[FOOD] 20150114 Pad Thai Thip Samai (Prathuphi Pad Thai) @ Phra Nakhon, Bangkok

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It is said that the Thai national dish i.e. Pad Thai was originated from this stall known as Thip Samai back in 1966. I often see this stall being featured in travel programmes and told myself that this is the one restaurant I need to go.

Pad Thai Thip Samai, or also known as Prathu Phi Pad Thai by the locals ("Prathu Phi" means ghost gate) due to its location nearby Prathu Phi, is well known among the locals and often packed with patrons no matter what time. It's opened until mid night and many will come here for supper after work.

The restaurant is operated in stations to cater for the huge crowd where each station has it's own function i.e. the cooking station, the wrapping station and the garnishing station. Worth mentioning that they use charcoal instead of gas stove for their cookings.

Huge wok of Pad Thai is churned out from time to time, with more than 10 servings per wok. The Pad Thai will then be prepared according to the order and some will be sent to the wrapping station for the Pattaya style omelette wrappings.

It was fun to see how each task was broken down into unit operations in order to be more efficient to cut down lag time between each plate of Pad Thai, without compromising on the quality.

There are a few options available from the normal Pad Thai, Supreme Pad Thai, Prawn Pad Thai etc etc. Not forgetting their special ice blended coconut that taste like 7-11's slurpee but in coconut flavour.

Pad Thai Thip Samai
313 Maha Chai Road Samran Rat, Phra Nakhon Bangkok 10200
Nearest BTS Stations: Nil
Telephone: +66 (0) 2221 6280
Opening Hours: 05:30 pm until 01:30 am

TO GO


Thip Samai is located at Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok, which is very near to Khao San Road or Chinatown. My recommendation will be to come here for supper after your visit to either place. Taking a cab will be the most convenient way but some cab driver might refuse to bring you over due to the short distance. Just tell the driver "Prathu-Phi Pad Thai" and most likely he will know where is it.



SPECIALITY



It was late at night and I managed to get one kind cab driver to bring me over the Prathu-phi Pad Thai. Being the origin of all Pad Thai recipe in Thailand, I was wondering how "legendary" will the Pad Thai be, while being sceptical over the "mass production" method. The restaurant is full of patrons, including the roadside corridor outside the restaurant. Mostly locals who got off work late or dropping by for supper or take away.


The restaurant uses hot flames from the charcoal instead of gas stove, just like how it was done during their inception. Charcoal fire also gives a better aroma and is much hotter than normal gas stove, making the cooking harder as you required to stir fry as quickly as possible to avoid over-burnt.


The cooking starts off from a big wok and then segregate into smaller plates of Pad Thai for the next station to do a fast stir-fry action with intense fire with additional toppings or ingredients according to the order.


Those who ordered the Supreme Pad Thai will be sent to the next station for the omelette wrapping where you can see the worker skilfully wrapped each plate of Pad Thai in a blink of an eye, like a machine.


The finished product will be transferred into a clean plate and garnished with coriander and chilli. The waiter will then fill his hands with plates of Pad Thai before doing the delivery. It was fun and interesting to see the whole process on how fast your Pad Thai can be served and how efficient the workers work.


My Supreme Pad Thai (85 Baht) is ready in a jiffy and looks very inviting.


Traditionally, Pad Thai will be served along with some raw vegetables such as chives and bean sprout. However, I noticed many locals did not touch these raw vegetables and only concentrate on their Pad Thai. 


Not forgetting the coconut "slurpee" which is said to be a secret recipe passed down by the Queen directly to the owner of this restaurant. It does taste like a coconut flavour slurpee, if you are wondering.


The Pad Thai tastes good with nice flavours but was not as good as I expected. Probably I have too high hopes prior to this. The ingredients also seemed "ungenerous" for the pricing of 85 Baht, in contrast to the Pad Thai Fire Look I had in Thong Lo which comes with generous amount of prawns and crab meat, at a cheaper price and better flavour.

SUMMARY


Overall it is still a good and satisfying meal to have especially for supper. However, was slightly disappointed with the taste probably due to the mass production and high bar set by Pad Thai Fire Look that I had previously in Thong Lo. Nevertheless, it is still good to experience the very first recipe and to witness the stations of preparing in Pad Thai Thip Samai.

Taste
☆☆☆☆
Good pad thai
Value
☆☆☆
Pricing towards the high side with minimal ingredients and toppings
Service
☆☆☆☆☆
Despite the huge crowd, service is excellent and prompt with very good manners.
Cleanliness
☆☆☆☆
Opening Hours
05:30pm until 01:30am (Daily)
Wifi
Nil
Parking
Minimal
Website
Nil

GPS: 13.752750, 100.504708

farscope

Malaysian lad, engineer by background, banker by profession whom passionate in photography, food and travelling.

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