Outside of Aw Taw Kaw Market
Kasma always gets a chuckle when people talk about Pad Thai as “the signature dish of Thai cuisine.” In Thailand it is just one of many noodle dishes, available mostly as a street food or at noodle shops and not particularly popular dish amongst Thais. It’s mainly a fast food. Kasma does have a very good recipe for Pad Thai and teaches it in her Thai cooking classes.
Aisle at Aw Taw Kaw Market
The one place where I sometimes order Pad Thai for myself is at a stand at Aw Taw Kaw Market (Talaat Aw Taw Kaw, in Thai) in Bangkok, which also happens to be one of our favorite markets in Thailand. Although Aw Taw Kaw is considered “high end” and the prices are higher than at other markets, the selection of food and the presentation makes it worth the extra few baht. I still find it very reasonable by United States standards. Our collection of Thailand market photos contains many pictures of this Aw Taw Kaw Market.
Pad Thai Stall at Aw Taw Kaw
Aw Taw Kaw market is very near to the well-known Chatuchak Weekend Market. You can get there via the MRT subway – get off at the Kamphaengpetch Road station. The first picture above shows the outside of the market from the street. If you go on a weekend, you can also enjoy Chatuchak, with it’s estimated 8,000 vendors selling any and everything you can imagine. We usually go to Aw Taw Kaw on a weekday because it can get very crowded indeed on a weekend.
Pad Thai Cook at Aw Taw Kaw Market
If you’re going to Aw Taw Kaw, eat lightly beforehand. As you browse the aisles you’ll see pre-cooked food such as grilled prawns, satay, sour sausage, shrimp cakes as well as numerous kanom (snacks) such as sticky rice and kanom krok (rice pancakes) and it will be hard to resist grazing. There are, however, numerous food stalls that cook food to order in the back of the market and many of them are worth a taste.
The stand with the delicious Pad Thai is back in the eating area towards the outside edge of the market. The third picture shows the stand with the stall number (11/40) visible in the background. I actually had taken and delivered pictures of the woman making the dish many times before I actually ordered the dish, though Kasma had been ordering it for her trip members for many years.
Pad Thai Ready to Eat
Most Pad Thai recipes call for egg, usually (as in Kasma’s Pad Thai recipe) scrambled lightly. This woman’s adds eggs in a different way – she uses them to make a covering for the noodles in the center, sort of a Pad Thai omelette, if you will. Kasma tells me that this presentation is relatively common in Thailand, particularly when Pad Thai is served in a restaurant. In fact, there are as many different Pad Thai recipes as there are cooks. (Kasma’s article on The Spirit of Thai Cooking talks a bit about how Thai dishes can vary a great deal depending on the cook.) It’s served (as you can see to the left) with a banana blossom, some scallions (underneath), fresh bean sprouts and a lime. The lime is squeezed over the noodles and the fresh ingredients are eaten along with it.
Pad Thai with Outer Egg Opened Up
As you can see, once you open up noodles it looks very delicious indeed. It bears little resemblance to some of the Pad Thai noodles you find in the states – it is savory and tasty and completely without Ketchup!
For more information about the origins of Pad Thai, check out Kasma’s Pad Thai Notes and Pointers.
One other dish that the same woman makes is an mussel omelette. It is also very tasty (see picture below).
We’ll be doing more posts on Aw Taw Kaw in the future but in the meantime, Austin Bush has some photographs of Aw Taw Kaw Market that are worth a look.
Note: When asking for directions or taking a cab to Aw Taw Kaw, be sure to refer to it as Dtalaht Aw Taw Kaw – the usual spelling is talaat, meaning market, but dtalaht is closer to the actual sound in Thai. (See our Note on Thai Spelling & Pronunciation.)
If you are taking a cab, make sure that the driver takes you to the correct market. There is also an Aw Taw Kaw Market (Talaat Aw Taw Kaw) on Sukhumvit Soi 105 (Soi Lasalle, pronounced Soi “La-sahn”) – it is not as interesting a market.
Mussel Omelette On the Griddle
Tags: Bangkok, market, noodles, pad Thai, street food
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What is the best brand of Thai Tea?
Kasma uses Pantainorasingh brand “Thai Tea Mix” in her classes.
I think that another oil that is often used in Thai cooking is palm oil — particularly for fried foods is the markets.
You’re right: palm oil is used a lot in street food. And contrary to many people’s belief, it is a healthy oil. It makes a delicious, crispy fried chicken.
[...] more on Aw Taw Kaw Market, see Michael’s blog entry Pad Thai at Aw Taw Kaw Market. For more on Durian (including photos), check out Kasma’s article on the website: Durian, [...]
good pad thai
As we know Thailand is the land of smile and great food, there are variety and often seen on the street food. From the picture of PadThai it seem oily food and seem not healthy food. Somehow PadThai still contains essential herbs for prevent many diseases.
It depends a lot on what oil is used to cook food. Traditionally people used only oils that they could render themselves, things such as duck fat, chicken fat or lard. All of those oils are actually higher in mono-unsaturated fats than any other kind and are very healthy for you. It’s the modern oils — things such as soy oil — that I think we need to be wary of.
Another oil that is often used in Thai cooking is palm oil — particularly for fried foods is the markets.
I agree that the Thai herbs are very healthy and healing.
In Palms Springs and Seattle where I spend large amounts of time,
this quality Pad Thai is not available.
Sad!
I suscribed to the Google Feed. This is cool.
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