7 Delicious Things To Eat In On Nut, Bangkok

BANGKOK, THAILAND – Travelling to Bangkok is not just about Pratunam and Siam Square. In fact, there are so many places to explore outside the city. That includes On Nut, one of the best residential areas in Bangkok for expats and families. It is not too far from town and you have almost everything you may need for after work and your life in Bangkok.

During out last trip to Bangkok, we decided to try self drive and explored On Nut as we think it is the up and coming food heaven. Driving in Bangkok is not as bad as I thought, the roads are narrower and the jam is bearable, so you just got to drive slowly and watch out for bikes on the road. One thing I like about On Nut area is that you will never be hungry around as there are always good food at every corner, if you know how to find them. Here’s 7 places you must try in On Nut.

At Soi Sukhumvit 77/1 (near On Nut BTS Station), there is a food street which is very similar to Sukhumvit Soi 38 and I believe it will be the big thing soon! Before it gets too crowded, head there now to enjoy good food. This fish maw soup uncle has been saying for years that he is moving out but he is still here and is very busy during dinner time. He makes good bowl of fish maw soup. The soup is rich and tasty, yet not overpowering. Couple with fish maw and blood cake, you can choose to have it with rice or noodles. Don’t forget to add some quality vinegar to enhance the flavours.

If you are a fan of fish maw soup, I have also featured another fish maw soup in my 10 Must Try Food Places in Bangkok article.

How many hawkers has got the chance to cook in the palace every year? Honestly, it is not many. And you can probably count them with your hands and legs. For the past 15 years, Khiang Aroy’s owner Ah Khiang has been invited to the palace every year to cook for the royalty and he is extremely proud of it with photos and plaques plastered on the wall (he is a teochew ah hia by the way). Just how amazing he is?

At his shop located between On Nut Alley 15 and 17, they fry pretty good Char Kway Teow. He produces his own soy sauce to add into his cooking. There are two options: the stir fried CKT (dry version) and hor fun (wet version). I prefer the former with good wok hei and lots of eggs. The latter is a little different from our local zi char hor fun. They added fermented bean paste (dao cheou) into their hor fun and it’s sweeter than Singapore’s version. They also serve suki – vermicelli in fermented bean curd soup. Also, another must try is their deep fried pork neck with garlic. SUPER SHIOK!

There is a fishball noodles stall at the entrance of Soi Sukhumvit 77/1 that says “拉差粿条自制鱼丸可口会跳”. Very interesting caption! This stall used to be at Pratunum, but the 39-year-old owner let his relatives run it and he moved to On Nut 10 years ago. This is the 5th generation fishball noodles and the whole family has many fishball noodle stalls around Bangkok. Each stall used to do their own fishballs but it was too much work, so one of his uncles started the fishball making business and supply it to all the outlets.

The fishballs are made purely from ikan parang (Xi Dao) and it is very soft and bouncy. They serve 3 kinds of soup base here – clear soup, tom yam or yong tau foo. I recommend you to go for the yong tau foo version with the pig’s blood. The pinkish red soup has an addictive sweetness and there are about 5 different kind of noodles for you to choose from. This is featured in my 10 Must Try Food Places in Bangkok (Part 2).

At 30 Sukhumvit 77 Rd (near to BigC Onnut), we arrived at this 40-year-old stall that sells excellent pig trotter rice (35 to 55 baht) and mix organ soup (35 to 45 baht). You are greeted with a spread of pig intestines and other various parts such as pig skin, trotters and pork belly right at the entrance of the shop. Yes, it is very similar to our local kway chap, except that they serve it with rice instead of the kway.

My lunch was a plate of pig trotter with beancurd, pig’s blood and many other ingredients. The owner took effort to clean and braise the offal for a long time. Texture of the pig trotter is good, thick skin and tender meat but still retaining some bite. The mixed organ soup was flavourful and tasty with generous serving of pork liver, pig’s blood, lean meat, salted vegetable etc. Opens from 10am to 6pm daily.

This has got to be one of the friendliest and most memorable stall I have visited. Not that the food is super fantastic, but the owner is so kind and reminds me of my late grandmother. Aunty has been serving northern Thai food in On Nut for the past 5 years. His father-in-law started a food stall about 70 years ago in Chiang Mai and she got to learn the skills from him. That’s why this shop is called “Ah Pa”.

This was initially a toy factory but her son has always wanted to do F&B, so they took the father-in-law’s recipe and convert the shop space to a dining space. But well, after the son graduate, he didn’t take over the business and instead become a photographer. But this 60-year-old mother is happy for him and let him concentrate on his skills while she takes care of the shop. Guess what, her daughter is a national shooter!

Enough of the story, let’s focus on food. Since they serve Northern Thai food, you really got to try khanom jeen nam ngiaw. Taking origin from the Shan communities of Northern Thailand, the rice noodle (khanom jeen) is cooked in a watery, slightly tart broth. Here, aunty adds some beef and supplemented with cubes of blood, topped with a generous amount of deep-fried crispy garlic, pickled mustard green and lime. It totally reminds me of my trip to Chiang Mai. They are also famous for their steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens and kway teow soup. Opens from 8am to 3pm.

If you are craving for some braised duck rice, this may be an option for you. During CNY, this shop sells about 5000 ducks! That shows how popular it is with the Chinese community here. We had the tender duck rice drenched in their sauce and it was not bad. The herbal duck soup was fragrant with pleasant aroma from the herbs. Go for the duck noodles, which has the best of both worlds.

Still remember Tim Kai Kaeng which used to be at Sukhumvit Soi 38? If you are looking for it, good news is, they have moved to On Nut! “Kai Kaeng” is a dessert with hardened egg in tang yuan. This is used as their signboard. They are famous for their cheng tng which they call 豆汤. It’s generous in ingredients and the soup is not too sweet. I went crazy (as usual) over their Pang Yan Coco, which is literally shaved ice with bread at the bottom and drenched in chocolate sauce, which tasted so much like milo with bread. Such simple dessert but brings so much comfort to end the night. Opens till midnight.

READ: Bangkok Latest Food Trend 2016 – Claypot River Prawn Tom Yam Porridge