HOW WE SPENT BELOW $50 AT CHATUCHAK

after reading the reviews on lemon8 and google, my bf and i visited chatuchak with low expectations but honestly it wasn’t even that bad?? here’s my take on chatuchak and yall can decide if it’s worth a visit!

1. location

📍200 Turf Club Rd The Grandstand, South Carpark, 287994

4pm-10pm

nearest mrt: sixth avenue/botanic gardens

about 15min walk!

2. venue and crowding

i expected the market to be wayyy smaller but it was actually super big? about the size of an average school parade square which was honestly pretty impressive?? i estimate over a 100 stores were set up at the grandstand ranging from food to clothing and even services! i saw a couple of thrift stores there selling affordable clothing and there was even a masseuse and a nail parlour providing gel manicures at only $20!!

even though many reviews said it was chaotic and there was no crowd control, i felt that it was expected for a night market like this. most of the queues were okay i only saw one or two stalls with crazy queues. we didn’t even have to queue over 10mins for any stalls that we bought from even though we visited on a friday night! while the system may be a little confusing at first, you’ll start to get the hang of it eventually. at most just have to interact with strangers and ask them if they’re in the queue or not xD

3. food (total spent: $42.90)

what we got:

butter beer ($6)

would rate this 5/10 (average) just because i tasted better butterbeer elsewhere… it wasn’t that bad actually but it kinda just tasted like root beer with koi macchiato foam on top HAHAH. not bad for a thirst quencher though but definitely doesn’t do the real butterbeer justice

thai milk tea ($3)

also 5/10, pretty average but tasted okay! it just didn’t have the authentic thai taste feels like something selling at your average bubble tea store in sg… one plus point for me was that they offered optional free pearls??? and the price was also pretty good considering the cost of everything here. OH and also, they offer a milk tea BUCKET (yes bucket) for $5?! which is really a steal and great for sharing!

grilled squid ($7.90)

this was super overpriced but not bad! the squid was soft and juicy and came with this SUPER GOOD chill paste that’s optional in case you can’t take spice! they offer flavours like mala, butter and tom yum squid (i got the butter one!) AND if you tag them on your instagram account you’ll get free prawn too! :O 6.5/10!

basil pork rice ($10)

this was different from the average basil pork rice that comes with fried egg because this came with a SUPER fluffy, light scrambled egg 🤤 the basil pork was preettyy average though and the rice was quite tough :( this came in a big portion, we couldn’t even finish so keep that in mind! it was also a little dry for my liking because there wasn’t enough sauce but otherwise not bad! 7/10

pork boat noodles ($8)

this store offers rice noodles with either beef or pork (we got pork) and the soup was SUPER YUMZ. not sure if it was just the msg though but i’ll give them the benefit of the doubt :p noodle texture was springy and not too hard which was perfect! came with not only with pork slices but pork balls too! 8/10

mama pad kee mao ($8)

LONG QUEUE FOR THIS STALL but the noodles were not bad! kinda felt like fried maggie with seafood and for some reason it tasted like longans to me???? HAHAHA so that was kinda weird. they give a really generous amount of seafood though like clams and prawn and the clams were so FAT AND JUICY ugh i love clams so much. 6.5/10 because i’m not really a fan of dry noodles… 😬

4. price

many stalls offered cashless payment which i thought was great! that way you don’t have to worry about having no cash with you. at the same time, they were also flexible and accepted cash payments too so you’ll have the freedom of choice :)

while i have to admit that the food there was really pricey, i think it’s ok for a night market like this that only happens once in awhile! most of the portions were filling enough (for me at least) so if you buy food for one which includes one main and one drink/side, you’ll probably only spend ~$15 which is about the same as any restaurant outside which i thought was ok!

5. ambience

it’s true that finding seats can be difficult, but many of the tables are not fully occupied so if you come in a small group of two to three people it should be no problem finding seats if you share the tables with strangers. just be considerate and keep to your own corner! make sure to clear your trash after that too because there’s nobody around to do it for you ^^

the vendors were all really nice and could speak fluent english (some with an accent) and they’ll direct you where to make payment, waiting time, price etc. at the stores that sell clothing, they let you browse in peace and don’t hardsell and pressure you like many of the stores in thailand so you can slowly look and take pictures without feeling stressed!

hope this mini guide helps yall and have a great time at chatuchak!

#thaifood #thailand #chatuchak #chatuchaksg #food #foodrecommendations #foodinsing