Awesome Food Exploration At Old Town Charoen Nakhon
Good Indian food is hard to find in Bangkok. You will move all mountains that stand in your path, for a damn good one.
This brought us to Charoen Nakhon, an off-the-beaten-track in the City of Angels. Charoen Nakorn is located in Thonburi, on the “other side” of the Chao Phraya River from Sukhumvit and Central Bangkok. Many claim that the best views of Bangkok are from over there. Charoen Nakhon is an old town akin to Yaowarat (Chinatown), but not as well-known as Yaowarat. Nevertheless, there were still many foreigners, so this leads me to believe that there are many hotels, both luxury and the backpackers type at Charoen Nakhon.
D gave me a heads-up that it will take a fair bit of walk from BTS station; I was prepared with comfortable shoes. Walk walk walk …and walk walk walk ... took us more than 10 minutes of walking from BTS Saphan Taksin to Charoen Nakhon. On our way back, we walked to BTS Krung Thon Buri instead, which is so much nearer.
Is it worth the walk?
You bet! A change of scenery from our usual dining spots, plus authentic Indian food … I will do it again in a heartbeat!
There is a long list of restaurants featured in BlogGang. We only tried a couple, as there is only so much that our stomachs can take.
#1 Namaste Cafe, but better known as Indian Food
Update July 2016: Their menu now says “Indian Food 17 Charoenakorn”, no change to restaurant front signage
Located at Soi 17, it is a small restaurant with only 7 tables or so. The restaurant was full when we arrived around 2.30pm, with a mix of locals and foreigners. I was surprised seeing so many locals, as I always thought it is not a cuisine to their liking. Bi-lingual menu in Thai and English is available.
Do expect a bit of wait, as food is cooked-to-order. We read that the chef is Indian, but staff told us that the owner is Indian, but chef is Thai.
We were very pleased with our order: kick-ass fish curry (150 baht) (our Dish of The Day!), grilled chicken tikka masala (180 baht), alo0 gobhi (80 baht), vegetable briyani (90 baht) and garlic naan. Too much for us, so we packed the leftover.
… and we had 3 glasses of mango lasssi !!! D had 1 glass, and I had 2 glasses .. just couldn’t help myself, it was a refreshing drink and only 40 baht for such a big glass of mango lassi!
All these for only 600 baht. I will definitely come back to Namaste Cafe (aka Indian Food) again.
And it comes with a New Year gift too 🙂
#2 Aeng Hoy Tord
Disapointing radish cake (40 baht), too salty and wet-body for my liking. But I do like the dried shrimp used (unlike Malaysia’s version).
#3 Jaroen Porn พรเจริญไอศกรีม (เจ้จู)
Located at Soi 19, in the same shop as Jay Joo, popular for their yen ta foo (bean curds-based sauce) noodles. We didn’t try the noodles, as we were already full.
A top-notch coconut ice cream, soooo much better than my all-time-favorite at Chatuchak Weekend Market! It has salts added to it, it reminds me of salted caramel ice cream. Jaroen Porn are also a wholesaler, i.e, with tubs and plastics of ice creams being sent to other F&B establishments (I assumed) … So, come eat at the original source.We paid 68 baht for our order, with 2 toppings each.
# 4 Honey Popcorn
I was singing praises about Honey Popcorn’s caramel porcorn (25 baht), happily munching it at home. But D said it’s only so-so.
Charoen Nakhon, I will be back …
