I challenged my good friend @MarkWiens to a Spicy Thai Food contest to see who is truly the Spice King. We are trying everything from Burmese Food, to Thai Food, to exotic spicy food you've never seen before. And some of it I truly regret. I'm also asking some questions and learning more about Mark behind the camera. Will I survive, and who will come out on top?
Make sure to checkout my friend Mark Wiens (@MarkWiens )
Mark Wiens leads a comprehensive culinary exploration of Bangkok, venturing beyond tourist hubs to discover authentic Burmese specialties, intense \"jungle food,\" and traditional Isan dishes. The journey blends gastronomic discovery with personal reflections on culture, mindfulness, and the social bonds formed through sharing meals.
Feels like fire's coming out of your mouth.
Every part of my body.
We're going on the ultimate Bangkok food tour with Mark Wiens.
Mark, 20 years making videos, are you ready for today?
Yeah, dude.
How's your back?
Very ready.
I'm a little sore.
We're getting old, but I'm ready to eat.
I'm ready.
I'm gonna get a lot of chili.
I think we're gonna do some Burmese, some Thai.
I want to take you to eat some jungle curry and some jungle food,
which is one of my favorite things to eat in Thailand.
But first, we're heading down this alley to the market
and gonna try some Burmese noodles.
Let's do it.
I'm excited, man.
This is like something completely new for me.
Yeah, so this entire market, you'll find a lot of Burmese food
if you walk within here.
We're at Prakanong Market.
Prakanong Market.
Wow, tight alley.
Got like a mix of everything here.
I think we're here.
Hello.
Amonas, right?
Yes, okay.
Here we are.
We came here many years ago.
Yes, I used to come, but I haven't been in a long time.
So we're gonna order mohinga, lapit tok, and tomilias.
All right, some mohinga.
This looks like a mix of vegetables and onions in there.
Some rice noodles.
No coconut milk?
No coconut.
Fish curry.
This is putting the egg on top.
Fried fritters with lentils, I think.
Coriander on top.
Coriander, of course.
Pepper.
Pepper?
Yep.
Okay.
Yes, mohinga.
Mohinga.
Let's see.
So the Burmese community in Bangkok is huge, guys.
Migrant workers come from Burma.
Since 2021, they've been coming in blocks now.
Of course, that country is going through its own situation.
Looks like it's closed, but you know,
thankfully we can try some of the food here in Bangkok and throughout Thailand.
I've tried it in the north many, many years ago.
To be honest with you, I don't know what to expect.
Food looks really good though.
I mean, it is definitely close to Thai, but different.
Especially with the tea leaves.
Yellow pea or yellow dahl flower, I think.
So she's getting started making the lapet tok,
which is the famous Burmese tea leaf salad.
It's fermented tea leaves, actually fermented tea leaves,
but then mixed with tomatoes and cabbage and green chilies and garlic.
And I think she'll put on some crispy lentils as well to give it some crunch.
Okay.
Extremely pungent.
Tea leaves.
I've had a lot of curry leaves.
Tea leaves, not so much.
Tea leaves are not that commonly eaten outside of Myanmar.
Wow.
So it's a very unique thing to that cuisine.
Yeah, yeah.
And so the people who have never tried Burmese food,
what's something like you can tell them about it?
Super unique.
Different from any other cuisine, I think.
Mohinga, the national dish of Myanmar.
Ready?
Yeah.
Oh man, it looks fantastic.
That fish broth, the noodles on the bottom,
there's egg, there's coriander, pepper.
And those are the yellow, I think they're yellow dal crispy fritters.
It's been a while since I've had mohinga, but man, it's a great dish.
So this is the national dish.
It's a breakfast dish.
And you'll find this all over when you're in Myanmar.
Like every tiny little stall, you'll find it.
Wow.
And it's basically you eat this every single day and you're happy.
Let's go in.
Yeah, let's just try some of that broth first, the fish broth as well.
Definitely very different from like tiny Thai curries.
You taste more of the dry spices in there.
You taste the fish that gives it,
the fish has been shredded so it thickens it a little bit.
Definitely wake you up, it's so good.
You can also add chili.
You got chili?
Yeah, sure.
If you want to.
I guess I'm doing as spicy as I can go with Mark.
You know, I do something recently, I'm like,
Mark spice, this is the one.
How much do you want?
Just give it a little bit.
A little bit?
Yeah.
It does already have some spice to it.
A little bit.
Yeah, a little bit.
Yeah, just give it a little sprinkle of the dry chili.
Then we can go into the noodles.
We can go into the fritters.
Yeah, it's incredible, right?
Yeah.
It almost, you can, like, it's kind of a soup.
It's kind of a stew.
It's almost a curry at the same time.
Exactly.
It's like a blend of like three different types of dishes.
So good.
So the good thing is that this guy can eat,
so we're eating all day long.
Oh man, I'm ready.
So Mark, what is this dish?
So this is the lapeto, fermented tea leaf salad,
tomatoes, cabbage, some onions, some green chilies,
and the fermented tea, plus crispy dal,
plus sesame seeds on top, some chilies in here,
some peanuts in there as well.
Yeah, you're gonna love this dish.
Man, it's an explosion of flavor.
Everything is hand-mixed as well.
Like, normally the way, I think she did it as well,
but normally the way when I've always seen it made,
it's like you really have to get in there,
massage it because you want all that tea
to coat every ingredient and every single bite.
So you really, straight massage.
Straight massage then.
All right, first bite.
Oh, wow.
Wow, it is bunched.
It's crunchy.
I've never had it something like this.
It's totally different, right?
Totally different.
Unexpected.
Yeah.
Tea leaves, a punch of flavor.
Like, that complexity from the fermented tea leaves,
the saltiness.
Delicious.
Wow.
You got acidity from the tomato as well.
Garlic.
I thought you just said there's no spice.
No, that hit me.
I can do spice.
Wow, that hit me.
All right.
There's some green chilies chopped up in here.
And then give you a little jolt of flavor.
So this one is the yellow pea or the yellow dhal flour
made into a porridge.
Served over noodles and then with some
fragrant oil, coriander, peanuts.
I think fried garlic on top as well.
Yeah.
So this one is like super hearty, almost porridge-y.
Yeah, it definitely looks porridge-y.
Yeah, the noodles at the bottom.
And then this one we can add more chili as well.
Okay.
After we take a bite.
It's a little sweet too.
Nice, thick.
The fried garlic.
Oh yeah, you really taste the garlic now.
Oh, this one is interesting.
It's sweet and savory.
Yeah.
Really filling.
Yeah, I mean, this is like a whole meal in itself.
Nice noodles.
It's incredible.
I love how unique each one is.
They're completely different from each other.
Yeah.
So I'll tell you, out of all these, this is my favorite.
Yeah, Alamohinga is hard to beat.
It's the national dish.
Something you absolutely can't miss.
Well, I'm just gonna add some chili on this one.
This is so good.
The sweetness, now some spice.
Phenomenal dish.
If I was an alien come from Mars, I landed in Bangkok,
and I met you on the street, and I'm like, where am I?
What would you tell them?
Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand.
This is one of the greatest cities in the world, on earth.
And just walk around and start eating.
It looks like you need some food.
It's been a while since you've eaten something delicious.
So just take a look around and eat whatever you see.
I love it.
Thank you, Mona.
Thank you very much.
See you next time.
Thank you.
People who have never been to Bangkok, what should they know?
I think you should actually just walk around.
It's the best way to get to know Bangkok.
I remember when I first came to Bangkok, I would just take big walks everywhere.
Because that way you get a feel for the city.
You'll know even street food.
You need to know what they're serving.
And the great thing about street food is it's visual.
So you see it.
Mark inspired me to start, and my life has changed.
And you know, same thing for me.
And I'm so grateful for this guy.
He's a great guy.
So humble.
You meet him on the streets, the same as that person you see on camera.
Besides the...
Yeah!
Get ready for us, guys.
Here we go.
Yeah.
Look at this spot.
This place is super good.
Wow, this is like a real local spot.
They have the noodles right in front, as you can see.
That's the fried wontons.
One of their signature dishes here.
And it's so good.
This is incredible, guys.
I love this.
These type of spots are what you got to do when you come to Bangkok.
Don't just go to the high end.
Try to eat on the street.
Support some of these locals.
They need our support.
Let's go inside.
So we have three different dishes.
David, this is the pork bones with green chilies.
This one is the fried wontons with this pork...
It's like a pork dressing.
It's like a minced pork with spices.
And they mix it up with lime juice, with chilies, with some green onions as well.
Incredible.
Then this one is the noodles.
Regular noodles.
So, and Tom Yum noodles, but dry version.
Yeah.
Egg noodles on the bottom.
Pork.
Yeah, we can stir it up.
Let's stir it up.
It's a little spicy.
You can smell the peanuts in here.
You can smell the lime juice.
Awesome, this is good.
Yeah, grab some noodles, grab some pork.
See you again.
Let's go, let's go.
There is some good spice in there.
It does give me the sensation though of almost a texture of a Thai.
Try this for the wonton.
So, crispy, fried, then coated in all this dressing of pork.
Let's knock out one go.
It's so good.
So good.
These are so good, yeah.
It's crispy.
They're really crispy.
The dough is thin.
The dough is a great day, what I mean with this guy.
Like, wow, wow, I'm blown away.
I can't explain how good this is.
A little spice here.
This is like Mark Wiens five spice, me seven, normal human.
It's like a 20.
Backbone, guys.
Yeah.
So, how do you do this?
Do you grab it?
Grab a backbone and put it in your bowl and you can strip it up.
Look at all these green chilies.
Oh, wow.
But I'd recommend we first taste that broth below there.
So, get a spoon of broth.
Look how many chilies in one bite.
Yeah.
And then we take this.
Go try the broth first.
That's right.
Oh, yeah.
That goes to the back of your throat.
Yeah, it's right here.
Tomorrow will be a good day in the bathroom.
Then, I mean, the easiest thing to do, I think, is just scrape it off the bones.
You can also bite it.
Finally, bite it.
Now, biting is more fun.
Yeah, yeah.
Here we go.
It's tender.
Tender, fall off the bone.
These are the bones that provide the broth, like the mother broth for the soup.
So, they're just boiled for hours to result in flavor.
That's why the meat is so tender.
That's extremely good.
Oh, you can also hydrate it like this.
Okay.
And then be sipping that broth while you eat.
That's good meat.
Guaranteed to sweat.
Yeah, so one of the things I love about this wonton is how jam-packed it is.
It's not empty at all.
You're gonna see once I open it, stuffed.
It's like a little pillow.
It's a balloon.
This is amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Phenomenal.
30 minutes later, we're here.
Jungle food.
So, what is jungle food?
Jungle food is typically resulted from hunting wild animals in the jungle.
So, it'd be deer.
Sometimes it could be other animals, frogs.
But it can also be like river fish.
It is known to be spicy and they use a lot of herbs because the gamey flavor of meats.
The whole restaurant would serve jungle food, but there's also a specific jungle curry.
Oh, wow.
Which is a type of curry and it's delicious as well.
Everything's delicious.
Let's go inside.
Looks like we're out in the jungle a little bit.
The way they built this, all the wood.
We're gonna go in the back.
Yeah, and in the back, they have a lotus pond.
A lotus pond back there.
Oh my gosh, look at this.
This is incredible, man.
Yeah.
Wow, Mark.
What a spot, huh?
I'm sure there's frogs in there and turtles.
And fish.
Where do you recommend first-timers go?
In Thailand?
Yeah, what's your first-timer's route?
Yeah, apart from Bangkok.
I really like, well, it depends.
It depends also what you like.
If you like mountains, you should go to the north.
If you like more beaches, then you should go to the south.
I really love the south because my wife is from the south.
So I like places.
I really like Krabi.
I really like Songkhla province, which is a lesser-visited province, which is really nice.
You get a lot of southern Thai culture.
Yeah, highly recommended, and food is amazing.
Let's go in the kitchen.
So right here, we have the general curry, the curry paste.
Curry paste goes in.
That is a spicy curry.
Yes.
Wow.
Look at the color of that.
Dude, the amount of chilies in there.
Here we go.
Catfish.
You saw the amount of chilies in there?
It's a mountain of chilies.
Yep.
Yeah, that's beef.
So it's literally the most spiciest beef dish of our lives right here.
It looks like it.
The amount of chilies.
Spicy.
She says it's spicy.
It's really spicy.
Here she goes.
She's going to put the frog straight into that extremely hot oil.
All right, so the frog's almost done.
It's extremely crispy, huh?
Wow, that looks phenomenal.
What frog is this?
Is there a specific frog?
That variety?
Yeah, I don't know.
Add in the chilies and the herbs at the end so they don't overcook.
Joker is ready.
Look at that.
Spiceful.
Light your taste buds on fire.
Oh my god.
That's the chili.
Oh wow, look at that.
Oh my god, the fire.
Perfect.
Wow, boy.
Yeah, I like how it's like a little bit of fat in there as well.
How am I eating this?
That's crazy.
Can you do this?
Mark, you eat this a lot like this?
It's spicy.
Yeah, this is like my favorite restaurant.
Favorite restaurant.
This is the restaurant I like to chill at.
Amazing.
It's good.
It won't be as spicy as it smelled.
Well, maybe it will.
We'll find out.
So Mark, what do we start with?
Yeah, do you want to ease your way in with a frog leg first?
Let's do that.
Yeah, let's go for a frog leg while they're hot and crispy.
Oh wow.
And the skin too.
Oh, the skin is really good.
Grab a nice piece of skin.
Grab a skin.
Oh, it's gonna be nice and crunchy.
Let's go skin.
Almost like pork rinds.
Better though.
Holy crispy all the way through.
Then you can bite the drumstick.
Incredible.
Nice and crispy.
Good amount of meat.
You can dip a little bit in that sauce,
but it's more of a sweet chili sauce, not a spicy chili sauce.
Sweet chili.
I like sweet chili.
But it does taste pretty good with fried food.
No, it's amazing.
Great balance.
The combination.
Let's do some of the beef.
The beef first.
This is beef fried with plenty of chili, green pepper, and the herb is tree basil.
Yeah.
It's so aromatic.
I know it's gonna hit me.
It takes a little bit to kick in.
Yeah, but it's a creeper.
It's a hot dish.
But the flavor is just unbelievable.
Yeah, it's unreal.
I actually love this.
It's amazing.
Amazing beef.
Nice and tender.
You can mix it with rice.
Yeah, I think that jungle curry will be spicier.
It's properly spicy.
You can taste the pepper and green pepper as well.
So much flavor.
The complexity of it.
Sorry, guys.
Your head is...
I'm a little lost for words right now.
Looks like you dumped your head in a swimming pool.
I swear, bro.
I'm high right now.
I feel something different right now.
So you said chase it with that.
Let's chase it with that.
Yeah, let's go for some of the jungle curry.
Here, take a piece of the fish, the catfish, with the hot broth.
Spicy broth.
Feels like fire's coming out of your mouth.
Oh, it's coming out of every part of my body.
Then you can take a piece...
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, I'm starting to sweat.
Okay.
Yeah, then just grab some of the catfish.
It's controllable.
It's not like...
It's not that...
You know, I feel like...
Grab some of the catfish, put it on your rice.
Keep on rolling.
Let's get some of that catfish.
Okay, turn the tear.
It's because you have the chilies, but the hot temperature multiplies it.
It like levels up, huh?
David.
Oh, God.
You're red and sweaty.
I'm literally going to put ice on my head, man.
My God, I'm cold out.
No, this is no joke.
You see the chilies?
Beautiful.
I'm crying.
I'm remembering today for sure.
Today is going to be...
Look at my eyes.
You saw that?
Yes.
It's scary.
You were saying like the heat intensifies because it's cooked in the broth and it goes
through all...
Yeah, when you like...
When you eat something that's hot temperature and hot spicy together, it makes it even hotter.
Because of that hot temperature.
You good, man?
Guys, David's in the toilet.
Five minutes.
It worked in five minutes.
David's in the toilet.
Find my composure.
Right there.
Right?
With this guy, you never know, bro.
It's like a lethal weapon.
Now, this is the winner right here.
I think the jungle curry is spiciest.
It's good.
That dish is incredible.
Sorry, guys.
I'm going through a little moment here.
A little awakening.
And this is 10 out of 10 on your heat list, right?
It is like the hottest dish that you've had or that you...
Not that I've had.
That you like, that you like.
But that's like comfortable eating.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it is comfortable eating it.
It's just more like it hits you later.
Yeah, some dishes, I hate it when you have a dish and you're like, oh my god, fire right away.
All right.
So for 20 baht, you can buy a nice bag of catfish food, which is great.
So if you come with kids, they'll enjoy this.
Watch, they're going to jump.
After all those spicy dishes, we need a little bit of dessert.
I need something to cool us down.
I'm dead.
Let's go over here.
Jungle restaurant equals spicy food.
That's it.
Mark loves this stuff.
I enjoy it.
But to do this often on my day off?
I don't know about that.
I want some sushi or something.
Yeah, perfect.
Let's try this one.
Oh, let's have one of these.
Yeah.
Well, it looks very nice.
So we start off with this one?
I think what we can do is get one of these fruits.
Okay.
Cool.
Big one.
You take it.
Oh, wow.
That's the whole palm fruit.
Oh, it does remind me of like lychee.
Yeah.
The way it looks.
It's similar.
It kind of is like coconut too.
Oh, yeah.
But this is just straight up the fruits.
Amazing.
And then like candied a little bit.
Yeah.
Palm fruit.
No, for sure it's candied.
The palm fruit.
Good.
Kind of like coconut, right?
It's delicious.
Just the coconut.
It is a type of palm.
And it just kind of disintegrates in your mouth, right?
Melts.
Yeah.
So good.
This could be coconut milk.
Okay.
Mixture and then hardened into.
All right, then I'm gonna go with the heart.
I'll go with the swirl.
I love Mark so much.
Thank you.
Pretty good.
Coconut milk.
Delicious.
Kind of dissolves in your mouth, but it's bouncy.
Bouncy.
Get you through it.
Oh, man.
One's not enough.
It's amazing.
Take a little cake.
Coconut cake.
Again, it's really refreshing.
Coconut is king.
I love it.
Love it.
All right, guys.
That was great.
I think we're gonna go to a coffee shop.
If you guys don't know, Thailand is famous for coffee culture.
So many coffee shops and it's really good coffee.
Yeah.
I hope so.
So we're going this way?
We're gonna go around the corner and go to a coffee shop that I've never been to.
Let's hope it's good.
It's gonna be good.
She's so kind.
Look, it feels like the countryside in Thailand.
Look, there's empty land over here.
We have like a canine school over here.
And this is a pretty amazing coffee shop.
Wow, look at this architecture.
Yeah.
Really nice place.
Yeah.
Coffee routine.
Sounds like we need this routine.
Last time I had like 14 cups of coffee with this guy.
Let's go have a few.
See how do you open this?
It's brand new, huh?
So why is coffee so big in Bangkok now?
I think it wasn't a big part of the culture before.
But the gourmet coffee scene has really taken off.
One thing is that they're growing coffee in northern Thailand.
Okay.
Which is good.
And then the other thing is it's just become a big part of the social culture.
People see other people drinking coffee, hanging out at coffee shops.
And more and more coffee shops have come about.
It's gonna be great.
Let's go outside.
Wow, this coffee is amazing.
Nice blend.
Mark, I'm gonna ask you one question.
This one's a little more deep.
Who is Mark?
Well, that is pretty deep.
Yeah, I mean, people see you online.
They see this person.
And you are the same online as you are in person.
But who are you?
My name is Mark Wiens.
I just love to eat and love to hang out with people that love to eat.
And love to learn about different cultures.
I think if we can appreciate other cultures and respect other cultures,
you can immediately connect with so many people around the world,
no matter like their background or no matter economic level or beliefs.
Everything, you know, you can really get along with everybody in the world.
And when you're not traveling, you're not filming, you're not eating, what are you doing?
So, I'm still eating.
Great answer.
One of the good things is, I mean, one of the blessings is that I've always loved to eat.
It was never for a camera that I wanted to eat and travel.
It's been what I've been most passionate about doing my entire life.
Eating and trying new foods.
Yeah, so even when I'm not filming, I would be doing the same thing.
Running around, trying new foods.
But yeah, in addition to that, I love hanging out with my family.
My wife, my son, I love playing tennis, hanging out with friends, eating food.
Eating is a big part of this thing.
Yeah, eating, everything revolves around eating.
Getting deep, getting deep.
It is.
It's like how Trevor says, we're going deep.
Now, we're going for one of my favorite things to eat in Thailand.
Let's get in the car.
Next spot, what are we having?
We're going to go for Thai hot pot, which is called Chim Chum.
Chim Chum.
It's an Isan food, northeastern Thailand, and it's just a good way to hang out, relax.
Boil some food in front of you, hot.
Lots of vegetables.
I think we're in need of some vegetables, actually.
I think we need vegetables.
So is it balanced?
Is it very different from hot pot in China?
Yeah, very different.
You'll see.
It's more, it's a plainer style, but there's a dipping sauce.
It's just kind of soothing and plain and good.
And it's a night food.
Usually, yeah, because it's more of a relaxing food.
People come here to hang out, sit, hot pot.
Yeah.
So it's real street food right here.
Look, we're sitting right on the side of the road.
I don't know where we are, but I'm ready.
Won't lie, my stomach doesn't feel great, but I'll survive.
Dude, this is like what I love about Southeast Asia, literally this.
Coming out at night with your friends, having a nice beer.
Yeah, it's good to just hang out, chill.
Hang out, chill, have a couple drinks, and it's just laid back.
Very laid back.
All right, guys, I have to show you this kitchen.
It is amazing.
This is my favorite thing on the planet.
The street right there, sidewalk for eating.
Can I see, can I see?
Hello, hello.
So this is the hot pot.
Look at this, the hot pot right here.
Incredible.
First time I have Thai hot pot.
You know, I've had that numbing Sichuan style in China.
So what we should do now, we should get the chicken boiling,
because it'll boil for a while.
Okay.
And then after that, we can start snacking.
All right, so you're just going to get one of these.
Yeah, so basically, I'll just put all the chicken inside.
Yeah, yeah, all of it.
Oh, wow, man, it cooks so quick.
You already start seeing it.
Yeah, but it's got to boil for a while.
Okay.
Now we can get started.
You want to try this grilled beef?
Yeah, let's do it.
Grilled beef salad.
So grilled beef with culantro.
Oh, it's with culantro?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Shadow bunny.
Shadow bunny?
Shadow Benny, yeah.
Shadow Benny is what it is.
Perfect.
Turn it on.
Fish sauce, chili, and lime juice.
Oh, man, you know what it is?
It's like the aromatic in it, you know, it's like...
That's shadow Benny.
Shadow Benny, man.
Cooling, cooling spice.
You got to enjoy this.
Everybody gets better and better.
It's tasty, right?
Tasty.
And this one is made with duck.
Okay.
There's some chilies on top with some fried lime leaves.
You guys don't want to eat that chili, right?
Oh, and we need sticky rice with this.
Oh, yeah?
Order sticky rice now.
All right.
Yeah.
Oh, you taste the smokiness of the duck fat in there.
It's an amazing place to try.
So good.
And then they have whole cloves of garlic.
Boom.
Yeah.
That's really tasty.
The garlic's a little too much for me.
I love it.
I like a roasted garlic like that.
It's like raw.
A raw clove of garlic with the skin on.
You can eat the skin too.
Oh, yeah.
Too much flavor in that one.
You can try some of these fried lime leaves as well.
Fried lime leaves.
They're a little chewy.
Oh, you taste that aroma.
Gives me like the artichoke feeling.
You know the leaves of the artichoke?
No problem, they can get like stuck.
Yeah, it's a little chewy.
This is too good.
It's too good.
Not spicy.
That duck skin.
Yeah.
Is it duck skin?
Yeah, the duck skin in there.
I mean, it's all mixed in.
That's why it's fatty.
The duck skin.
And the raw garlic.
The raw garlic's a little too much for me.
I love garlic like that.
Wow.
When people think of Thai cuisine in America,
they think of like four dishes.
It's so much more.
It's really rich.
That's good.
Phenomenal.
Looks like a...
Chim Chow.
With a little plate.
Dried chili, fish sauce, and lime juice.
It's a unique blend of stuff.
And some tamarind in there as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, so it gives a little sweetness.
Yeah.
Very nice.
Yeah, I love all these different sauces.
With all the food.
Everything has a different sauce.
It reminds me of how you dip satay into peanut sauce and stuff.
Similar concept.
This would be kind of like...
Almost like hot pots.
Like you're hanging out,
eating small little plates of food,
having some drinks,
socializing.
It's really a social meal.
Social meal.
Yeah, yeah.
This one is called Som Tam Thai.
Som Tam Thai.
The main...
The most common one that people would eat in Isan
would be Som Tam Bubala or Som Tam Pala,
which is the fermented fish sauce.
Okay.
So when you see the really dark, murky dressing,
that's the fermented fish sauce.
And that's like the most popular one locally.
This one is more of a tamer taste.
It's more sweet and sour.
Fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar.
That's the dressing.
Easy.
But it's still good.
And sour.
And peanuts.
Another Kripa Paya.
You know, I was introduced to this
when I came here for the first time
and I couldn't stop eating it every day one.
That's nice.
Amazing crunch.
Kripa Paya.
Sweetness from the palm sugar.
The peanuts in there.
Nice.
That is nice.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, we're probably ready to add the vegetables.
Ready?
I think so.
Add in all the vegetables.
Crank it a little bit.
Wow.
Love basil.
Oof.
So hot.
There's some morning glory as well.
Morning glory.
Can you smell the lemongrass?
Mm-hmm.
Smells great.
The galangal.
But usually the broth is very thin.
Very mild.
I mean, all I'm smelling is lemongrass.
Yeah, yeah.
It's mostly just an aromatic broth.
It's not strong.
It's not...
Oh, it's good.
Yeah.
Very nice.
And do you want to drop in the egg?
Yeah.
Oh.
We got an egg splatter.
Did you?
Sorry about that.
And then we close it up?
Yeah.
Just leave it there and close it for another five minutes or so and then we can eat this.
So this is going to be the spicy one right here.
Look at that.
It looks incredibly spicy.
This one's more sweet.
That's a sweet sauce.
Yeah, it's ready.
Ready.
Okay.
So just scoop in for whatever you want.
Or I can serve you if you want.
Yeah, yeah.
Just go in there.
Grab some chicken.
Grab some of the vegetables.
Oh, we need some vegetables.
We need vegetables.
We need that roughage.
Yes.
After a day of a lot of meat.
A lot of meat today.
A lot of proteins.
We get the chicken at the bottom.
Yeah, where's the chicken?
Can I grab that guy?
Yeah.
And then...
Here we go.
Yeah, and then from here, just go dip it.
Just dip it?
Take a dip.
So I'm going to dip this guy into this one.
Go for the spicy sauce.
You want spicy?
Yeah.
I like the spicy one.
Spice never ends, bro.
How's this guy still alive?
That's crazy ----.
Fun to hang out, man.
Very simple.
Yeah, very simple.
Flavor of the basil.
That just kind of curdles in it.
Yeah.
The spicy sauce is not that spicy.
The mushrooms and the chicken right here.
Dip it one more time.
It's really soothing.
It is very comforting.
Yeah.
You can't drink a little bit of that broth.
I can only smell it.
It's just like...
But it's light.
Super light.
It's like...
It's almost like clear.
The chicken broth.
Look at that.
Then you taste the chicken broth.
Wow, let me get some more of this.
Yeah, we also got some sukiyaki rice.
You should try that.
What?
Make a little ball, a bite.
Pull it out?
Yeah.
Little ball.
Like...
Yeah, just like this.
Okay.
That way you can dip it into the lap.
Scoop up that juice.
Oh, wow.
Soak it in there?
Yeah.
Look at that.
Or also with the...
Anything with a dressing is made for the sukiyaki rice.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
Totally the icing on the cake.
Sukiyaki rice is good.
So good.
You can dip it into anything.
All the dressings.
I understand why you moved to Thailand.
You came...
When you came here,
you came for food.
Is that why you came?
Oh, yeah.
It's amazing how many people come here,
and they'll teach English.
Is that you?
Hey, you took my class?
I did for a year.
Yeah, you teach English.
Eventually,
you just immerse yourself in the culture,
and you fall in love.
Luckily, I met my wife when I was teaching English that year.
Big fate, huh?
Oh, that's hot.
Yeah.
Yeah, life is like that.
Randomly, you know?
That's why I think every day is an opportunity, guys.
You gotta be thankful for the day.
Yesterday doesn't exist.
Tomorrow is the future.
It's another one that doesn't exist.
The past is the future.
It's right now.
We're in the present.
Be grateful for today,
because nothing else really matters, right?
So, great day, bro.
Great day.
Thank you, David.
Yeah.
Have a great day with this guy.