Bangkok holiday day three — second meal of the day after the family-style lunch wrapped early. We hit a street-side Thai shop for the two dishes you order every single trip to Thailand and never get tired of.

We ordered:

Basil pork over rice (pad krapow moo) — with fried egg
Pad thai (gung sod) — with prawns

Pad krapow moo (basil pork over rice) is the most-eaten lunch dish in Thailand by a wide margin. Minced pork stir-fried at high heat with garlic, bird’s-eye chillies, sweet basil, fish sauce and a splash of dark soy. The basil leaves get crispy on the edges from the wok, the chilli heat builds slow, and the whole thing gets piled on top of jasmine rice with a runny-yolk fried egg on top.

This version was the real deal — actual Thai sweet basil (horapha) not regular basil, generous chilli heat that we asked them not to dial down, and a yolk that broke into the rice in golden streams. Eating it requires alternating bites of egg-and-rice with pork-and-basil so the spice level stays manageable.

Pad thai is the more touristy order but a good one is a good one. Thin rice noodles stir-fried in tamarind-fish-sauce-palm-sugar mix, with prawns, fried tofu, beansprouts, garlic chives, dried shrimp, peanuts and a wedge of lime on the side. The contrast of sour-sweet-salty-nutty is the whole point. This stall had the right wok hei and the noodles were cooked to a clean al dente.

Bangkok street food at its most reliable.

Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Holiday Thai classics, executed solid — would always come back.

Original IG post