Thip Samai in Bangkok: The World's Best Pad Thai
If I had to pick the single hardest thing about being in Thailand, it would be connecting to Wi-Fi. Since I lost my phone, the only way I could contact anyone was through Facebook. Because of that, I had no choice but to keep doing the stupid routine of carrying my MacBook Air to Starbucks, looking cool while drinking ridiculously expensive coffee, and buying Wi-Fi for 150 THB.
There's another reason I go to Starbucks: there are always Koreans there, especially solo travelers. When you want to eat dinner but don't want to eat alone, and you want to find a companion but don't want to speak English, going to Starbucks solves everything. Sure enough, it worked this time too. The person I met even had the navigation skills that I completely lack. How do they get there on the first try without getting lost? Truly amazing.
The place the two of us went to is 'Thip Samai'.
According to the guidebook, it's the most delicious Pad Thai place in Thailand. I was a bit worried because places featured in guidebooks are usually a coin toss—either genuinely amazing or totally awful, as if they paid for the feature. But it must be truly famous, as we waited in line for about 20 minutes. From the outside, it doesn't look like a typical restaurant; it looks more like a factory where everyone just focuses on their assigned task. Will it actually be good?
The menu also explains how to eat it: when the Pad Thai comes out, you mix in the right amount of bean sprouts and other vegetables served on the side, and just inhale it. A method I later learned from Thai friends is to add bean sprouts, banana flowers (though it's hard to just call them veggies), sauce, and lime.
And then, the taste test.
I have a cautious personality and rarely give high praise, but this was on such a different level that it made every Pad Thai I've eaten until now seem worse than instant ramen. I never dreamed I'd be eating Pad Thai while blaming and reflecting on myself, thinking, "Why am I only eating this now? What on earth was I doing during all those other meals?" It is so delicious!!! You absolutely have to eat this!! I don't even remember the price, but it was very affordable. And honestly, even if the price goes up and it gets expensive, you still have to eat it. It was so good that I only managed to take two pictures of the food.
It's not too far from Khaosan (Khaosan Road), so you can just walk. If you're unsure of the way, you can comfortably take a tuk-tuk for the base fare. Personally, I recommend pairing up with two or three people to take a tuk-tuk. And please, don't doubt it—just go and eat. It's one of the very few restaurants where you can go in with high expectations and it actually tastes as good as you hoped.