if you're the kind of person who avoids street food or you just don't experiment with the local
dishes when you travel maybe your idea of being exotic is ordering sweet and sour chicken dipping
sauce at mcdonald's if that's you it's okay i feel you the food in asia is different they prepare it
differently it looks a bit strange and wonderful and scary i'm here to tell you my seven top tips
on how to order and eat street food so that you have an incredible experience every single time
or almost every single time because it's not an exact science but it's fun and it will open your
eyes to the real culture of the country so let me explain and let me give you my tips let's go
okay step number one or tip number one basically when you get to a street food market just like
this we're actually tonight we're in chiang mai thailand all you have to do is do a walk around
just walk around spend about 5-10 minutes getting to know all the street vendors what
they're selling just get the feeling of the place and you'll figure out quite quickly
all right that place looks grand oh that place looks disgusting
oh that place looks quite good we'll try that and just explore it then you find out
where you want to eat so first tip just walk around and see where it tickles your fancy
tip number two is use your senses look and smell
for the food like if it looks delicious if it smells delicious chances are gonna be amazing
tip number three is avoid all the foods that are clearly sitting out they might have been in that
dish on display since the morning and if you're eating in the evening you're just raising the
bar of the chance of you getting a tummy bug or something because it is a hot country normally
and the food's out all day so you want to be looking for places like these that cook to order
tip number four is choose a vendor just like this guy behind me who specializes in one type of dish
or a short small menu don't go somewhere where they have a really extensive menu because you want
to find someone who is a you know an expert in their dish they might have been making that exact
same dish for 20 years and they're going to be so experienced and knowledgeable and they're going to
get you the best dish every single time like this guy he's doing noodle soup and it is delicious
tip number five is don't get too experimental too early you might see the grilled squid and
the strange weird egg thing maybe just avoid those for a while get your tummy used to the new spices
new flavors and ingredients and style of cooking and chances are you are going to have a little bit
of an upset stomach the first week you get to a new country in say asia so just prepare yourself
and just stick to what's good what your belly can adapt to and just keep it simple at the beginning
number six is do your research before you come to the country or to their region find out what
are the dishes that they're most famous for find out what dishes you're most excited to try and
have a little bit of knowledge before you get here especially when it comes to how to order
it if you have any dietary requirements a big you know stumbling block for people is they're just
too scared to order things so they just stay in a hotel where they know they can get western and
english-speaking waiters and things like that just just get out there and if you know as long as you
know what you want you can just point to it and the last one is number seven save room for dessert
right then let's do a walk around so this is the south gate specifically southgate
of chiang mai and they have this really cool you know food market they have one in nearly
every single corner and nook and cranny to be honest and all i'm doing is i'm walking around
and i'm just checking out the places checking out the food stands
checking out the chefs making sure that their area where they're preparing their food is clean
and tidy and well looked after which this one's a very good example of you know just little things
like oh okay this one's got leaves on the floor you know that's a point down just be picky because
you know you've got all night to choose a good spot and then if you're staying in a town for a
few nights or a week it's okay if you find a good one and you go every night that's totally cool
and actually what i recommend so take your time walk around this place is an isam food place
and you can see there's quite a few people eating here so that's on the maybe list we'll come over
here and again just don't be shy to like you know check out what are the locals eating what are they
ordering again if they're coming here well it's going to be good food isn't it because they know
what they're talking about much more than what we know we're talking about these guys are the pros
this guy's still setting up it is a bit early it's like you know six o'clock in the evening
okay this guy's got a very small menus only got four dishes that's a good thing
so he's famous for cow camus which is the pork knuckle soup salad cap nice smiley face he's got
delicious food there's no shying away when you do street food you've got the vegetables pre-cut
you've got the meat there just sitting out you've got the eggs in the sauce it looks delicious and
it smells amazing remember what i said about use your senses that looked and smell amazing and then
we come over here and this guy's the noodle soup dude and i really like his vibe i like
how he's got everything set out looks nice and clean and tidy and we've got customers chowing
down all good signs this lady look look at her little display here with the flowers and the the
condiments and the vegetables yeah okay there's a fly there's a fly flying around that's okay
i mean maybe for you that would put you off but for me it's fine
and then i like this lady right she does cow pad cow um
really really really good local food this is her menu and it might look like there's quite a few
things there but it's basically just the same dish with different types of flavors there's
an omelette in there different meats but with different vegetables and different seasonings
if you can see it oh my god look at her setup she's got her msg her garlic her chili's throw
up four different types of chilies her gravy's her pre-chopped vegetables her chicken stock her
incredible wok she's going to be a professional so we'll come and eat there for sure and then
look at this chili's on the table in oyster sauce or fish sauce with garlic and chili seeds
i mean that's what you want let me show an example now of the food that's sitting out
now arguably you can say well look the locals are eating it and they're ordering it
that's fine sorry mate but these guys here they're getting all these different delicious to go this
is basically to go she cooks it up probably in the morning all different types of food seafoods meats
chickens they've got fried fish here and mushroom dishes and seafood all kinds of
food but the pro the thing is it has been set out since the morning and remember these are local
people this is they're used to this type of food they're used to the bacteria they're used to the
spice levels and they can handle it and i can handle it but i've been here for you know
seven or eight years if i ate there i'd be happy days but if you ate that
you know two days into your trip it might be a little bit experimental
and that's where it can go wrong i want to show you another thing over here where we're going
to look at these eggs i saw these uh the other day and i thought oh god i gotta mention this
because you might see something and say oh let's try this come on we're in thailand we didn't come
all this way to eat pad thai we came here to try other things and then you end up going a bit wrong
okay so here's something mussels and squid on the bbq again very experimental work your way up to
that that's level two start with pad thai that's level one actually that's probably like level
ten this is what i saw last night these these egg things i don't know what they are and i've
lived here for a long time so i'd probably stay away then you've got these um squid skins that
have been salted and they're like snacks squid sink well squid skin snacks ladies and gentlemen
and then down here some more like roasting potatoes roasting sweet potatoes boiled
peanuts in salt brine oh this is an interesting one in thailand you'll see a lot of sushi now you
might be thinking oh my god are you joking well actually it tastes delicious it's extremely cheap
and all of the seafood in there is cooked it's like you know blow torched or boiled or it's
the fake crab meat there's no sashimi just lying around in the heat so i actually do recommend the
the um the sushi here again this these people here look at this they've got a really limited menu
eight dishes including a local famous dish a bunch of normal thai dishes that everybody knows and
loves and look at this look at the way they've got their food set out absolutely clean as a whistle
beautiful uh set up here and okay there's a pigeon walking around that's okay this is street food
it's part of it i mean the place smells great looks clean i would definitely come here and
order a kao soi and again there's locals here eating they're tucking in for the evening having
a nice little dinner on the side of the road with the cana beer from 7-eleven this is the
street food life in thailand in asia specifically yes we're in chiang mai but this is replicated
in every major town or city in the continent of asia and don't those sausages look incredible
alloy mac okay oh he says peck okay see he's telling me those sausages are spicy
they'll probably blow your ass off and that's good information look at these crisps
wow these prawn crackers absolutely delicious so it says prawn cracker fresh fruit delicious
right then i think it's time for me to go order some food okay i've decided that i'm gonna go for
pad cabrao it is a classic basically the number one popular thai food street food you can get
and we're going to go for this lady here because like i said small menu extremely professional and
experienced on this walk you'll see what i mean in a minute let me order the food can i have a
package i'm one egg yes thank you very much she knows what i absolutely love about this particular
vendor this lady here she is got everything in the perfect most efficient place possible you know
she's been making the same dish or these same dishes for years and nailing it perfectly every
single time because she got to improve over the years and she got to improve her wok skill her
seasoning like to perfection so this is going to be cheap and it's going to be incredibly delicious
as well so go for something that you know i capral for example do your research if you don't know
what it is well i'll explain the food in a second but she's just cooking up um a pad cow right now
not a pad cow a cow pad a fried rice basically um so once she's finished that maybe i'm next
and then i'll show you how she cooks it what she puts into it so you can learn exactly what's in
this dish as well and then i'll eat it and tell you how it tastes and there's the pork mince
and she keeps it here nicely in the ice box
so first things first brown the meat
then with the shallots garlic and incredible amounts of green and red chilies
and you can smell this it's gonna be spicy and delicious
and just look at that heat coming off there extremely hot pan a little bit of chicken stock
a little bit of a msg a little bit of salt some soy sauce some fish sauce or oyster sauce
and then some of this uh i don't know what that is it's got like a gravy
and then that was black pepper and then this is the holy basil the thai basil or the holy
basil this is the really important special element onto a pad cow proud
and doesn't that look delicious and look she's not even breaking a sweat she just knows what
she's doing she's been doing this for years and she's a pro and look at the color of that now
wow off the heat onto the rice
and then she'll top that up with a nice uh thai fried egg and there we go the pad cow proud moo
which just means with pork you can get it with chicken you can get it with tofu but tonight i'm
just feeling a bit porky so um and then you've got the delicious egg on top and i'm gonna eat this
i'm gonna tell you how it tastes in a second but first i need to take a thumbnail
let's bring that there let's bring that there
all right let's eat you cannot go wrong when you're in asia especially here in thailand
with a nice cold beer from 7-eleven you know you could get a glass of water um they do give you
complimentary water in the night market you can get really cheap cheap fruit shakes but tonight i
just fancy a cold beer and this is going to be so spicy there's nothing better than the combination
of spicy thai food delicious cold bottle of chang or can of chang and then what they what they uh
what we saw earlier is these green chilies these green chilies are in it looks to be um
fish sauce and there's some red chillies in there some orange chillies and a little bit of garlic
now she already put a lot of chilies in there so let me just sprinkle one or two
oh that's a bit too many feel that tomorrow
but what's really great about this particular dish obviously you can have
as much spice in it as you want but it will come with you saw how many chilies two or three chilies
diced up into it already and that's without even asking it to be spicy so expect it to be spicy but
this dish with the holy basil this really aromatic herb that grows pretty much in everybody's back
garden this is the staple fast food the face the staple lunch dish for most thai people
it's cheaper to cheer for it's delicious it's like no i think you can find in any other country there
is no dish like this it is just incredible and i just broke the egg but let me show you and this
creamy egg just helps just to sort of you know control the spice and just give this whole dish
a bit more body and just fantastic dish pad cabral put this on your list if you've not tried
it if you've been to thailand you're probably thinking jesus patty yes we know what this is
the first sensation isn't spice with that egg it's silky creamy
and then chasing it up is the aromatic holy basil that perfectly savory savory
the chili came in the back of my throat and after that creamy delicious egg sensation
you do get that aromatic holy basil i mean just look at the size of these chunks of holy basil
with some green chilies and that really rich dark pork meat so delicious
there really isn't like a a dish i can compare this to like oh it tastes a little bit like
you know it tastes like pad capral and there is no dish that tastes like this
you just have to grab it the chili comes right in the back of my throat
as i was about to say you really have to come and try it for yourself
there's a few too many chillies in this one for me but it's okay i've got my cold beer actually
salute cheers have a look how many chilies are on this mouthful
oh yeah you know you're alive when you're eating street food in thailand and look this
is why i love street food we're here with the locals we're on their level
we're conversing with them we're listening to their stories we're listening to their arguments
about what to watch on tv tonight you get really immersed into a culture it's not just street foods
not just ordering food trying food tasting food it is getting yourself immersed into the uh into the
culture of the country because you're eating with the local people you're not hiding in your hotel
you're not hidden away in mcdonald's you're on the street trying incredible you know incredible food
and i hope it encourages you to get on the street and try some more dishes
you know taking everything i said today i really am talking from experience
it's not an exact science you will have an upset stomach from time to time you will
order something uh that will you shouldn't have and that's part of the experience but i'll tell
you what the two times that i got really seasick seasick food sickness in thailand in the past
seven years they were both restaurants and um street food never you know never fails me
really i might get the odd little ooh feeling the next day and when you're in india you will
feel it much more but here in thailand street food if you follow my seven simple tips
it's gonna be all good
i really want to finish this so i'm going to end the video now but before i say goodbye thank
you for watching and please consider subscribing because i'm about to go to every single province
in thailand on my little honda dream in less than three weeks we'll be in our first province
in the deep south and then we'll be spending about a year exploring every single province
of thailand so come along for the journey subscribe don't miss many more delicious
dishes many more amazing memories and some incredible adventures thanks for watching
delicious
doesn't get much better than that