hua mak

Today’s post will be interesting; how do you link salted grilled fish, lady boys and a mega sized stadium together?

In Bangkok, there is a mega sized stadium named Rajamangala National Stadium, located at Hua Mak subdistrict. This is also home to the Thailand National football team, with a seating capacity of 65,000 pax.

Outside gate 5, there is a mega makeshift tent where you can see long rows of salted grilled fish and other food. The main attraction here, this is, the servers are all ladyboys! It is an eyeopener for me. You cannot miss them; they are dressed in pink air stewardess lookalike uniforms and will usher you to a seat and take your orders. ^^

My best friend from Khon Kaen, Aomy brought me to this place as it was near her apartment, and she knew I wanted to try some really nice Thai food.

We were ushered into the tent, and offered a table where we sat cross-legged on the floor. This was the first time I had a meal sitting cross legged near the main road, and outside a stadium!

Food came fast and furious; first up was the famous salted grilled fish, huge sized that is easily more than 30 cm long! NMext came the vegetables, rice vermicelli, the cockles, and lastly, somtum with small crabs.

Now how do you eat the fish? Normal style everyone just eat the fish as a while, from skin to meat. Not this dish. One have to peel off the skin layer (which consists of scales and salt), and just go for the meat. the meat is white, tender, and melts in your mouth. How heavenly the taste!

2 dipping sauces were given as well, one on the spicy side, one on the nutty and sweet side. You can dip all the food in these 2 sauces. Yummy!

Halfway, a heavy thunderstorm came along and heavy downpour ensues. This is a strange kind of experience, but the rain kept the temperature around the tent cooler a bit too.

Ratings:-

Ambience:3/5 Not the best ambience, but something ypu can try at least once a lifetime.

Price: 5/5 For a mega sized fish, som tum, vegetables, fresh cockles and 2 bottle of water just cost us 450 baht. Good deal!

Food: 4/5 Salted grilled fish is their signature dish. Die die must order! Som tum is normal, cockles are fresh and delightful, they have other meat options you can try. 🙂

The address to this place:-

Ramkamkaeng Road, Hua Mak, Bang Kapi, Bangkok 10240

(Remember to head to Gate 5, where all the good food is!)