Only the promise of good food can wake me & my friend up super early on a Saturday morning in Bangkok. We signed up for Historical Bang Rak Food Tasting & Culture Tour and was supposed to ‘report’ to our tour guide by 9.50am at Exit 3, Saphan Taksin BTS Station. Thankfully, the station was just a convenient 3 stops away from our hotel along the Silom Line. If you are looking to visit Bangkok, you can find good airfare with multiple airline.
It wasn’t tough identifying the group at the meeting place. Our friendly tour guide orchestrated a quick introduction among her tour participants to casually break the ice, handled out a Food Tastings Guide (which contains the itinerary, useful Thai translations of commonly used conversational words and food names) and walked us through our tour itinerary.
Once that’s all done, we set off on our culinary adventure!
According to our guide, Bang Rak actually mean Village of Love in Thai language – making this district one of the most popular place to register marriage especially on Valentine’s Day each year. The busy Charoen Krung Road that services the area was constructed during Rama IV’s reign and is one of the earliest roads constructed with Western techniques.
Our short walk brought us to a 200 years old Thai Temple. Local residents who seek refuge within the temple walls were kept safe from harm during war hence earning its reputation as a holy place of worship in Bang Rak.
While at the temple, the group took the opportunity to learn more about Thai culture particularly on religion, belief and practises from our guide.
First food stop of the day was a Muslim Restaurant established in 1938. The restaurant owner proudly exhibited their best selling dishes to passers-by.
While waiting for the food to arrive, our guide brought us through the restaurant history. It was founded by an Indian immigrant who eventually decided to make Bangkok his home. To suit the native’s palate, the restaurant gradually localised the taste of some of their dishes.
The hero dish Curry Lava on Egg was served. The colours were lovely and it looked really spicy. Not that I am complaining.
To our surprise, the curry lava was sweet & really easy on the lips (provided you leave the red chilli alone). There’s nothing really special about the egg but it goes well with the curry lava.
It’s a really unique taste which I have not experience elsewhere. If not for the tour, we would probably give Muslim cuisine a miss while we are in Bangkok.
To read the rest of my Historical Bang Rak Food & Cultural Tour where we had noodles fit for royalty and crispy catfish across Chao Phraya River, please read Historical Bang Rak Food & Cultural Tour Part 2 and Historical Bang Rak Food & Cultural Tour Part 3
You may also like to check out my posts on other exciting travel destinations here
