Menu Decoder for Thai Street Food and Shop Houses
One of the reasons that foreign tourists and even some expats only eat the same ten dishes is that the menus are often only in the Thai language. At the food stalls that only sell one dish, it is a lot easier to order as you only have to raise one finger. Noodles are slightly more complicated as you have to tell them what kind of noodles you want. Though, of course, you could just point as all of the different noodles are on display in front of you. The hardest type of food to order are the stir fried dishes at a “Ahan Tam Sung” shop (อาหารตามสั่ง). The menu for such a shop is show above. These are often pinned to the wall. On this page I will try and give you key words that you will need for ordering food at all of the different food shops.
