[BANGKOK] Asiatique the Riverfront & Pratunam famous chicken rice @ Thailand

Stucked in traffic jam for hours at Bangkok after back from Hua Hin, we had to deviate from our initial plan as we were left with little time. A decision was made in hurry to visit Asiatique the Riverfront, a so called night market in Bangkok with about 1500 shops spanned across 28.88 acres of land. As a matter of fact, Asiatique is more than a typical night market, bangkoknightmarket.com quoted it as a shopping and lifestyle complex instead.

We were too hungry on the way to BTS station hence we simply stop by a roadside stall to have skewer of grilled squid (10 baht/skewer). The chili dripped to the squid was hot and spicy till it caused minor numbness in our mouth.

There are many ways to get to Asiatique but we used the conventional transportation method in Bangkok – by means of a boat via Chao Phraya River. Take BTS to Saphan Taksin station and there is a terminal specifically for Asiatique’s service boat free of charge, be prepared for crowd of people though.

Asiatique is separated in four districts, namely the Factory Districts (for shopping), the Waterfront District (with all fancy restaurants), the Down Square District (mixture of Thai & Western influence with international food) and the Chareonkrung District (more than 1,000 retail shops selling handicrafts, home décor and souvenirs). Honesty speaking, Asiatique seems like an attraction catering more to tourists instead of locals. I would equate it as a superior size of Straits Quay in Penang.

We had our dinner at a Kamlangsib Chicken Rice stal serving Thai food and we ordered the must try food for tourists – Pad Thai with shrimp (129 baht) and Tom Yam Noodles (189 baht).  Pad Thai was flavorsome especially with the peanuts topping the flat noodles and the Tom Yam Noodles was served with big prawns and little spicy.

The environment at Asiatique was lively and hordes of people were everywhere. As Halloween is around the corner, the mood of Asiatique has changed into Halloween themed.

Just head back to the Asiatique pier and take the Asiatique boat service after you are done here. The last ferry leaves at 11:00pm.

ASIATIQUE the Riverfront

Operation hour: 5:00pm – 12:00am

2194, Charoenkrung Rd., Wat Prayakai, Bangkoleam, Bangkok 10210

On our way back to hotel, we spotted this automatic bicycle rental machine and this is definitely the way to promote cycling!

Cute cat beside the steaming hot boiling oil, as if they going to cook him

We walked around Pratunam area in then next morning and it was really happening. There were a variety of stalls, shops and even wholesalers, selling various items at amazingly affordable prices. 

Tried this Thai pearl milk tea (35 baht) at a random milk tea stall at Pratunam Market. It tasted nice with balanced tea flavor and sweetness, and the pearls were chewy. Thai pearl milk tea was surprisingly good, outmatch those we get in Malaysia.

The distinctive uniform that distinguishes this particular stall with others

Then comes this famous Pratunam chicken rice, which was highly recommended by the Thais and even the tourism department personnel at Airport mentioned this is a must try if we have time. We had some minor problems locating this particular stall initially as there were so many food stalls within the vicinity, and there were even a few chicken rice stalls along the same streets. Nevertheless they could be differentiated with their workers' signature pink uniforms, unless somebody decided to replicate the uniforms later. In addition, look for the queue outside the shop and you will able to tell that is the famous chicken rice you are looking for.

The queue basically explained its fame

We were here around lunch hour and not surprisingly the whole shop was crowded. We had to wait for a while and share tables with others. The menu was not tourists friendly as it was all in Thai words and we had to relay on finger pointing to complete our orderings.

Within minutes the waitress served us our long craving chicken rice. The distinctive Thai rice grains used was a major scorepoint as the rice granules were toothsome and stood up on it own by not sticking to each others. The poached chicken was deboned, tender, fresh and not oily. Nevertheless, there was not much wow factors as anticipated. It was a plain chicken rice which has tender chicken meat and not oily, perhaps our likings were more to chicken rice with sesame oil.

The chili sauce that calls the difference!

Anyhow, the sauce provided was special and a major addon to the chicken rice. Tasted like a mixture of chillies, garlic and sweet sauce, it basically revived this plate of plain chicken rice to an outstanding ones. It was impossible for us to find any other chicken rice offering this type of sauce at our hometown. Besides, a bottle of sauce tasted like mixture of vinegar and sweet sauce available on every table also blended well with this plate of plain chicken rice.

Address:Petchburi Soi 30 Bangkok, Thailand (opposite Palladium shopping mall)

Operation hours: Opens daily from 5.30am – 3pm and 5pm – 3am

Location map refers here

Normal wantan noodles

Tomyam wantan mee noodles

We also went within the perimeters to try out some of the local delicacies. Few blocks further down this famous chicken rice lays a wantan mee shop. We ordered tom yam egg noodles with barbecued pork and wanton (50 baht) and a normal wantan mee (50 baht). Both tasted alike to the wantan mee we had in Malaysia with the exception that no heavy soy sauce were used.

In addition, we also noticed all Thai food usually have different sauces or addon ready on the table for your choice. There were the 4 flavors - spicy (chillies), sugar (sweet), soy sauce (salty) and vinegar (sour). Nobody would enjoy bitter, right?

The smell of barbecuing satay few blocks away from the famous chicken rice also drew our attention or more precisely, stomach over there. Pork satay (5 bath per skewer) came with tender pork meat and served nice as a snack. The gravy provided was different as it was thicker and less peanut were used in the preparation process.

Fried chicken rice (50 baht) also toothsome, especially with the crispy chicken. 

After such a satisfying lunch, we continued our trip with visit to Mae Khlong railway market and Amphawa floating market.