[Naka_Timo]

KRUA PORN LAMAI

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.



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 Radna is a mix of prawns, squid, chicken and vegetables brought to you on the before mentioned iron plate. When the cook pour the gravy over the food and the burning hot iron plate, it gets smokey, it becomes cool and it tastes damn good. Don’t even think about touching it. The vegetables are al dente and crunchy, and makes you almost feel healthy. You actually feel well taken care of here at Porn Lamai, not very typical for a street food vendor that base it’s business on hight turn overs to keep prices low.

Krua Porn Lamai is a street food shack, but not a typical one. Porn Lamai is actually quite atmospheric with tables on both side of the street. I would call it a good spot to impress your food addicted darling as an insider of the local scene, if you have one. The preparations takes place on a small station on the side walk of the street. The waiters are constantly crossing the street withe smoking hot plates and smiles.

Eating here is getting as local as it gets in Bangkok. The spot is almost always full due to it’s goodness served all evening. They are famous for their sizzling hoy tod and Rad na. The st