After tasting boat noodles in Johor Bahru, I was eager to experience boat noodles in Thailand during my recent trip to Bangkok. The best place in Bangkok for boat noodles is at the Victory Monument where there are several restaurants serving this iconic dish. Next time, I hope to go to Amphawa (the famous floating market) for boat noodles.
The easiest and most affordable way to get to the Victory Monument is by BTS LRT, getting off at the Victory Monument station (N3).
After disembarking the train, head for Exit 4.
After leaving Exit 4, stay on the sky bridge, keep walking, keeping right.
Stop to enjoy the sight of the Victory Monument and the buzz all around it. The Victory Monument is a transport hub, and where locals go for clothes shopping, and of course, boat noodles.
After about 4-5 minutes slow walk, you will come to this row of shop houses beside a canal. Once you are here, get down to the street level at the nearest staircase. There is one beside the 7-11 store just a few steps ahead from where I took this picture.
The boat noodle shops, about four or five lined up on one side of Sam Sen canal. The water is still like a long puddle of very slow moving dirty water but there was no smell.
All the shops here sell boat noodles at the same price - 12 Baht (SGD 0.50) per little bowl.
Serving is very fast as everything is well organised. The noodles are served with a choice of the iconic dark soup (soy sauce), clear soup and also tom yum (sour soup).
There's the raw pig blood, the key ingredient in boat noodles with the dark (soy sauce) soup.
The noodles are cooked on order. Orange shirts, purple shirts - it's fascinating to watch the furious action at dinner time.
All the boat noodle restaurants here have pretty much the same menu.
I stepped into 3 of the busier ones. I didn't see anyone who looked like a tourist - to me that is a good sign 😄
Not knowing what or how to order, and I couldn't speak two words of Thai, I went around and looked at what others were eating. This was what a young Thai couple was having.
The dinner of 3 Thai ladies.
As I mentioned, I tried out 3 of the busier shops at the alley.
All sell their boat noodles at 12 Baht each. All can be eaten in two mouthfuls, but at 12 Baht, it is perfectly reasonable and just perfect for tasting. So, I tried 2 bowls at each shop, thus ending up with 6 bowls i.e. 12 mouthfuls which is just about right for dinner 😁
It was early dinner time, and these 6 bowls made me feel very full. But, later in the night back in the hotel, I felt my stomach growling 😂
Using the pointing method of ordering, I ended up with beef and pork, and I enjoyed every bowl from all three shops. The round bodied, dark soup (soy sauce thicken with pig blood) has deep savoury spicy flavours with slight herbal notes. The fresh raw pig's blood 😱 is stirred into the hot soup just before serving.
I liked all the 3 shops I tried today but if I must choose only one, I'll pick the one located right along the main road. The one where there are two levels and the wait staff wear purple T-shirts.
The food is the same quality with the other two shops; the interior is bright, clean and air conditioned; the service is friendly and very quick.
👍Boat noodle is a great culinary and cultural experience which I enjoyed very much in Bangkok.
"Boat Noodle Alley" (there are 4 - 5 boat noodle restaurants here)
Address: At the Victory Monument | Thanon Phaya Thai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
GPS: 13°45'57.5"N 100°32'20.8"E / 13.765982, 100.539097
Hours: 8:00am to 9:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 22 Aug 2016
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