Charoen Chai Community (ชุมชนเจริญไชย เยาราช), Bangkok, Thailand.
I’ve known Michael from Bangkok Vanguards (http://bangkokvanguards.com/) for a number of years, and he’s a great guy. So we met up to hang out, eat, and explore and talk about a little more serious subject - the endangered Charoen Chai Community (ชุมชนเจริญไชย เยาราช) in Bangkok’s Yaowarat, Chinatown.
Before exploring the neighborhood though, we stopped of course to eat some nearby Thai street food.
Jay Eng (ร้านเจ๊เอ็ง) - Kuay teow lawd boran (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวหลอดโบราณ) is what this famous street sells. It’s an ok dish, not my absolute favorite, but it’s not a common dish to find in Bangkok either - this old type of style - it’s well worth trying out. Their fried fish cakes (ทอดมันปลา) are awesome.
Price - 35 THB ($1.07) per plate
Satay (สะเต๊ะ) - Next just down the road, and it actually has the same owner, we had some pretty fantastic satay. I especially enjoyed the liver.
Total price - 220 THB ($6.74)
Charoen Chai Community (ชุมชนเจริญไชย เยาราช) - What we really came to explore was Bangkok’s Charoen Chai Community (ชุมชนเจริญไชย เยาราช). This community is threatened by development. Now, Michael and I both know how development is a good and necessary part of any city, however it’s also good to preserve amazing living pieces of history. This community is one of the last Thai Chinese communities in Bangkok that has remained almost the same for a hundred years.
Khao Tom Jay Suay (ข้าวต้มเจ๊สวย) - For dinner we headed to one of the best Thai Chinese street food restaurant right across the street from the community - right next to the community. It had been a few years since I’d eaten there and the food was as good as I had remembered.
Asian date mussels (หอยกะพงผัดต้นหอม)
Stink beans with shrimp (ผัดเผ็ดสะตอกุ้ง)
Daylilies with crispy pork (ผัดดอกไม้จีนสดหมูกรอบ)
Silver barb, pickled mustard greens (ปลาตะเพียบต้มเกี่ยมฉ่าย)
Soup with pickled plum (แกงจืดบ๋วยหมูสับ)
Total price - 450 THB ($13.78)
Big thanks to Michael for hanging out and walking around! He offers some very unique and off the beaten path tours of Bangkok which you can check out here: http://bangkokvanguards.com/
Thank you for watching this Thai Chinese food tour of Charoen Chai Community (ชุมชนเจริญไชย เยาราช)!
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