Bangkok Food Tour Review: What It’s Really Like to Eat Like a Local With A Chef’s Tour
Bangkok is a city that speaks through its food – sizzling woks, fragrant herbs, smoke curling from street stalls, sweetness of coconut and sharp hits of chilli. On the Old Siam Bangkok Food Tour with A Chef’s Tour, I got to experience that language dish by dish: 15+ tastings, 4 hours, 3 different modes of transport, and one unforgettable journey through the city’s edible history.
We didn’t eat the usual Pad Thai, Mango Sticky Rice, or Papaya Salad. Instead, we covered dishes that rarely make it onto glossy travel lists – foods locals love, recipes handed down generations, and flavours we didn’t even know existed. Here’s how it unfolded, one bite at a time.
FAQs
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The Old Siam Bangkok Food Tour lasts about 4 hours. It typically runs from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM and includes plenty of stops (and rest breaks) along the way.
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Tickets start from $59 USD per person. Children under 13 are half price.
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The meeting point is outside Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri. The tour ends in the same general area, and your guide can help arrange transport back to your hotel.
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Yes, but in a local way! The tour includes a klong boat ride, a tuk tuk trip, and a ride on a traditional Bangkok bus. It’s as much about the journey as it is the food.
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Expect 15+ tastings from snacks and mains to sweets and drinks. The portion sizes are generous enough that you’ll be full by the end, but small enough to keep you going for the full 4 hours.
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Comfortable walking shoes
A hat or sunglasses for the heat
Stretchy pants 😉
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Not really, this tour focuses on hidden neighbourhoods, old markets, and local communities rather than big-name sights. That’s the point: to eat where locals eat, not where tourists are sent.
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It’s easy! Book online with secure payment and instant confirmation. 👉 Reserve your Bangkok food tour here.
1st Bite: Fried Tom Yum Dumplings
The first dish set the tone for the day: fried tom yum dumplings, their golden shells giving way to a filling that burst with the familiar tang of lemongrass, chilli, and lime. Each one was crisp on the outside, soft and aromatic inside – and swimming in a broth of Bangkok’s iconic soup.
Light but fragrant, it deepened the flavours of the dumplings when sipped between bites. The crunch, then the broth, then the lingering warmth of chilli – together it was like eating the soup and the snack version at once.
2nd Bite: Grilled Sticky Rice
with Banana or Taro
We boarded a water taxi and skimmed along the klong canals, the high-rises fading behind us. Along the banks, stilt houses leaned toward the water, laundry swayed on lines, and the city exhaled into a slower rhythm.
At Bobae Market Pier, we met a vendor turning neat banana-leaf parcels. Inside, sticky rice wrapped around sweet banana, the leaf’s char clinging to the grains. The rice was chewy, lightly smoky, while the banana inside had softened into something almost custardy – sweet, fragrant, and warm.
There was a taro version available too, but I went classic. Simple, portable, and perfectly satisfying – the kind of breakfast snack that fuels locals on their way to work.
We wandered into Bobae Market, Bangkok’s wholesale clothing hub, its alleys jammed with fabric, colours, and the murmur of bargaining voices. From there, we climbed into a tuk tuk, its engine sputtering happily as it darted us through traffic.
3rd Bite: Hod Toi – Fried Mussel Omelette
The tuk tuk dropped us at a shophouse marked with the Shell Shuan Shim green bowl – a sign as coveted as Michelin stars, awarded only to restaurants consistently serving excellent food. Inside, woks hissed and mussels crackled.
The result: hoi tod, a fried mussel omelette. Crisp edges gave way to chewy, eggy richness, the mussels briny and tender. A drizzle of chilli sauce lifted it all with a clean heat. One bite and I understood why locals trust that green bowl sign.
We continued on foot through a residential community before clambering aboard a local bus. No air conditioning here, just wooden floors polished by years of use, and hand fans tied to the backs of the seats for its passengers to cool down with.
We hopped off near a primary school, where the children’s shouts carried across a vegetable garden bursting with papaya, kaffir lime, eggplant, and pandan.
4th Bite: Roast Pork Belly and Duck
Nearby, a family-run eatery offered a dish steeped in 120 years of history. We were served roast pork belly and duck, with skin that cracked under the bite, meat tender and juicy.
Alongside, a bowl of broth made from pan drippings – rich, savoury, sharp with pepper. It was a dish that tasted of generations, simple in appearance but impossibly deep.
5th & 6th Bite: Khanom Bueng Yuan – Pancake Salad, Two Ways
Down a dark alley, clay pots sat over glowing coals, heating wide woks of vivid yellow batter.
The first version: khanom bueng yuan, Thai crispy pancake salad. The pancake shattered delicately over and under its mountain of toppings: bean sprouts, cucumber, tofu, ginger, coriander, kaffir lime, coconut, and onion. Over it all, a dressing of sweet chilli, pineapple vinegar, palm sugar, and salt. Crunchy, tangy, light, and utterly refreshing.
The second version was like meeting a cousin of Vietnamese banh xeo or a Thai take on murtabak. The same salad, but this time wrapped inside the pancake with a duck egg. Rich, soft, steaming, the egg adding a sweetness that softened the sharper flavors.
By now, the heat pressed down. One of our guides, Aom, suddenly appeared with a big grin, handing out small packets of frozen towels, cold against flushed faces. A super thoughtful touch, alongside the hand sanitiser they would bring out for us throughout the tour!
7th Bite: Khanom Jeen
We entered one of Bangkok’s first formalised land markets, a historic move away from the floating markets. Amid the bustle of a market stall we perched at, plates of khanom jeen appeared: fermented white rice noodles topped with coconut curry sauce, sweet pineapple, and shrimp floss.
The noodles carried a slight tang, the curry creamy and gently spiced, the pineapple juicy, the shrimp floss salty-sweet. A perfect balance of opposites.
8th – 10th Bite: Curry, in Three Ways!
Then came a curry trio, lined up from mellow to fiery:
Massaman: peanutty, rich, and spiced with lemongrass, cinnamon, and cloves. Comfort in a bowl.
Penang: creamy and nutty, like satay transformed into curry form.
Green Curry: fresh, herbal, and zippy with chilli, softened by coconut milk.
Each one was small, but together they painted the landscape of Thai curry, familiar yet distinct.
11th Bite: Miang Kham – The Flavour Bomb
As we explored the market further, a betel leaf was placed in our hands, a tiny bundle of magic: roasted coconut, peanuts, lime, shallot, ginger, dried shrimp, and chilli (if you dare!). Sweet, sour, salty, spicy, nutty, bitter. Miang kham was a whole spectrum of flavour in one mouthful.
12th Bite: Kuai Jap Yuan – Vietnamese-Style Noodle Soup
Our next stop brought bowls of Kuai Jap Yuan, a Vietnamese-style noodle soup that’s found a home in northeastern Thailand. The broth was pork-based and gently seasoned, just peppery enough to warm the tongue without overwhelming. Thick, soft rice noodles swirled lazily in the soup, soaking up its savory depth. Toppings included slices of moo yor (Vietnamese pork sausage), bits of minced pork, and a scattering of fried shallots that added crunch and aroma.
13th – 16th Bite: Thai Desserts
The sweets arrived in a parade of small wonders:
Khanom Thuai: coconut custard, steamed in tiny ceramic cups, silken and delicate.
Khanom Krok: coconut pancakes, crisp-edged and gooey within, still steaming from the griddle.
Khanom Chan: jade-green pandan jelly cake, its stripes stacking like edible silk.
Khanom Mo Kaeng: mung bean and coconut flan, topped with fried shallots that added a savoury crunch to the softness beneath.
Each was small, but told it’s own story of balance, lightness, and invention.
17th & 18th Bite: Fresh Longan and Lemongrass-Lime Soda
As the finale, we cracked open longan fruit – juicy, translucent, like lychee’s softer cousin. Sweet, refreshing, gone in a second. A glass of lemongrass and lime soda followed: fizzy, citrusy, herbal. It cut through the day’s richness and left us lifted.
What Makes This Food Tour Different
Bangkok is overflowing with food tours, but this is one that really stands out. You won’t find yourself eating pad Thai, papaya salad, or mango sticky rice – the dishes you already know.
It was a journey into places most visitors never see, eating dishes perfected over generations, guided by locals who knew exactly what mattered.
It’s also about the journey. A ride along the klong canals, a tuk tuk weaving through side streets, a rattling old bus with wooden floors, these aren’t just modes of transport, they’re part of the story. At every stop, you’re folded deeper into the fabric of daily life in Bangkok.
Most importantly, it’s small-scale and thoughtful. With a maximum of eight guests, guides who anticipate frozen towels when the heat becomes too much, and tastings carefully chosen for variety and surprise, it feels less like a tour and more like being shown around by a friend who just happens to know all the best spots.
If you want to discover hidden eats and truly eat like a local in Bangkok, this is the way to do it. Ready to taste it yourself?
Try A Chef’s Tour in Other Cities
If Bangkok whets your appetite, you’re in luck. A Chef’s Tour runs hidden-eats adventures all across Asia and beyond, each one led by locals, each one focused on the dishes you won’t find in tourist restaurants.
Some of their other popular tours include:
