food porn at warorot

As usual, before we went to Chiang Mai, I did my research: where to stay, what to eat, where to go. Chiang Mai is a small place, so guide books and travel websites tend to recommend the same things. They all agree that the Night Bazaar is a must-visit.

But this blog post is not about Chiang Mai's famous Night Bazaar. This is about what happens when you chuck the travel guides and take David's advice instead. This is about Warorot Market.

27 April 2012. After the elephant experience, we were hungry. I decided we should check out the street food and the market was calling my name. It was a leisurely 15-minute walk from our guesthouse Funky Monkey. When we arrived, there was still daylight and it looked like nothing was happening. Panic. Were we in the right place?

We saw a couple of tables near the end of the street. People were sitting around them, contentedly eating bowls of... I still don't know they are. There were no tourists at all, only Thais. Nobody spoke English.

We sat down on wobbly stools. The lady standing behind the table picked up a bowl of thin rice noodles and gestured at the pots of nuclear-looking soups (or sauce or broth or whatever). Pick one.

I chose something orangey brown with red chili peppers and tiny meatballs. She ladled the sauce generously over my vermicelli.

Then another lady who was already deep into her own bowl paused chewing just long enough to point at the plastic baskets of chopped vegetables, herbs and sprouts. Ah, garnish.

I mixed everything together and put a spoonful in my mouth. It was reminiscent of an Italian pasta salad, but with Asian ingredients. The soft noodles and fiber-rich toppings absorbed all the gravy, so it wasn't really soupy. And you could mix and match to your heart's content. Fantastic. I ate it all.

A special mention goes to the cool and sweet pandan-infused water that they store in aluminum vats. So refreshing, and free!

Before long, the sun went down and Warorot Market came alive. Parasols and tarps, naked light bulbs, makeshift kitchens, electric fans, and smoke and people everywhere. It was frenzied.

Time for the main course. They do barbecue extremely well here. (Everywhere in Thailand, actually.) Nothing was dry and overcooked or worse, raw and bloody. Everything I ate was grilled to perfection.

I couldn't resist the nasty bits. @Bourdain would be proud of me.

Having consumed all sorts of charcoal-broiled goodies, I wanted something sweet next. The Western-style pastries and doughnuts didn't appeal to me. I gravitated toward the locals desserts made with rice, coconut milk and various root crops instead. Why are carbs so delicious, dammit?

While walking around with a block of pandan jelly in my hand, I spied the Som Tam lady. I had made a vow to eat papaya salad everyday in Thailand to make up for the sad fact that you can't get a proper one anywhere else. I just had to get some, even after dessert.

And to drink, there's the guy who takes pieces of luscious fruit, stuffs them into a blender, adds ice cubes and sugar and blitzes up a storm of fresh, fresh juice. I tried the passionfruit and instantly got hooked.

Photo by Bunny Rabbit, Canon Powershot S90.

Around the corner from the food section was the most dazzling display of produce and flowers I had ever seen.

Hours of blissful grazing cost me 100 baht (US$3.15) only. I would go back to Chiang Mai in a heartbeat just to eat at Warorot Market again.

I brought home a bag of chrysanthemum tea, price 200 baht (US$6.30). An unexpected expense, but what the hell-- I was too happy to care.

I was tempted to buy some very intriguing dried fish. Why were they looking down?

On the way home to Funky Monkey, we got lost. While trying to get our bearings, we stopped at what looked like someone's garage and had the best Khao Pad ever (and the cheapest, too). Grandma did all the cooking, while Grandpa was the waiter and busboy. Their years of experience and expertise permeated each grain of rice. For the first time in a long time, I could taste genuine Wok Hei. This was the best fried rice I had in Thailand, and the cheapest.

There's a good description of Warorot Market here, although strangely it says that the market is closed after dark. OK, technically we were outside the actual market building.

David thinks that Warorot Market is a better alternative to the Night Bazaar because they both sell the same goods, but the former is the Chiang Mai residents' market and is therefore cheaper and has more local flavor. I haven't been to the Night Bazaar yet, but I'm inclined to believe him.

So, who's David?