$.50 Cent vs. $50 BOAT NOODLES: Street vs. Luxury

This is about $2. These are fish noodles with the wonton noodles. The tendon is way better on the play pot and the bone noodles. The 30 baht price level, this is a gigantic bowl of noodles. Thai boat noodles started as humble bowls served from canals. Cheap, fast, and full of punch. But over time, they've leveled up just like the city of Bangkok. In this video, we're tasting low-end street bowls, mid-tier classics, and even high-end wagyu versions to show you why boat noodles might be the most Bangkok dish there is. All right, you guys, we're in Prakanon, super local spot. We're going to get the 50 baht one. It used to be 30 baht, but you know, inflation everywhere in the world, guys. All of this was just $1.50, guys, which actually is a derivative of a dish called bak mi chor, which they still actually eat in Singapore with the clear broth. Woo, right here. Got the fish sauce right here. I'm going to put a little bit lachio, you know. Woo. They gave me a bunch of bean sprouts and a bunch of different herbs and things, almost like a pho. At the 30 baht price level, this is a gigantic bowl of noodles. You get the pork balls, natural beef slices, one with the thin rice noodle. Every boat noodle spot is going to do things differently. Now, onto our gentrified, elevated, mid-tier, and high-end spots. You guys see those elephant pants? That's super Bangkok. You see these Thai boat noodles behind us? That's even more Bangkok. Today, I'm joined by YouTuber Forest Lee. You ready to try these noodles? Let's go. All right, guys, we're at Boonapapadom, which is kind of like a middle-tier spot. Like, you know, like your thong smiths are super expensive, and I know you've got opinions on thong smith. Thong smith, it's like premium boat noodles that cost 300 baht that you can finish in two bites. We're going to go to thong smith in a later video, so I'm going to remember that. This is about $2. These are fish noodles with the wonton noodles. These are fish balls. We've got, of course, the classic pork bone one. We've got the beef bone one right here, and I've got some beef right here, but in pork sauce. All right, you guys, this is kway teow rua. Kway teow rua. Dude, you see the five spice, dark soy sauce, garlic, ginger. What else is in there? Star anise. It's got a nice kick to it. It's spicy, but it's manageable. The beef is better. The beef is way better. The broth is definitely much more tame. It's not overpowered by spice. It's got a nice herbal taste to it. Let's try the tendon. Wow. Let's get moving to this stewed beef dish. This is claypot, and this kind of comes from the diajiao side. The tendon is way better on the claypot. Than in the bone noodle, right? Than the bone noodles. Yeah, I think it just had more time to just relax, right? Try some of the broth. It warms the soul, my god. This is a five out of five, aha, and aha. Got a lot of fish balls here, different forms of fish balls. You can even get actually fish noodles here. We'll try these fish ball noodles. Comes with a little broth. This dish is only $2 US. It might not have been the best thing on the menu, but this might have been the best bao you want. I would say most uninitiated, most Americans are put off by because it's blood mixed with their herbal broth, but if you can get past the whole blood conception, be like, oh my god, this is scaring me, and just shut up and just give it a try. It's actually quite damn good and quite delicate for you. Right. What are you going to go ahead and give Boomer Pabber on? I'd say probably four out of five. You give it a four out of five. I'm going to give this spot a 4.5 out of five. One of the best kept secrets in Ekamai and in Bangkok. All right, you guys, we just wrapped up at our mid-end bone noodle spot, and now we are headed to the highest end boat noodle chain in all of Bangkok, Tong Smith joining me today. I've got the owner of Graham's 28 Bags, Benjamin, all the way from Hong Kong. Oh, what? You got a limited collection bag? Yeah, it's coming out next month, so stay tuned. Yeah, this is dope. It's got a lot of Hong Kong iconography stitched in there. Real quick though, have you ever had Thai bowl noodles? No, I haven't. Well, I'll tell you this, it's kind of like a au lam wonton mien or like a au yuk wonton mien, but it's got way more flavors, essentially because it's the Thai version. That's right. Check out Tong Smith. All right, you guys, we're at Tong Smith. These are very expensive kway teow roa. These are probably the most expensive chains you can possibly come around. I mean, this bowl right here was like 570 baht. That's like 16 dollars US, which would be okay in New York City, but in Bangkok, this is pricey. So we got to try this one out first, man. You got Australian wagyu, you've got beef balls. We got it with the wide ho fun. Here, I'll get you your bowl. What does this remind you of in Hong Kong? It's definitely something that came to mind, to be honest. Like, look at the soup. All the stupid sauces in the soup, I think. Definitely, like, tastes like au lam mien. Listen, guys, it tastes like 500 baht. Yeah. The noodle is so nice, man. The way they got the pig's blood in there is just different from the way they got the pig's blood in other spots, man. I'm telling you. Of course, we got kway teow gai. Gai, same word for chicken, you know. For the healthy option, I thought that that was really good too, actually. That might have been better than the pork. But their beef balls are smaller than the ones in Hong Kong, right? Oh my god. Listen, guys, Tong Smith is just firing on all cylinders right now. No misses, all hits. It's a pear mango. I'm gonna go ahead and give Tong Smith a five out of five today. It's worth it. It's expensive. It might not be an everyday option, but absolutely, I felt like they put the work in to justify the quality. Is this just like, because, like, the price here for the chicken, it's like just normal Hong Kong price, to be honest. So, if you're in Hong Kong, just come and try it, man. It's just so good, man. Hey, and check out Graham's 28. Yeah. On to the next spot. It was worth it. Next up on our Thai boat noodle crawl throughout Bangkok is ro-rua. Ro is the sound ro. Rua means boat. As you can see here, they actually have, like, western steaks on the menu too, as well as Thai boat noodles. But this is what we're here for, guys. As you can see here, we got the fish balls. I'm gonna mix this all up right here. Here we go, guys. Ro-rua Thai boat noodles, Bangkok. They got locations, I believe, in Thanglor and Ekamai. Mmm. I'm thirsty. I'm liking the volume of herbs. This is a pork ball. Solid. 3.8 out of 5. I was gonna say 4, but it might not be, like, hitting for a Thai person, but for foreigners, absolutely, I'mma up it to a 4. 4 out of 5. We are in Krakanong right now, guys. This is an extremely local district of Bangkok, even though we're quite close to Ekamai and Thanglor. Definitely, this spot is hyper-local because you can get a really big bowl and a lot of beef for 55, 45. Let's check it out. Listen, guys, we are in the Kud right now. I'm not in a mall. They don't speak English here, but that's what I came to Thailand for, guys. This is the pork one. Like you said, throughout this video, you've seen varying levels of pork blood in the stew. I'll tell you this, they got a ton right here. It's the most bloodiest of them all. They got a whole IV bag of pork blood in here. You want me to eat the pork liver for you guys? The kidneys? I don't even normally do this, but I'mma do it for you guys. It's good. Bangkok is so big. It is so vast. It can be whatever you want, but I'm telling you, until you have done a bowl noodle tour, you probably will not fully understand the local society here. For my money, I'm gonna give this bowl 4.6 out of 5. This is really good, ton of depth of flavor, local vibes. Just take a look around. All right, you guys, this spot does have a name. It's Hang Hang Noodle Shop here in Phra Khanong. I'm super excited. They got khao soi. They've got spicy beef noodle soup, and of course, they've got bowl noodles, all for an incredibly local price. Let's check it out. All right, you guys, we're in the alleyway by Hang Hang Pho Noodle. As you can see here, everybody does their things differently. Here, I see a lot less livers. I see a lot more garlic, a lot more preserved radishes on top. There's no real right or wrong way to do it. Interestingly here, they did not give me a choice of noodles, so I'm excited. They have some different cuts of beef as well, some pounded out, tenderized pork. Wow. Whoa. This is almost like a semi-dry style. They do give you some beef in it as well. This actually tastes the most unique out of all the ones that I've had. On a bowl noodle scale, I might have to give it a little lower just because it has less of that vibe to it, but on an eatability scale, it was a five out of five. Really, really easy to eat, really, really creamy. This is almost like the carbonara of Bangkok bowl noodles. From canal-side comfort to upscale wagyu bowls, bowl noodles have evolved, but the soul always stays the same. Bold broth, fast slurp, and deep flavor. It's scrappy, stylish, and street-born, just like Bangkok itself. Whether you spend 50 or 500 baht, this dish hits every single time.