[voiceover] Oh my god, a little scared, a little hesitant. Oh my god.
Hey guys, this is Mike Chen.
Bangkok has the biggest and best markets in Southeast Asia.
Yeah, I mean, it's got floating markets, it's got flower markets,
But there's something about night markets that really appeal to me.
And that's why I'm at Rod Fai #2
One of the biggest night markets in Bangkok.
Well technically, it's a train market and it got its name from the original Rod Fai Market,
located next to the train tracks on the outskirts of Bangkok.
You'll definitely know that you've arrived at Rod Fai
because you will see its signature rainbow colored tents.
At Rod Fai #2, though it is smaller than the original,
it is easier to get to, and my main reason for coming here:
all the food stalls are grouped together because you know
I want all the things I love near me.
The main characteristics of Rod Fai is there
is a mix of everything from antiques, to clothing, to of course, food [pop].
It is super vibrant just beaming with energy.
So now let's go do what I like to do best at night markets.
Let's go eat!
I saw someone mixing together cold noodles.
They told me the name of this dish, which I promptly forgot, because it's kind of difficult.
It's cold rice noodles with what looks like fish tofu.
There's pig ears in here which I love.
Lots of different spices.
Green beans, cilantro, chili.
They gave me some greens
I think you're supposed to wrap these noodles in the greens
I just want to taste these noodles on its own first with the pig ear.
Oh, oh, oh.
If you weren't counting, that was three ohs.
Which means this is obscenely good.
If you've never had pig ears before,
you should definitely give it a try.
I love the Asian way of cooking it,
usually it's stewed and chilled and put into salad
or eaten on its own cold.
It's just the most delicious, crunchy, gelatinous little bite of meat
Oh, these noodles just... just embody Thailand for me.
There is so many fresh, crispy vegetables.
It's vinegar-y, lime-y, it's spicy.
Just really refreshing to eat in the steamy night heat.
Just wanna take a little bit and put it into the greens here.
Make sure to get me some pig ears.
Also some pork meat on here and just wrap that up.
What a great start to this night of eating.
Usually desserts comes at the end, but at this night market
I'm going to be a lion at the safari and just eat whatever I see first.
This is coconut pudding
This whole thing is wrapped up in banana leaf.
There's a mysterious treasure on the inside. Wow...
It's a fruit of some sort...
It's not a fruit [chuckle], it's coconut.
I'm sorry I need another one of these.
They sell these in a pack of five.
I was thinking that might be too much,
but nah.
These are great. It's like little gift wraps of joy.
The pudding itself, super silky smooth.
the nice chewy.
coconut on the inside
Oh
Magnificent, so simple.
So significant.
Hey guys, lemme show you something.
This is the most heavenly spread I've ever seen...
in my life! I mean this is all that is great
in the river, in the seas!
We got a whole Thai grilled fish, the pla pao,
river prawns, clams, escargot, mussels, calamari,
crab, and you know, whatever.
The grilled fish, I'm really excited about.
The way it's cooked is that the fish
is covered in salt so that the whole fish is kinda steamed inside it's own body.
This is how Aquaman feasts!
Actually, does Aquaman eat fish?
Wouldn't that be a little cannibalistic?
Ehh, I don't know.
Tonight, we eat like Aquaman.
First thing I wanna try is the steamed fish.
Look how flaky and juicy that is. Look at this.
Beautiful white flesh.
Oh my god.
That is so... mmm.
It's like flavor was just packed into this thing.
That meat is just so incredibly flaky, juicy, and flavorful.
Actually, I don't think there's much seasoning at all.
Whatever flavor I'm tasting is just coming through the salt that was on the outside of the fish.
This fish is a beaut. I think I'm going to dip this into the pepper, I think pepper and vinegar.
Ah, that made it even better.
In addition to this sweet, succulent, flaky fish, this sauce is giving dimension
by adding a spicy, lime-y, vinegar-y flavor.
Only enhances the deliciousness of the fish.
You know what, this fish is like Goku, on it's own, delicious.
With the sauce, Super Saiyan delicious.
This is the best fish I've had in a long time, I kid you guys not.
Best fish I've had in a long, long time.
And completely different from the fish I had at the other night market
cuz this one just came off the fire and that makes such a huge difference.
There are so many other things on this place I know I need to try.
Let's start with the calamari.
I don't know what the difference is between the two sauces, I'm going to try this one.
Ok, this sauce is a little sweet, it's garlicky. I'm in love with this sauce here.
That's... really surprised.
I thought the calamari meat would be kinda rubbery, tough,
but not at all, ridiculously tender.
So much to get to, I'm losing my mind here. So much beauty on this plate
Just take out this snail. Lemme see if I can hear the ocean... yep.
It's telling me that it's delicious.
Oh that meat is so nice and sweet.
You can taste how fresh this is.
Woah check out that tender, crabby, beautiful meat.
Take that little piece of crab, wrap it in some basil,
dunk it into the spice.
I feel like one characteristic about this big plate of seafood
is how fresh everything is.
And yes, this whole plate is for me and yes, I'm going to finish it.
I wanted to get this big plate because there were items I wanted to get individually.
I wanted to get the fish, I wanted to get the river prawns.
I wanted to taste all the other things I haven't had before.
And all this, only 750 baht. that's like less than US$25
This is less than US$25
The best deal! I mean that one fish is US$30
So yeah I'm eating the crap out of this.
This is apparently Fanta... from Mars.
Tastes...
Tastes like a Martian Sprite, I kid you not.
Woo, can't leave here without getting some pad thai.
Had a bad pad thai experience yesterday
so hopefully this will be a lot better.
This is definitely a lot smaller
but it's cool because it's sitting on a little bamboo
serving thing on top of paper. Straight out of the wok.
Beautiful egg in this pad thai.
Looks better than the one I had yesterday.
Let's see if it is!
[unimpressed look]
Try the egg.
Wow, it's almost like a steamed egg, it almost just rips apart.
I'm iffy on it because it doesn't particularly have a lot of flavor.
Right now, it just tastes like stir fried noodles with eggs.
Alright, this calls for emergency pad thai resuscitation
with chili and some vinegar.
Let's see if this is any better.
As of 7:30pm
this pad thai is officially dead.
Chili and lime could not resuscitate it.
It officially died on this parchment paper.
A very un-flavorful death.
I think now we all just need to move on.
I am a sucker for tom yum goong.
I'm always so excited to try tom yum soup
and check out this pretty little bowl they gave me.
Beautiful! I mean, you know, weird but it's beautiful.
They told me tom yum actually means mixed soup,
and goong means prawns so you could actually have,
tom yum, I don't know
tom yum beef, or tom yum chicken I guess.
Ooh, this bowl of soup is beautiful.
I thought my night had taken a bad turn
because my pad thai didn't turn out well but wow!
Holy cow, did this soup save it.
Spicy, lime-y, and it's got such a great
creamy, soothing, smooth flavor to it.
Officially overtake the market tom yum goong
as the best tom yum goong since I've been in Thailand.
I mean that soup is so good, it made me forget how hot and steamy and humid it is right now
I just gulped it up.
Now I'm steamy and hot on the outside and on the inside, but I feel good.
Let's continue!
This is fried milk with condensed milk on it,
hot and spicy power on top.
Not as enjoyable as the one I had in Taiwan
It's more like eating rice pudding.
My local friends told me I gotta try a chicken foot soup.
Look at these braised chicken feet here.
That's yummy looking.
Then we got some white meat,
noodles, sprouts.
Let me just try the soup on its own.
That is a lot of flavor, a LOT of flavor in here.
I feel like this soup is so thick and so fatty.
It reminds me of the bowl noodles I had,
that were really thick because of the blood.
Here are the rice noodles, all covered in sauce and spice
These guys taste a lot like the pulled noodles I had the other day.
I'm gonna suck on one of these chicken feet.
That is yummy.
That feet has been sitting in some thick, flavorful stock,
just tenderizing away.
The meat just completely breaks off without any effort.
It's just so soft, gelatinous, and flavorful.
I think I underestimated the hot oil,
that thing is a heavyweight.
But no wonder there's a line at this place.
The soup is flavorful, the chicken feet is falling apart. I love it.
I am finishing this bowl.
I know it's gonna make me sweat even more
but this bowl needs to be finished.
I love it when I run into something adorable, like these little pancakes here.
This is a mix of pandan, blueberry, strawberry, and chocolate.
Oh, know what it tastes like?
Tastes like a pancake.
Another one, this one is pandan.
Soft, moist, fluffy, sweet, pancake-y.
This is great to have after I just
burned my tongue off with all that spice back there.
This is coconut milk custard and the way they make it
is really cute, it's kinda like playing with Play-Doh and you mold it,
and they come out looking like these little pancakes.
[chuckle] Looks kinda slimy.
White on top, green on the bottom.
You know what, I'm just gonna one bite this baby.
Woah, the top is extremely creamy, and coconut-y, a little salty.
And the bottom is mochi like, where the sweetness comes from.
I think this would actually go better with ice cream.
On it's own, still pretty good.
Oh yeah, angry bird this!
This is Thai iced tea bingsu.
Ok look, I got it because it's smoking.
Whipped cream, and then a volcanic eruption thing at the top. It's really interesting.
Cornflakes in my bingsu.
Oh, that really works, that is a nice, crunch inducing element.
I really like this because for (US$) 3 bucks, you get something
that looks good and is smokingly delicious.
Check this out, I got to the bottom and I found something. I don't know what this is yet.
It looks like a little bread... bread thingy.
Mm, that is great, that little piece of bread has soaked up all that juice.
Oh and check this out, the bingsu is melting and is making this
little soupy thing at the bottom so the cornflakes are kinda...
Eating breakfast with cereal,
but instead of milk, you have Thai iced tea Icee
Man, this guy is a pro when it comes to making this (som tum).
I can't walk out of here tonight without trying some papaya salad.
Look at that beautiful bite.
Oh, so incredibly refreshing.
I mean seriously spicy but it's still refreshing.
This guy was making it like he was making guacamole tableside.
Actually, if someone actually makes papaya (salad) tableside,
that would be the coolest thing ever.
Just wish I had someone to eat this with
so that I'm just not completely eating that because look at this thing.
I asked for extra spicy, and he definitely did not hold back.
For my final food item at this night market tonight,
you guys gotta see this!
This is the amazing thing I've seen all night!
Look at this, let me explain why this is so awesome.
First of all, it is a mountain of pork ribs.
And literally, on top of that are chilies!
It's not just a drizzle, oh no.
This is a chili blizzard!
It is going to be phenomenal.
What also really funny about this place is that looking around,
no one is really talking.
Because everyone is just spiced up.
Everyone has sweat dropping down from the forehead,
snot coming out of their noses,
going through joyful suffering.
Yes, joyful suffering is a thing and I'm surrounded by good company.
I'm loving it.
If you want more proof
that this is a literal mountain of pork
Look no further than the lake that is surrounding this mountain.
Yeah this porky mountain has got a moat.
Also, guys, let me show you this.
This is the forks they gave me,
does it look out of the ordinary to you?
Because it looks like someone tried to stab this fork into a stone.
It's all bent. Let me just dig into...
Oh my goodness.
I'm just using a fork to kinda... look... how easy
this meat is separating.
So although this pork mountain looks really sturdy,
it's actually super, super tender.
Look at this, it's just coming off the bones.
There we go, we got some of the mountain,
we got some of the river,
we got some of the pepper.
Woah
Mm
Wow this is so Thai.
The broth is vinegar-y, extremely spicy, so flavorful
because you can tell these bones have been simmering here for a long, long time.
Let me get a piece of meat, no pepper, nothing else,
just a piece of meat
Oh
Just breaks apart in your mouth
and it tastes just like a pork bone should.
Fatty, a little gelatinous, beautiful porky flavor.
Mm I understand now why they cover it in chili
because if you try to eat it meat itself,
it's going to be a little too much for you,
it's just a little too fatty for you.
But you got the vinegar-y soup,
you got the spice coming from the chili.
This is a beautiful, beautiful combination.
You know, you know what this is?
Someone literally went into my dreams and
created this dish from my dream.
This is literally what... what defines me.
A bunch of meat, and a bunch of chilies.
Now it's time to get a little hands on with this baby.
And you know,
we saw what happened when you try to use the fork.
Let's do it.
Look at that, that is the spine
and look how easy, and my finger, it just... it's just
brushing this meat off the bone.
It's so gentle, I don't need to exert even that much pressure
and the meat is coming off the bones.
You've got a nice dip, add some chili on there and just dig in.
Get down and dirty with this beautiful this.
This is my heaven.
Just sitting here gnawing on a pork bone.
That soup goes perfectly with this.
There is so much good meat on these bones.
There's the lean meat
then you got some tendon in here.
You guys, here's the thing.
Yeah, this is all for me.
But do not be intimidated by a bowl like this
because it's just a bunch of bones.
So come here and order an extra large,
or an extra, extra large.
Now I'm kinda regretting I didn't get the largest size.
What was I thinking?
Kinda mad at myself right now.
Alright guys, this is about to get a little more barbaric.
So I need a moment here.
[background music]
Oh you see that right there?
That is marrow. Whenever you see marrow, you do this.
Mmm
[background music]
What a great meaty, spicy conclusion to
a wonderful night market food tour.
And the great thing about feeling so hot and spiced up
is that now I feel like the temperature around me has cooled down.
I've been to a lot of night markets,
this one has got to be my favorite so far.
I mean it's got tons of different shops, it's got live performances,
but I just care about the food.
And from the food quantity,
to the variety, to the quality. This place is just ridiculous.
I mean you got all the food stalls,
then surrounding this night market are restaurants and even bigger food stalls.
This has been a great way to spend my evening here in Bangkok.
If you are ever around, or you live here,
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
And for those of you who haven't been here,
I'll leave the information for you guys in my description box.
Definitely come by and check it out.
Alright, thank you guys for watching this video.
And until we meet again, which will be very soon.
I'll see you later.
A little scared,...
A little hesitant...
Because I'm about to eat some worms.
I mean I keep passing by these things.
And it looks like it might not be so bad.
A lot of my local friends are kinda saying I really should try some.
I'm gonna do it.
This little guy here is a bamboo worm.
It looks like it's stir fried in spice and chilies.
It looks crispy.
Here we go.
[ticking background music] (regrets)
I really... really made a mistake.
I thought it was crunchy.
[stuttering] It wasn't crunchy at all...
It's actually really chewy
And the skin is really soft and oily
Definitely not something I want to try again...?