of the city. It's on the outskirts. It's kind of hard to get here via public transport so you have to take a taxi basically but it's really cool to see a different side of the city. Let's dive right in. I feel like we have to start with the banana because, you know, it's Fried Bananarama. So you can tell that it is cut in half and it's so crispy. I can already tell. They're making impression. I've never had a fried banana before and if it's loud, I'm sorry. We are right on the side of a very busy road as with many of these establishments. It's all about the street ambiance, baby. Cheers. Wow. Like I said, I've never had a fried banana before. It's really good. I mean, you got the sweet tanginess of the banana, crispy fried goodness and I think the most underrated element here are those sesame seeds. You get an awesome nutty flavor. What I will say is it's good but to be honest, it's not really blowing me away. Like it's yummy but is this something super special? I don't know. Maybe I'm a hater. It's not bad though. Come here. Try it. Why not? It's awesome. The people are really nice. Up next, the Sweet Potato Balls. There's a little gooey center. It's kind of nice. Pretty good if you like sweet potatoes but honestly, how fun. Look at that. It's a little kitty toy. Now, you know what? This would be great for a good sporting event snack, you know? Get you some sweet potato balls. I think what was beautiful about this stop was that it had a little for everyone and of everyone. Nice cars, old motorbikes. Everyone was pulling up to grab fried snacks and goodies to take home from Bananarama. And as we were nearly bursting with food, it was nice to sit back in our watermelon in the shade and watch the stream of people grab their goodies. But for us, with our goodies having been grabbed, we grabbed a grab back for a brief siesta and digestion. It has been a crazy day of eats in this Michelin star adventure. And before we wrap it up, we have one final stop to go. Cheers to that. Our final Michelin stop takes us to Samsak Puam, known for its translucent glass noodles served with river prawns or crab. We opted for the prawns and immediately did not regret it. Tucked into bed beneath a blanket of glass noodles, the fresh prawns were steaming and had our tummies rumbling anew. I mean, this is a gorgeous presentation. This place is very well known for their glass noodles with prawns or crab. And we decided to go prawns tonight because we're a little crabbed out. I mean, what a presentation for it to come out steaming. And let's get into it. Kind of give it that extra flavor. Let these glass noodles soak up this extra flavor that's sitting there at the bottom. Wow. I mean, it's tough to get to these noodles. They're kind of, they're all pretty stuck together here. Sorry, I promise I'm not trying to play with my food here. Those are actually delicious. Wow. I mean, these noodles are actually packed with flavor, which is something that you wouldn't expect with a noodle that is a translucent, almost clear. And it's just, I'm telling you, it packs a punch of flavor, which if you know Malena, we absolutely love a punch. We love a pack, we love a packed punch of flavor. I love shrimp. I love seafood. Oh my god. Wow. That is so garlicky, so flavorful. It has that perfect shrimp umami, you know. I could eat these all day long. And look at that stretch. Oh my god. Now we gotta try this prawn. I mean, it's literally staring me in the face, so. Oh my gosh. It just keeps coming, baby. That thing is huge. Okay, we had to take a brief intermission because it was so hot, but here we go. Oh my gosh, look at that. Okay, here's what I've seen people do online. Don't they suck the head if I do it? That's a person. I feel weird. I mean, it's good. It's like shrimpy flavor. I'm not getting too much. Wow. This thing's like a baby lobster. Okay, I gotta dip this in here. Get this nice, scrumptious juice. I mean, does a more perfect bite exist? You tell me. It does not. Best bite of the day right there. Gotta finish it off with a bang. Oh my goodness. Dipping it in those scrumptious juices is like, wow. Molly's being kind enough to share with this last bit. That's such a treat. Best bite of the day, what do you think? Could it be? Oh, I don't know. To me, it's between that and the pork shoulder. I don't know. So the takeaways. The Michelin rating is huge and can ultimately change the trajectory of many of the businesses that the anonymous raters choose to recommend. What makes the list special is the amount of variety that is included, which leads to no stone being left unturned for the foodie that ventures around the world in search of new flavors. It also, however, can create controversy and question how high prices, subpar service, and much-to-be-desired flavors made the list. It's difficult. Subjective. We had so much good food during our two weeks in Bangkok, and the truth is, a place doesn't need to have a Michelin star to have a delicious and affordable meal in this huge metropolis. And not only that, but sometimes having a Michelin rec can detract from the food and experience itself. But importantly, we were lucky to experience this tiny piece of Thai culture that is at least as rich as the pork knuckle from the morning. Thanks so much for watching. Love always, Eminey. It's kind of insane. I've never had a crab omelet before because that's a kind of luxury I never thought I'd get to enjoy. Fall to your knees. That was awesome. That was good. You gotta fall to your knees too. God, I gotta get back in the zone. God, why? Can you produce a tear?