Porn Lamai is a legendary street food vendor. A volcanic hot plate is put in front of you before they start pouring the gravy over a stir-fried egg where it all continues to cook. It’s fancy, it looks good and the rad na phu khao fai tastes great. In addition, Porn Lamai is a rather atmospheric spot.

Top dishes are rad na phu khao fai (gravy noodles cooked on a volcanic hot-plate), sukiyaki, Hoy Tod (mussel/oyster omelet) and taro kua (stir-fried fish snacks). The plates starts at B60 and ends around B100. Porn Lamai is still mostly visited by Thai’s, with some tourist occasionally joining in. An English menu is a wish that doesn’t come true, so be prepared before coming here, or use the finger and point to someone’s plate on one of the other tables that looks attractive.

You might be turn off by the look of the stall and the food laid out in the open kitchen, but don’t worry. They have a good turnover, and any bacteria that might be present is definitively sent to the eternal hunting ground by the smoking hot iron plate. Porn Lamai has been like this for decades and if Gordon Ramsey can eat here, so can you.

The colorful Krua Porn Lamai is a rather authentic street food spot in Bangkok’s Chinatown. When you add limited traffic, tables and chairs on the street itself and dim lightning, you have a charming spot with really good food. Sometimes shabby is perfectly ok.

If you look for alternative eating spots in Chinatown or elsewhere, please check out my Bangkok food map.

Name: Porn Lamai

Food: Rad na phu khao fai (noodles in gravy cooked on a volcanic hotplate), suki and seafood gravy noodles, crispy stir-fried pieces of fish (taro kua kee mao) + a few more alternatives.

Open: Tue-Sun 6 pm – 2 am

Phone: 099-249-5414

Address: Food stall outside 62 Plaeng Nam Rd (Plang Nam Rd)

How to get there: There is no Skytrain (BTS) or underground (MRT) in Chinatown, but they are building one in Charoen Krung close to Yaowarat Road. That doesn’t really help you today, so until then, one option is to take the Metro to Hua Lamphong, 6 metro stops and 12 minutes away from MRT Sukhumvit station, which also interlink the BTS station Asoke (Terminal 21 shopping centre). If you take the BTS Silom line you can change at Silom and take the MRT from there, 2 stations heading west. If you take a taxi from Hua Lamphong, insist on using the meter (as elswhere in Bangkok). Walking to Yaowarat road is 7-8 minutes. It’s another 3 minute walk from the hotel Shanghai Mansion in Yaowarat road. Just turn right when you get to the intersection Yaowarat Road/Plaeng Nam Road coming from the Hua Lamphong direction and you will see Krua Porn Lamai with the kitchen on the left side.

An option is the river express (Chao Phraya River Express), if you want to avoid the traffic. Get off at the Ratchawong Pier, and walk up from Ratchawong Road to Sampeng Lane and Yaowarat Road. A third option are buses – look for the number 1, 7, 8, 37, 49 and 75.