This Bangkok Street Food Stall Makes Giant Fried Garlic Fish!!

I'm about to eat this unbelievably crispy fried fish covered in a mountain of garlic and peanuts. Hey everyone, hope you're having an amazing day. It's Mark Wiens, and for lunch today, we're on our way to a Thai street food stall that specializes in Isan food, papaya salad. But actually, they are most famous for this giant fried fish topped in a mountain of fried garlic. And also, the fried chicken is also really popular. This place is extremely famous. I've seen a lot of videos from there, and I've been excited to try it out. We are in the Banglampu area, district of Bangkok. Khao San Road is just down that way, but the stall should be just up ahead, the street food stall that we're going to. Oh yeah, that's the spot. So right across the street from Wat Bawan, which is a famous temple in this area. And then there's a cluster of street food stalls here. And right here, where there's already a crowd of people, this is the place. We are coming. Yes, oh, I can see the fried fish. I can smell the garlic in the air. Oh, so we have to immediately make our order? This is one of those street food stalls that makes you excited, that gets you pumped up, because there's so many things going on, from the green papaya salad station, to the fried fish and the fried chicken station, which is the real highlight here, which is why everyone comes, which is why they are so famous. The stall is actually called Samtam Utumpon, but most people know it by Dijay, which I think is the lady's name here that owns the stall. Hey, now she's gonna make our Samtam Bubala. Oh, man, Dijay is gonna make our Samtam, our green papaya salad, and she is so fast. She could do it with her eyes closed. I couldn't even keep up with the camera. She's so fast. She just tosses in the ingredients double-handed, then stirs it around. Literally in seconds, she makes your green papaya salad, and then back to the fish station. Oh, she just has insane cooking skills. And what a kitchen. Look at all the ingredients, everything lined up. It's a mastery of Thai cooking here. And this is the master sauce. It looks like a combination of batter, garlic, all that marination process with the garlic, with the batter, with the flour is just incredible. She plasters it on. I love how it's like a half-mixed batter. You see flour, there's water. It's liquid, but it's kind of like crunchy and powdery all at the same time. And so much garlic swimming around. So she just transfers it from bucket to bucket, ensures that the fish or the chicken is coated in that batter and the garlic. One of the main rules of cooking is that you have to add that batter and you have to really whisk it, really mix it around so there's no clumps of batter. She's breaking all the rules. It just plasters that batter, chunky and all. Flour, blobs, heads of garlic swimming around all together, plastered it onto the fish. I can't wait to see how it's gonna turn out. Oh, the catfish hiding below. And once the fish is completely plastered, coated, then she gets it like dripping. You know, I also like lots of places that make fried things, fried fish, fried chicken. They kind of drip off the batter. She just leaves that batter so it's gonna be extra crispy. It's dripping in batter into the hot oil. She deep fries it till crispy perfection and she adds in garlic to make it crispy as well, but not ensuring that it doesn't get burned. Okay, here goes in the gazpacho of the garlic batter. She just digs it out of the bucket. Look at the way it bubbles, almost overflows the infinity edge. Look at that edge of oil. I can't believe it's not boiling over. That is unbelievable. And she strategically slices that chicken so that it absorbs, so that it gets crunchy with the oil. Oh man, it is absolutely unbelievable. It's like a theme park, a dreamland of fried fish and som tam and Isan food. And she's just nonstop. It's never ending. A continual rotation. First she does a batch of chicken, then a batch of the tilapia, the blandin, and then a batch of the catfish, and then just keeps on rotating as it gets busier and busier. And actually we're here way before, like at 10.30 a.m. before the main lunch rush. Oh, she's from the province of Mahasarakham, which is in Isan in Thailand. Wow. Okay, oh, it goes here to drain. This fish is ready. Okay, now she's starting to fish off some of that garlic that's floated to the surface that's crispy. Oh, and peanuts go in. What a move. Frying off the peanuts as well. Oh wow, the crunch of the peanuts. In the meantime, I think all of our food is ready. Everything I got. I cannot wait to try the fish. Starting to drip in sweat. The humidity of Bangkok. But what a street food stall. It's absolutely incredible. It just gets you pumped. It's the type of street food stall that gets you excited. And again, the highlight is the crispy fried tilapia, the giant tilapia. But the fried chicken looks incredible and it's just got a few supporting side dishes. But before we try the fish, let's start with the chicken. So again, it's pretty much the same recipe and topped in a heap of fried garlic. Look at the garlic with the skins on. Pick up the drumstick. I wanna try to add on some of that garlic, some of those crispy peanuts as well. To that first bite. The crispiness. I got a whole clove of garlic. It's so fragrant. The skin is so crispy with that batter. Then the chicken on the inside is remarkably juicy. Very tasty. Nice and salty. And the texture, the creaminess of the chicken stands out. Okay, but I'm gonna pour on some of the nam jim jai, some of the chili sauce. Oh yeah, with that sauce, that brings it together. A sweet and sour flavor from the tamarind, the dry chili in there. Oh, the sauce is amazing, actually. Maybe a little bit of lime juice to give it that sourness and acidity. Oh, the sauce is so good with that chicken, with that crispiness, with that garlic. It's a perfect combination. That's pretty popular, common in Thailand, to keep the skins on the garlic. But that even enhances the aroma, the flavor. I think there's even flavor within the skin of garlic, giving it an extra texture and an extra crispiness and an extra aromatic garliciness. And let me grab another piece of chicken off this drumstick. The sauce, I love the sauce. And with that batter mixture, it's incredible. It's a feat of engineering. It's like a science experiment, the way she's able to just keep feeding it with flour. Most of the time when you make something fried or deep fried and you make a batter, the chefs, they really want to whip it up and you really want to make sure there's no clumpiness in it. That one is clumpy and garlicky and not even fully stirred, and yet it gets so crispy. And it actually turns out so even. She has a recipe down. Okay, let's move into the som tam palak, which is the green papaya salad with crab in it, with fermented fish sauce. This looks fiery hot. Something to cool down. That papaya, really crispy. And I love how it's hand chopped, giving it those different uneven textures of green papaya. She made this plate of papaya salad in a record time. Within seconds, she mashed it up, she pounded it up, she stirred it up, all the ingredients together with the fermented fish sauce, all the chilies, and that handful of green papaya. Layers of salty flavor, fermented flavor from that fermented fish sauce. As odd as it sounds because it's really spicy, it's still very refreshing and cooling even though it's extremely spicy. Oh, man, there's a lot of chilies in here. Wow, yeah, look at the chilies. If you dig down deep here, check out the amount of chilies in there. Dry chilies and fresh chilies. That will just add to the sweat. So good. And then whenever you have a puddle of som tam juice on the bottom, it's made for dipping. Yeah, you immediately wanna grab sticky rice, ball it up, and just let it absorb as much of that as possible. Okay, let's try the next dish. Okay, the next dish I got is called sup no mai, which is a bamboo shoot, kind of a salad mixture with there's fermented fish sauce in here, there's lots of chilies, there should be some lime juice and shallots. Oh, yeah, I love that crunch, the crispness of the bamboo shoots. And I think these are not fresh bamboo shoots, I don't think so, right? I think they're preserved bamboo shoots so they have that fermented flavor to them, that kind of acidity, that sourness to them. And then you've got a lot of dry chili powder in there. You really taste the flavor of the khao kua, which is the smoky, toasted, sticky rice powder, which is then ground into a powder and used as a seasoning, but you taste that smokiness coming out of it. The lime juice in there, giving it a nice acidity, a sourness, and then also lots of bala, the fermented fish sauce to give it that rich complexity, that full of flavor saltiness. I love it. And I love the bamboo shoots, and just absorb all of that dressing, and it just squeezes out when you take a bite. Any opportunity I have, I love to eat sup no mai. At most Yishan restaurants, it's such a good order. Such a good dish. It's finally time for the fish. One of those fish that's so huge and topped with so many things, you're not even quite sure how to navigate it. Look, there's just a pile of peanuts, fried garlic. Oh, can you see the inside of that? Oh, look at how juicy it still is. It's so moist and so juicy on the inside. The reveal of the fish. Okay, for my first bite, I'll top it with as much garlic. You always wanna make your first bite count. We need a bigger spoon. Okay, I'm just gonna have to go in with my hands there. Sprinkle it on. I'd say that's a pretty good first bite. And a huge bite. I can't believe how moist and juicy the fish is, and how creamy it is. The texture is amazing. You taste the fishy oiliness of it. And then you bite down on the garlic, and out of the crispy skin, because that skin is still on, the skin is crispy, but the creaminess of the garlic just kind of like squeezes out into your mouth. And then you've got the crunch of the peanuts all in your mouth at the same time. There's so many textures. That, indeed, is a highlight. That's what attracts so many people. That's why so many people come here. That fried fish, oh, it's incredible. Okay, I'm gonna part some of the peanuts, get our next bite of fish. Just the filet. And again, can you see how moist it is underneath there? So juicy, it's glistening, it's moist. And then for this one, I'll pile it up with the garlic, with the peanuts, the whole cloves, not even cloves, they're heads of garlic in here. Okay, then with the sauce. Oh, wow, that fish is the highlight. With that tamarind sauce, yeah, with that sauce. That tamarindy, sweet, sour, fruity, salty sauce to add to it. Yeah, that makes it even better. Okay, I'm gonna take a spoon of the sauce. I'm gonna put this onto the crunchy bits, and just dig a whole spoonful. Oh, oh, it just catapulted. Just garlic, crispies, and peanuts all in one bite. It's just amazing how crispy she gets that batter. I didn't even have fish on that bite. Just straight crispy garlic, crispy peanuts, crispy batter, all deep fried to golden perfection, doused in that plummy, tamarindy, sour, acidic sauce. And that's delicious. And salty, very salty, but very crispy. Yeah, she has the recipe down. I mean, she's been doing it for 25 years. Any normal person would definitely burn the fish, but she takes it out at the perfect time. You know, it's just juicy on the inside, completely, and I mean completely crispy on the outside. It's an avalanche of fried garlic and peanuts. Yeah, oh, I wanna grab this bite here by the head. Here we go. Because it's cooked perfectly, it just slides off the bone, leaving the meat so clean, right off the bone. Okay, you've got like a whole head of garlic per bite. We're gonna pour on some sauce. That's the only way to do it. Okay, then take it to your mouth. Oh, oh, the chunk. Oh, I think I got tamarind seeds in that bite. That was that chunk. Oh, that's so good. The flavors, the sauce, the crunchiness, the garlic. This is literally, it's a huge fish. It's like a family-sized fish. And I think the fish costs 250 baht, which is about seven or $8 or so. So it's definitely affordable. Definitely a lunchtime feast. Great value for money and dangerously tasty. And then also we did get one more dish, the nam tok. It's a grilled pork with all the seasonings. Nice, again, the flavor of the khao kua, the toasted sticky rice in there. And you can really see it. Like you can see the white, crunchy bits of the toasted sticky rice powder, chilies in there, lots of coriander, shallots, green onions, chilies, and the tenderness of that smoky grilled pork. This is a typical Isan street food stall that you'll find all over Bangkok, all across Thailand. But I love it when the owner has something that really stands out, something that sets it apart. So not just the typical dishes that everyone has, but a signature dish, that giant fried fish topped with garlic that sets them apart. That's something that they do special. And these are the types of places I love to seek out. I mean, that's what's made her so popular as well and why so many people come here for a taste of that incredible fish. I can verify, it's very tasty. Okay, one of my favorite parts of a fried fish like this, the tail, as you can see how crispy that is. Oh yeah, it's extremely crispy, but you gotta chew well because it's kind of bony at the same time. Oh, it's so good though. That batter making it crispy, deep fried to perfection. I bet you can hear that crispiness and let's taste with a few cloves. That's like a whole head of garlic in one bite. Guaranteed, you're gonna eat just a mountain of garlic when you come here. You won't be able to stop, it's so tasty. And if you take some of the garlic and actually dip it into the sauce, that perfects the bite even better. But yeah, this is a really cool spot. I love it's down the alley, busy street, friendly service. Again, typical Isan food, but with a monumental dish, that fried garlic fish and the fried chicken is incredible. This place is called Somtum Uthumphan and it's legendary, it's famous. Come check it out, I'll have all the information in the description box below. And I wanna say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Remember to give it a thumbs up and remember to click here to watch the next Thai street food video that you're not gonna wanna miss for lots more delicious food. Thanks for watching, see you from Bangkok.