Thailand Food Courts: MBK!

My eats in Thailand were not only about restaurants. In fact, we spent more meals in their fascinating food courts! And the very first food court that we patronised was in one of Bangkok's oldest shopping centre, The Mahboonkrong Centre!



Fondly known as MBK, the huge place is touted as a must-go for tourists and most Singaporeans wouldn't leave Bangkok without visiting it. For what exact reasons I don't know, because it really resembled a mega Lucky Plaza or JB's City Square , selling plenty of electronics and touristy stuffs. Zero interest for me.



Well, the real reason that I was there was because a buddy told me: "You die die must visit MBK's food court, super cheap and shiok shark fins soup!" And so here I am!



The place was showing its age with dim lighting and worn-out decor, but still attracted fairly good business from both locals and tourists, due to its cheap prices compared to other newer food courts. In fact, my very next table was a family of Singaporeans slurping on their shark fins soup!



Taking up plenty of tenant space by itself, you can't miss this well-known store with their huge fin on display. We later realised that they had branches at other food courts too!



Shark Fins Soup (฿160), Bird's Nest with Ginko Nuts (฿50)

The "die-die-must-eat"! Well for SGD8, what I got was basically a thick and starchy soy sauce soup with decent bits of real fins. I'm not complaining at all, at least they didn't cheat with vermicelli!

I realised that shark fins soup and bird nest comes hand in hand in Thailand! Again at its price, do expect plenty of syrupy water with floating bits of the jelly-like dessert.



Stewed Pork Leg with Rice (฿45)

I later learnt that this was a really common dish in food courts and with a constant queue at the store, I knew it wouldn't go wrong for a try!

Tender lean meat with gelatinous fats and skin, it sure looked ugly but would definitely satisfy the carnivore in you. If only the stew sauce could be a little more absorbed by the meat!


Spring Rolls

No idea which store did my dad grabbed this from, but crunchy skin with piping hot vermicelli fillings would never fail!



The dessert store was really interesting too, with many bowls of coloured toppings and huge, tempting mangoes hanging.



Mango with Glutinous Rice (฿80), Red Rubies in Coconut Milk (฿45)

Trust me, you will see plenty of shots of this throughout my Thailand collection! The fruit itself was faultless again, though the glutinous rice was definitely lumpy and overcooked, died in the comparison of previous night version at Blue Elephant!

Their red rubies were quite different from ours too, as the center was much harder and had quite an odd taste to it. Oh well, you never know till you try!

Next food court, Central World!

Mahboonkrong Centre
44 Phayathai Road
Patumwan, Bangkok
Note: Nearest BTS station is National Stadium, linked by sky bridges!

Taken with Nikon D70