Thai Street Food - $1 FOOD at Traditional Market in Bangkok!! (ft. Nick DiGiovanni)

How much Thai street food can you eat? For just $1. In this video, Nick and I have just one hour to eat as much $1 Thai street food as possible. We said dollar food tour, but we couldn't resist. Okay, we might break the rule, but it will all be affordable, and you're probably going to be surprised what we find. Nick. Mark. Yes. Finally. Welcome to Bangkok. How are you? Very good. We finally made it happen. This is a traditional morning market, which is called Phra Phamon Morning Market. It's one of the best, I think, traditional morning markets, which is right in the heart of Bangkok. Cool. So I thought we'd just take a stroll through the market, find some delicious food. Why not? And see what we can eat and share with you. It looks good. It smells good. This is why I travel. Nice. So I'm excited. You ready? Let's go. Let's head down this direction, actually. This is where we're going to find our first thing to eat. But if you see anything that interests you, just let me know, and we can explore it. Awesome. Well, I do think, you might think this is an everyday thing, but the way that you peel these, are they pomelos? Yes, they're pomelos. Yep. The way they peel these, I think, is crazy. It reminds me of those little cups that you got as a kid. I don't know if you ever had those, where it's dissolved in the liquid, and they're perfectly peeled. Oh, yeah. For sure. So I've been seeing these the whole time, and I feel like this is not a normal thing. Should we start with some pomelo? Why not? Let's do it. Some fruit to start the day. Because I don't think this is as normal as, like, you might think when you see it every day. Yeah. It almost seems like it shouldn't be possible. First bite. Let's do it. Mmm. Aloy. What does that mean? Delicious. Oh. Delicious. That was delicious. He's just got this tiny paring knife, huh? And then he's super, he's very agile with the knife. Yes. So it's actually a really laborious process to peel it. I can't believe they get it as smooth as they do. This looks like it would be any normal orange right now. If I opened this myself, I wouldn't think that I could get it that clean on the outsides, because look at the, look at that, like, grippy layer of pith on the outside. How would you ever get that off? Yes. Oh, so he passes it off. And now she's peeling that. Oh. So theoretically, they might be able to do it with any citrus fruit if they're this skilled. Except some citruses, you know, pomelo is durable. Whereas if you did that with an orange, it would just collapse, or the juice would come out, maybe. Depending on the orange, of course. It's really satisfying to watch, huh? It is. It's like a bunch of mini explosions. As soon as you bite down, all that juice is released, little capsules of citrus. Wow. Mmm. I just can't believe the, this is like the most luxurious way to eat any kind of citrus fruit. Let's try the next food. Sawadee krap. Oh, you can smell. Is that breakfast? I don't... Could be. This I would love for more of a savory after-lunch, before-dinner snack. But I don't know if I'd want that for breakfast. You could have it for breakfast too, yes. Why not? Look at these. Look at these things. They are just a bunch of cute little baby shrimp. She's gonna put a sauce onto it. It's chili, but it's more like sweet. Oh. Sweet sauce. Whoa. Here you go, Nick. It's funny to me that we made it about three feet from the last booth. Yeah, you're right. Really just smells like kind of simple fried shrimp, huh? But it has a really, that really distinct shrimp aroma to it. I think from the shells because they're the little shrimp. There's the shells all in them. And then she just fries it into kind of a fritter. A shrimp fritter. So she puts the batter into the plate. Then the little shrimp go on top. And then she makes a fritter. And then that goes directly into the hot oil. To fry until golden crispy. Not how I thought it was gonna happen. It just slides perfectly off there. Smells really good right away too. And so that batter kind of holds the shrimp together. That's such a thin batter also. It's like a really, really thin batter. I think it's barely holding together in the oil there. And they cook fast, huh? Yeah, because they're so thin? Yeah. Looks like it's gonna cook quite fast. Wow. And the aroma coming out smells so good. It's really an amazing simple way to make something. This is like... She just slides it in. Having such a thin and light amount of that flavorless batter. I think allows it to just fully be all about the shrimp, right? That's all it is. It's just shrimp. For sure, for sure. Oh, and she flips them even. So they're durable enough to flip over actually. I like all the crispy bits and the offshoots that you get. Kind of like on a piece of fried chicken from the whiskers of the shrimp. Yes. Oh, I love that. It's so good. They gotta sell this in snack form. Like eat it all the time. Like out of a bag? This is delicious. Just pop one of these out. But I think that's part of why it's so good is it's fried fresh. All those little shrimps with the shell on. And the shell I think gives it so much extra flavor as well. Wow. Yeah. It's packed with shrimp flavor. Yeah. Having, you're right, having the shell is such a game changer. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Oh, man. It adds such another complexity and layer of flavor to it. I have a good view right here of the chili sauce too on mine. This I would love to have in a bag where you just open it at home if you're watching a movie. Snack, snack, snack. It's addictive. This is great. Okay, we're gonna move down the line here to one of my favorite sweet snacks, Nick. Which they're making right here. Right here. This? Sawadee krap. Yes, yes. Whoa. Do you know these people? Yes. Oh, so you're, are you every morning and pulling up here? Oh, this is called Khanom Krok. Okay. We'll see her make a fresh batch. Okay, Daikab. Okay. Oh. Cool. So that's the first layer of the rice flour batter that goes in. Min, bang. How's that, Daikab? Yeah, it's rice, rice flour batter. I love the little shake that she does. Okay, now that's coconut cream goes on top. Coconut cream. So pure coconut cream, thick. Oh. Wow. Oh, the smell is incredible from the coconut cream. And now she's gonna steam that and kind of steam and fry. And here's one that's been cooking for a few minutes. Now she'll put on the different toppings. Oh, it smells really nice. It smells like you're making pancakes in the morning. It smells like fresh pancakes before they put the toppings on. And can you also smell that kind of sweet coconut aroma too? It actually reminds me of sort of my kitchen workstation when I was a kid when I would make pancakes because it does look like this. All the little drippings and all the little batter drips on the side, little crispy edges. Yeah, but this is one of the great things because it's crispy on the bottom, but then it's gooey and custardy on the inside. I love hanging out with Nick. He's exactly the same as he is in his videos. Just, yeah, so much fun. And we definitely share a passion for trying food and hanging out. I've been watching your videos for a long time, actually, because I think you are the, I'll say it here, you're the go-to guy for street food around the world and kind of like unique food experiences and food travel. So if I ever want something, I'm going to you. I'm going to your videos. I'm glad that we can finally link up. Thank you so much. All right. Wow. So all of that is 30 baht, which is less than a dollar. And we got a mixed plate. Smell. Let's see what you've got on the inside. Oh, they're hot. Oh, this is with coconut. Oh, you should try the one with coconut. Oh, man. It's just gooey in the best way possible. See like the custardiness of it. This one is topped with coconut shavings. Burnt my mouth. So good. That custardy coconut milk just oozes out. I can't tell if I'm mad that I just burnt all my taste buds off or if I'm so happy with how good this flavor is. A combination of both. It's got everything you need from crispiness to custardiness, mildly sweet with a bit of saltiness to bring out the coconut flavor. It's my favorite bite so far, though. This is really, really special. Really good. Super unique. You'll burn your mouth, though. Be careful. It's just nonstop on the coconut griddle cakes. These are delicious. Oh, they're so addictive and so good. I do want you to try one more, a totally different flavor. Yes, here it is right here. Oh. Oh, sweet. But you got a kick of onion. I like that better, even. Nice, nice. And it just like almost throws off your taste buds a little bit. Yeah, that was almost kind of confusing for me. Maybe I'll start making these for breakfast at home. I love these. Do you need any water, Nick? Okay, I think we need a beverage. Nick remembered something. Okay, so in Phuket, I found the best waters that I've ever had. It's these, it actually says Japan Technology, which is interesting. Off the line. They have the tiniest hint of coconut water in them. Really? This one's Ginkgo, and this one's, I don't know which one you want. What do you recommend, Nick? I actually think you'd like this one. The Ginkgo? You should try this one. I'm going to have this one. Never had this before. Okay. Never had this before. Thank you. Mark, Mark, I'm telling you. This makes you dehydrated. Because I want to, I got to give you this water experience, so let me do it. And one of the great things about 7-Eleven, you can always step inside to get a little AC. It's true. A little breather. Okay. Right back. Yes. Give it a taste. I'm excited. Sounds crazy, but it is the best water. Never tried this before. It's the best water I've had. You get the coconut? Yes. Oh, it's like an essence almost. It's like an aroma almost. It's almost like one of those water bottles where you smell it. Mm-hmm. You smell the aroma, but that adds to the taste. It's just like, it's subtle. Just enough though. Yeah. Actually, I think it's a little muted because of the coconut that we just had. We have coconut on our taste buds already. Isn't it good? Mm-hmm. Or did I over-hype it? No, it's really good. You like it. Okay. Let's get to the next food now that we're hydrated. So, this is an Isan cart, which is food from mostly the northeastern region of Thailand. And you can see he has... I'm captivated by this right now. By what he's doing with these. Oh, the sauce in the bag? Somebody help me. Yeah, I just... You don't Thai and eat? No, I don't like... You don't see this too often, where they put sauce in little baggies like this. It's so satisfying. For the takeaway sauce. And then they have this rubber band technique. And you know something about these little bags? You see even these takeaway bags? They always have to have a bubble of air on top. I think that helps for display, so you can see what's in it, and it looks better. Oh. It's like a little fish tank almost. Birthday party as a kid, and you got a fish? That's... I was thinking that too. Yeah. A goldfish bag. That's what this is. Took me a while to figure it out, but I got it. It's a fish... Like a fish sausage. Or fish balls. Fish sausage and catfish. And then catfish, of course. If you ever need to spot a catfish, look for those little whiskers on there, huh? Yes. One of the things I think we should try is called... Do you know lab? Lab? It's usually a meat salad. It can be made with minced pork or... Usually minced pork. Okay. But my favorite version is actually made with catfish. It's called labadook. Labadook. So what is this? So galangal first. He took some of that fresh galangal, he's just mincing it up. Okay, now... One of those fresh, roasted, charcoal-grilled catfish. Oh, look at the way he debones that. Huh. This is... So far, not what I would have expected. I like how... I wonder what music he's listening to. Can you ask him? It's called the... The lab beat. It must be this. Oh, over here. Oh. Oh, wait. So he's got earphones in. Oh, he's listening to the news over here. He's rocking out. He's... I think he's... I think Nick said he's rocking out to that beat with the chop. Yeah, yeah. I was wondering if it gets him in the rhythm and stuff. Whoa. So there... Salt. MSG goes in. That's MSG. MSG. Ah, nice. Oh, that's the toasted, roasted, sticky rice powder. Daikon. Daikon, daikon. A little bit of chili goes in. And now he just kind of whips that up. Dang. He reaches for the herbs at the top there. All the herb bags. So those are mint leaves plus sawtooth coriander. Okay. And now... A lime. That's squeezed directly in. And then fish sauce goes in. Nice. I love the way he whips it up in a pot too. So it's sort of a fish salad. Three, two, one. Let's go. Here we go. Oh, the smokiness is by far the best part. Oh, my God. Mm-hmm. Because those, they keep the charcoal on a really low fire, so it's not cooking too fast, so it absorbs all that smoke you can see on the fire. Oh, my God. You're right. There's just smoke everywhere. The fish is constantly bathing in smoke. Mm-hmm. And absorbing that smoke. It's almost like a slightly more textured smoked fish pate. Right? Yeah. With just a lot more flavor. Never thought of it that way. But definitely. Wow. I love this. This is delicious. It's earthy, it's herby, it's smoky. One of my favorite snacks from a cart like this. And actually, you would typically then eat it with sticky rice. And you can dip sticky rice in then, so that combination is perfect. Did we get a nice shot of the... That smoke. Yeah, let's get another shot of that smoke. You can even just feel it, smell it, stand in it. It's nice. We're not only tasting it, but we're smelling it at the same time. You're right. It adds another dimension of incredible flavor. Wow. That's unique. Didn't know it existed. Love it. That is the most appetizing salad. Salad in the bag again. That I've maybe ever seen. In that inflated bag again. With the air bubble. See, that's how you got to keep that air bubble in the bag so that you can really see what's inside. Otherwise, if it was deflated, it would not be as appetizing, right? No, yeah, you're right. It wouldn't. Hilariously, we've eaten four or five things, but we haven't even entered the market yet. We're still on the outside of the market. So I think... Oh, a picture? A picture. She's making the shrimp right there. Yes. Okay, so hilariously, let's enter the market now, Nick. Are you ready? Yeah, yeah. So that was our appetizer. Yes. And so now you're going to start to see all the vegetables and wet market ingredients that you can get here. Oh, man, what is this? Bitter melon. Some of this stuff I recognize, some of this I do not recognize. This one's on the tip of my tongue. I'm forgetting what that is. That's banana flower, banana blossom. Okay, okay. That's like the tip of a banana. It's supposed to be hairy? Yes. These are the hairy fruit eggplants. What? Hairy eggplants? Okay. It has this bitter kind of bittersweet flavor to it. And typically, typically they make it into a chili dip. But when you pound it into a chili dip with shrimp paste, it's amazing. All right, let's continue, Nick. Wow, this is my happy place, by the way. Look at this stall, Nick. This kind of thing is my happy place. It looks like just a mountain of vegetables. Green, yeah. This is a veggie hater's worst nightmare right here. Yeah. It's getting busy now. This is chaos. Also, this is the longest market. Look at this. Oh, yeah. I can't even see the end. It keeps going. So, baby corn. That's fresh baby corn. Yes, that is. You never see fresh baby corn. Like, I've never ever seen this not in a can. Ever. Oh, yeah. That is awesome. Yeah, I mean, if we don't keep walking, we're never going to finish. Yeah. Lots going on. Smells, sounds, sights. So, these are the famous Thai mangoes, correct? Yes. I think these are Nam Dok Mai mangoes. Sawasdee krap. Is it okay to pick one up? Ah, okay. Is it okay to pick one up? Yeah, she said you can pick one up. So, they have a very distinct color, I've noticed. A very, very distinct color. They're beautiful. What is that? I'll show you. What is this? Oh, okay. Okay, I'm rolling. What on earth is this? I guess in 7-Eleven while we were there, Ying bought these for us. This is called Ya Dom. It's like a Thai, it's more than a, it's a whole Thai culture in its own. It's a sniffer, an inhaler, but it's all natural. It's all these different Thai herbs. And give it a whiff. Oh! And Thai people often, you'll see them sniffing this walking through markets or walking down the street or in bed. This guy's lobbying. Yes, we got it. Go to him. We got the thumbs up. Ya Dom. Nice. Ya Dom. It's kind of like whenever you get hot, when you have a little vertigo, you can smell this, it kind of enhances your mood. Everybody just stopped in the market, I feel like, to look at me do it. All of a sudden, everybody stopped and was just looking for my reaction. And actually, my favorite use of this, though, is actually when you're really full and you've eaten a lot, you sniff this and it just totally lifts you up and brings you out of that. I love this, actually. This is really cool. Do people buy these and bring them home? Do people love these? People bring cases of them back from Thailand. Oh. Ya. Do you want to try this? It's a coconut, like a rice ball with coconut. Ya, let's try it. Let's try it. If you don't keep your head up in here, you'll get run over. But not. I think she gave us different ones on each stick. You've got the kanom tom, which is like a rice batter. It's almost like a mochi, but then I love how there's so much shredded coconut just swimming in a sea of shredded coconut. It kind of looks like a person's head, right? A girl who doesn't have that much hair, but a little bit of hair. There's actually one where they don't put the coconut on it, and it's called kanom hualan, which means bald head, without the coconut. But this one is the one with coconut, so it's like a shaggy head. It does look like someone's head. It does. It looks like a person with just a little bit of hair. It does. A little bit of white hair. And I got the one with, I think, cassava. Okay. Alright. Are you supposed to eat the whole thing in one bite? I didn't know that. You don't have to. I didn't know that. I don't know actually. What's on the inside? I think it's palm sugar and roasted coconut on the inside. Oh. It is sort of like Thai mochi, I would call this then. Not too sweet. Really nice texture, and multiple different types of texture. She says, is it delicious? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. They even have pink eggs in Bangkok. Nick, those are thousand-year-old eggs. Nice. These ones are beautiful. The pink ones are so pretty. Lots of noodles. The smells are truly incredible. It's starting to just... If I smell too much, I'm going to get busy though. It's also hot. What kind of fish is that? I think... Okay, so he's saying it's a red grouper. A spotted red grouper? Yeah, I think it's that type of grouper. Oh, man, look at that. Those are beauties though, yeah. And then over here is another great fish, is the pomfrets. Yes. I love the look on the crabs that you guys have here too. The spotted crabs. Look at these, Nick. These are like ready to go, ready to eat, conveniently packed and shelled for you. Crab. This shell is extra beautiful. Just seeing the spots on these, it's just... One of the things I love about Thailand is it's so convenient. Where else can you just get a peeled pack of crab and you just start biting? You don't need to do anything but bite. Wait, this only costs... This is only 150 or 185? Yep. So how many US dollars would that be? That's like... Four? Maybe over a pound of crab. That's a lot of crab. Okay. They're going really fast. They're selling out right as we got here. We gotta try this crab. They're almost gone. I think this is a sign for us. We gotta try. I think so. It's like begging to be eaten. It's kind of stapled shut. Oh, that's juicy. Crab. And hidden below all the crab nuggets, we should find... There it is. But I almost don't want to ruin this little... Presentation? Yeah. The presentation is so good. Okay, there we go. This is the sauce. It's gotta have a sauce. Okay. Chilies, garlic, fish sauce, maybe some sugar. And then these are actually some of the best bites, which are the... What is it? It's like the joint. The joint. This is exactly what I was gonna go for, so... Yeah, look at that. Sweet. That's a lot of meat, too. Yeah, it is a lot of meat. It's a big... Well, what's so nice is... It's perfectly... It's just sort of perfectly bite-sized. Like, I don't know what you'd compare this to, but they have it just ready. They're like natural crab nuggets. Yeah. Let's get some sauce. Sauce it up. Sauce it. Nice. Oh, you got a lot. Yes. Scoop it. The claw. The claw's really nice. I think these are blue swimmer crabs. This shows how clearly they're blue crabs when they're upside down. It's really hard to see that they're blue until they're flipped upside down like that. True. And when they're cooked, they turn pink, so you miss the whole blue color. They're small, but tasty. And Nick and I actually, we ended up splurging on this a little bit. Yeah. 150 baht, which is about $4, I think. We said dollar food tour, but... We couldn't resist. Yeah. Nick said we had to. I think we're not only doing dollar foods, but we're focusing on value. Yes. Value. Yes, maybe that's a better sort of... As we've made this video, I think we're realizing what we're doing. Yeah. Actually, when we set off to this market this morning, we actually had no plans but just to walk around, and it's been actually really refreshing to see your... What's up, dude? It's been so refreshing to see your perspective on Thai food. I kind of get used to walking through these markets, and there's so many things I don't notice anymore just because it's like walking through the market so frequently. And we're barely even halfway down. I also wanted to point out the Thai iced tea in the bags here. She's actually very famous. Really? Yeah. Well, I think everybody recognizes Thai iced tea. Is this it being made in the pot? Yeah, that's the tea boiling, yeah. Oh, my God. The smell is amazing. It's a cauldron. Wow. She's pouring it in. Oh, this is cool. Oh. From elevation, so it has bubbles. I also love how she's not measuring anything. She clearly just has this all down to a science. Oh, yeah. A shake in the bag. She knows she's fun to watch, too. She puts on a show. The ice goes directly into your bag. That's so cool to watch. She's just continually pouring and mixing nonstop. Yeah, people have been ordering nonstop the entire time since we got here, which is really cool. Clearly, it's delicious. So it actually comes in a bag, in a paper bag, in another bag. Not great for the environment, but it looks delicious. Whoa, they put the straw in already. I mean, it's almost kind of... Okay. It's almost kind of cool like this. Oh, I love this. So the paper bag is almost like the ice chest. The insulator. Okay. So, oh, so it's 25 baht per drink. Well, other than it being like kind of wasteful, right? Yeah, it is. A lot of bags. It's a lot of bags. It seems like maybe one or two too many bags. A lot of bags, a lot of plastic, but satisfying to watch. I kind of want to show people the orangeness of this tea. It's like a waterbed. It's really cool. It's definitely unlike any Thai tea I've ever had. The mixture there is strong. It looks like a strong... Is this intense for you? Like, is this very tea flavor? Like the tea flavor? Yeah. I think it's normal. Is this pretty standard for here? Pretty standard. But it has... It's like it's tea, but I think that it has these Thai herbs in it as well. And then she continually boils that and then she adds in all that evaporated milk and sugar and maybe condensed milk as well. Huh. So it's really creamy. I mean, yeah, like I think the visuals of the bag are really cool, how the ice is in different pieces too. And if you... Once the ice starts getting broken up enough too, you can get a few chunks and shards of ice, which I think makes it even more fun. I think that's also something that's helpful. It's crushed ice. If it was big chunks of ice, it wouldn't be as satisfying actually because it almost turns into a slushie. No? You smell it before you see it. But it's a sweet, beautiful aroma. No, it's not. Sani. So she has two different varieties. She looks like a liver or a chicken breast every time. So she offered us a taste test. Thank you. So actually, Nick, this one, there's so many varieties of durian and then also there's so many ripeness stages. So in Malaysia, Singapore, plus the south of Thailand, they usually like it more pungent. But in Bangkok, durian is often not as pungent, depending on the variety. But this variety will be... This is like a good beginner durian or like a less pungent durian. It almost smells a little bit bitter, like unripe almost in a way. Yep, so it's a different style. It's a lot more mellow. Not as mushy. Totally different than durian that I've had before. Before, typically it's always so smooth and custardy and silky. And yeah, this one's got more of a kind of like a bite to it. Some parts have a little crunch to it almost, but it's still got that cream. Yeah, it's really mild. It's really, really mild. This is a good intro durian for anyone who hasn't tried before. She's giving us another variety here. That's so nice. Okay. Thank you. Alright. This one is kind of... I like it actually more mushy and stronger. Oh, I like this one a lot better. Wow. That one has like a sharper sweetness, more of a butterscotch. Much fruitier. A butterscotch almost to it. Yeah, it does. It's much fruitier. Yeah, this one is better, yeah. This is more like a fruit. The other one was more like a slightly savory sort of hard custard dessert sort of. It's hard to describe. I think that's one of the great things about durian is there's no two durians that ever taste the same. Before this trip, you could not have gotten me to even touch durian. Like I didn't even want to go near it. So Nick, thank you. That was so much fun. Mark, this was awesome. Thank you for taking me around Bangkok. I now feel like a local. Thank you. And be sure to go check out Nick's channel and his video that he's going to do in Bangkok as well. Thanks for watching. Yes. Feel alive. It wakes you up. Would you like to borrow mine? Borrow mine? Yes.