Thong Smith

Thai Boat noodle is a popular street food originating from floating markets all over Thailand. Cooked and served from swaying boats, boat noodles are specifically made to be served in small bowls and quantities to make the cooking process fast and easy to manage for a lone seller in the tight spaces of the boat

Today, boat noodles are widely found in night markets, street sides, food courts and even speciality restaurants in upscale malls. Thong Smith is one such speciality boat noodle restaurant with multiple outlets across the big malls on Ploenchit and Rama I

Started by a group of friends, Thong Smith managed to upscale the simple Thai boat noodles successfully to gain popularity amongst young Thais and foreigners with their clean yet traditional and rustic design outlets. With the use of dark wood, the outlets show resemblances to the old warehouses along the river

With limited seats within the restaurant, there are also seats set up outside from across the restaurant with a more open concept where other visitors of the mall can see the tables. We arrived late around 2pm and the restaurant was still 70% filled with customers

Customers can choose between pork, beef and chicken boat noodles with a selection of the noodles between rice noodles, vermicelli and egg noodles. The most popular choice is beef noodles with beef balls, sliced beef, liver and tripe. The more adventurous can choose the ox tongue, beef ball, sliced beef, braised shank and tendon. Those who cannot take beef can choose the pork or chicken versions

Each bowl of noodles comes served with a side of raw bean sprouts and mint leaves for you to add to your noodles. My pork noodles came served in a small bowl shaped like a flower which is very pretty for photos. The pork noodles came with pork balls and sliced pork which has lesser ingredients compared to the beef version

The noodles are also topped with spring onions and fried garlic and onions to give it a nice texture. The soup is dark brown in colour and extremely thick in consistency. We ordered the spicy and non-spicy versions and personally, I feel the spicy version is better as it cuts through the thick and deep broth. The flavours are intense for the broth and remind me of the Tsukemen broth, so personally, I would like for the broth to be diluted down slightly so it is more smooth for drinking. It is a little salty if you drink the soup without noodles

We tried both the rice noodles and egg noodles version and I feel that the rice noodles matches the broth much better. The noodles were cooked well without being too hard or soft and picked up the broth very well. The ingredients are fresh and have the perfect texture and bite so it is a great combination with the rice noodles and broth. Adding the bean sprouts to the noodles is highly recommended as adds a juicy refreshing crunch to the otherwise soft textures of the noodles and meat

Overall, the boat noodles are great with deep and intense flavours of the broth where you can taste the sweetness of the meat and also the flavours of the condiments and herbs used in cooking the broth. The noodles and meat are a perfectly hearty meal which is great as a small comforting meal for days with a small appetite. The only small issue I had was that the soup is too thick and would be perfect to be diluted down slightly

Address: 693 ชั้น 7 Sukhumvit Road, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Operating hours: 10 am to 10 pm