Last updated on August 19th, 2024 at 09:40 pm
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Every foodie traveler should take a Bangkok food tour if given the chance! Bangkok is a great city for a food tour because there are so many delicious and unique things to eat. With a remarkable number of street food vendors, food markets, and tasty restaurants, there are numerous wonderful places to eat. Taking a food tour in Bangkok means skipping the headache of trying to figure out the best places to eat on your own and instead having a local take you to some of the best spots! Food tours are increasingly being offered in cities all over the world as a great way to try the local cuisine. When you are in Bangkok, don’t miss out on this incredible experience!
Which Bangkok Food Tour Should You Take?
There are so many food tours in Bangkok that it can be hard to make an informed decision. Don’t worry, I am here to make the process easier for you! On my recent visits to Bangkok, I tried out two different food tours that were both excellent. I recommend taking both because they are different experiences, but if you are short on time in Bangkok, I will break down the differences for you. These recommendations are based on my personal experience and the tours may differ slightly for you.
A Chef’s Tour
Both of these experiences are part of A Chef’s Tour, which provides extraordinary food tours led by cooks, chefs, and local foodies. They offer food tours built on local knowledge primarily in Asia although they have a few tours in Africa and Latin America as well and are looking to expand to other continents.
Our first tour with them was in Kuala Lumpur. We had such a good time that when I saw they offered tours in Bangkok, I immediately signed up!
A Chef’s Tour Specializes in finding local eateries you would never find on your own for small groups to enjoy. Their tours are good for solo travelers, couples, and families. I can attest to this: in the three tours we have taken with them I have met kind and interesting people who instantly felt like friends (I am still in contact with a few of them!).
Just a disclaimer that I am only sharing my experiences and the tours may vary slightly from what I share below.
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details so you can decide which is the best Bangkok food tour for you!
Old Siam Bangkok Food Tour
The Old Siam Bangkok Food Tour by A Chef’s Tour is a daytime tour, from 10 AM to 2 PM. This tour starts at the Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri. It includes 14+ tastings of both savory and sweet dishes.
One of the highlights of this tour is that you take three different forms of public transportation as a group, a water taxi, a bus, and a tuk-tuk. This is a good way to get to know the public transportation in Bangkok easily and with the help of a guide!
The Old Siam food tour takes you to two different markets in Bangkok, the Bo Bay Market and Nang Loeng Market, in addition to restaurants and street food vendors.
Our guide, Fong, was so friendly and knowledgeable. On this tour, we learned a lot about Bangkok and the dishes that we tasted.
Bangkok Backstreets Food Tour
The Bangkok Backstreets Food Tour is a four-hour long evening tour beginning at 4 PM, 4:30 PM, or 4:45 PM. The tour starts at the Shanghai Mansion Hotel in Chinatown. It includes 15+ tastings of savory and sweet dishes.
This tour focuses on Bangkok’s Chinatown, so there is plenty of delicious food to try! The street food in Chinatown is a little intimidating because it attracts many people and there are many popular places to try. Having a guide makes this much easier to navigate. A visit to Bangkok should include a trip to Chinatown, so this checks two boxes.
Our guide this time was Tom (although we did get to say hi to Fong too!), who was also very kind and informative.
Still undecided? Keep reading to hear more about each tour.
Read More: The Perfect 3-day Itinerary for Bangkok
Which Bangkok Food Tour is Right for You?
First, you can’t go wrong with either of these food tours. Second, if you are food-obsessed like me and have time, you should do both tours. They are different enough that you will have two unique experiences!
With those caveats out of the way, what are the other differences between these Bangkok food tours?
Food Diversity
Both tours allow you to try a wide variety of dishes: soups, appetizers, fruits, desserts, noodles, seafood, and pork. Both tours have about 4 seafood dishes.
The Old Siam tour focuses more on Thai food and the Bangkok Backstreets food tour is more Chinese and Thai fusion.
My favorite dish from the Old Siam food tour was a crispy mung bean crepe, run by the third generation of the same family that has been making these crepes for 90 years. The street food stand was down a narrow alleyway that I would not have been brave enough to visit on my own. Inside the crispy crepe made of mung bean, there was coconut, shrimp, tofu, and a duck omelet. It was delicious!
Out of all the stops on the Bangkok Backstreets food tour, my favorite was most likely the creamy green curry with chicken served over fermented noodles and winter melon with cured pork sausage on the side. It was so unique compared to other curries that we tried in Thailand (and we tried many!). This shop was tucked away around a non-descript corner near bustling Chinatown. We enjoyed our curry on small plastic chairs.
At another stop through a maze of back-alley shops and stands, we tried shrimp dumplings from a Michelin guide restaurant. This restaurant only sells dumplings or a multicourse meal for six people that must be reserved in advance.
Cultural Insights
Both tours were more than just food – they each provided insights into Thai culture. The Old Siam food tour took us to several restaurants or stands that have been operating for more than 40 years, the oldest of which has been in operation for over 100 years.
We also experienced the Nang Loeng Market, the first land market in Bangkok. Previously, the markets were all “floating”, operating on the canal system with merchants selling their goods from their boats.
The Bangkok Backstreets tour focuses on the fusion between Thai and Chinese cultures in Chinatown and how it has evolved.
Group Size and Atmosphere
Both food tours are for a maximum of 8 people, which is a great size. They are also paced well. I never felt like I had to eat quickly or that we were sitting around for too long in between dishes.
There was some walking and moving around in between tastings which allowed for everyone to get to know each other better and make room for the next bite. I found the guests and tour guides on these tours interesting and friendly. Both groups were also diverse and we got to meet people from all over the world!
Read More: Should you add Koh Samui to your Thailand Itinerary?
Logistics of Booking a Food Tour in Bangkok
Booking
The booking process with A Chef’s Tour is incredibly easy. You can book in advance on the website by choosing a date, time, and number of people. Shortly after you book you will get an email from your tour guide with more information.
Book the Old Siam Bangkok Food Tour here!
Book the Bangkok Backstreets Food Tour here!
Cost
Both tours cost $59 USD for adults. Children ages 3 to 12 are $29.50 USD.
The Bangkok Backstreets tour has 15+ tastings, while the Old Siam tour has 14+ tastings. We received 15 tastings and one shot of rum on our Bangkok Backstreets tour. On the Old Siam tour, we tried about 20 tastings, but some were very small and shared between the group. We were full after both tours and satisfied that we got our money’s worth.
Accessibility
The Old Siam Food Tour is suitable for pescatarians and free of lactose and most gluten. If you have an extreme allergy I would send them an email to confirm. This tour is not vegetarian or vegan friendly.
The Bangkok Backstreets Food Tour is free of lactose, most gluten, and beef. It is not appropriate for people who avoid seafood or pork or have tree nut/peanut or shellfish allergies. It also cannot accommodate pescatarians, vegetarians, or vegans. For other allergies or to confirm the severity of your allergy, contact A Chef’s Tour.
Additionally, I wouldn’t recommend either tour for people with physical disabilities, but it might be a good idea to reach out to them about this if it applies to you.
Personal Recommendations
Both of these food tours are for somewhat adventurous eaters, although I urge you to try it anyway! Don’t expect to love every dish, you probably won’t, and you can always opt out of trying one if you are uncomfortable with it. But I believe that you will find many dishes that you DO enjoy and the other benefits of this tour are also great, so you’re basically guaranteed to have a good time regardless.
These tours are also great for solo travelers. We met and talked to almost everyone on the tour and I am still in contact with a few people we met. Food tours are some of the best ways to meet people, in my opinion, because when you sit down to share food with strangers, the conversation will start to flow naturally.
If you are traveling as a couple or family, these tours are also great for you! Luke and I took both of the tours together and we had a great time meeting everyone and also sharing the experience.
I also recommend taking one of these food tours early in your trip so you know if there are places you want to return to! We returned to several places from these food tours. Plus, it enriched our time to have the background knowledge about the culture and food of Bangkok.
Which Bangkok Food Tour is Best?
If I have to choose just one food tour in Bangkok that you should do, I would recommend the Old Siam Food Tour because it focuses more heavily on Thai food, beyond just Pad Thai, and you get to experience different modes of transportation with a guide. Plus, every first-time visitor to Bangkok should visit Chinatown, but the Old Siam Food Tour will take you to some lesser-known areas of town.
However, as previously stated, you absolutely cannot go wrong with either (or both!) of these tours! If one fits more easily into your itinerary than the other, go for that one.
I hope I have convinced you to take a food tour in Bangkok. It is such a memorable way to explore the city’s rich culinary heritage. Is a food tour something you like to do in a new city? Have you taken either of these food tours in Bangkok? What did you think?
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