Thong Smith Siamese boat noodles — *Ain’t that the most packed bowl of Thai Boat Noodles you’ve ever seen?*

Looking for the most luxurious bowl of boat noodles in Bangkok? Well then welcome to Thong Smith, a premium Thai noodle chain known for turning this classic and humble everyday dish into a gourmet Wagyu beef experience!

Boat noodles is as Thai as Pad Thai or Pad Krapao. You might’ve heard about Boat Noodle Alley down at the Victory Monument, the center for boat noodles in Bangkok, it’s delicious, easy, and cheap. But on the other end of the spectrum is the world famous Thong Smith, known for serving possibly the most expensive boat noodles in Bangok, complete with premium Australian Wagyu slices!

There are many branches of Thong Smith throughout Bangkok but today I will be bringing you to Thong Smith Central World to share with you all reasons why you’ll definitely wanna try these premium Boat Noodles for yourself. I’ll also be eating the various side dishes that Thong Smith offers as well, because a lot of people neglect them, but trust me you’ll wanna order some (or all) of the dishes that I will be sharing with you today.

So, make sure you’re hungry because we’ll be eating a lot today at Thong Smith Central World!

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What Exactly are Boat Noodles?

Thai boat noodles — *A more simple and rustic bowl of your everyday Boat Noodles*

Boat noodles are a staple in the Thai culinary repertoire, Alongside classic dishes like the aforementioned Pad Krapao and Pad Thai. While Thong Smith might’ve made this humble dish popular with the tourists, this classic dish actually dates back a long time ago back when the roads of Bangkok were not roads at all but river canals.

See the name boat noodles come from the fact that traditionally, these boat noodles were sold from small boats that were floating through these canals. And one fun fact is that the small size and portions are actually meant to stop the soup from spilling out while the boat is rocking about.

There are 3 main types of boat noodle soup bases that you’ll find in Thailand:

Nam Tok - The classic, a thick, dark, and rich broth made from coagulated pig’s blood, don’t knock it till you try it, it’s a classic for a reason.
Yen Ta Fo - Pink in color, made from fermented beans, it might look funky but it actually tastes pretty good
Tom Yum - My personal favorite, spicy and sour soup base with lots of peanuts similar to Tom Yum Soup.

Boat noodles are known to be cheap, easy, and filling. if you want to try them all you can fin them at the Boat Noodle Alley at Victory Monument, the center for Thai boat noodles.

Thong Smith’s Central World

Thong Smith Siamese boat noodles CentralWorld — *Thong Smith CentralWorld is the most popular branch, expect to wait in line during peak hours*

Nowadays you can find boat noodles everywhere in Thailand, like you could literally be driving along the highway to Hua Hin and spot a small isolated boat noodle shop on the side of the street. But Thong Smith’s Boat Noodles are a little bit more special in that they turned this simple everyday dish into a more refined and slightly upscale casual dining experience, not to mentioned that Thong Smith also specializes in high quality ingredients, mainly their additions of Australian Wagyu Beef!

Now personally, I don’t have Thong Smith quite often, maybe about 3 or 4 times in my entire 25+ years of living, I much rather prefer the more down to Earth Boat noodle places like Baan Kuay Tiew RuaThong. HOWEVER, I do enjoy myself a bowl of Thong Smith Siamese Boat Noodles every once in a while.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are many Thong Smith branches throughout Bangkok but Thong Smith CentralWorld is the most popular. In fact the area around The CentralWorld shopping Mall is great for foodies as it’s the location where you can find many of Bangkok’s greatest street foods, especially at Ban Thad Thong Street. So if you’re a foodie on holiday to Bangkok I recommend booking a hotel near the Siam/Chitlom area for the best street food adventures right at your doorstep!

Thong Smith’s Menu

Thong Smith Menu — *For a restaurant specializing in a single dish, Thong Smith’s menu sure is varied*

Thong Smith’s menu is very extensive and quite varied despite them specializing in one specific dish, the boat noodles. The menu basically simmers down into 2 main categories: Boat Noodles (with or without soup), and Rice topped with the various cuts of meat.

The difference selections comes down to what toppings you want on your noodles, whether that’d be beef or pork, meat balls, Australian wagyu slices, beef tendon, etc…

Aside from that there are also a lot of appetizers to choose from like beef meatballs, fried pork wonton dumplings, and so on… Thong Smith also has a plethora of extra toppings you can add (for a price) like extra meatballs, tripe, sliced beef, or my favorite braised Ox Tongue.

And of course you get your usual selection of classic Thai drinks like Thai Iced Tea or Sugarcane juice.

Thong Smith Boat Noodle Pricing

Now, of course Thong Smith is going to cost more than your average everyday bowl of boat noodles (some of which can go as low as 5 THB per bowl!) but that’s a given considering the quality of the ingredients and the fact that Thong Smith is located in various shopping malls throughout Bangkok, with Thong Smith Central World being the one I went to.

Anyways you can expect to pay around 150 - 400++ THB (4.50 - 12.00++ USD) for your bowl of Thong Smith Boat Noodles depending on what toppings you want, add on to that another couple 100 more THB for any side dishes or drinks. And honestly the portions are average, to me I am full from just one bowl but some of you hungry feasters out there might need 2 bowls. Overall a pretty pricey bowl of boat noodles, but I would say that for the quality of ingredients, Thong Smit is worth it.

Thong Smith’s Thai Iced Tea

Thong Smith Thai Iced Tea — *Believe it or not, I don’t really like Thai Iced Tea, but the one at Thong Smith slaps though*

Alright first up, we gotta have Thai Iced Tea. Now honestly, I personally don’t really get a lot of Thai Iced Tea when I’m out and about, mainly because I find it too sweet for my liking.

Thong Smith’s Thai Iced Tea is well… sweet and very bright orange. But the sweetness is actually not too bad for me. Thong Smith’s version also added an extra creamy layer of what I think is condensed milk or evaporated milk making the Thai Iced Tea very creamy in texture. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, a little bit of that tea leaf bitterness.

It’s very good and if you order your bowl of Thong Smith Boat Noodles with a high spice level then you’ll be happy that you got some Thai Iced Tea to help cool down your taste buds.

Thong Smith’s Wagyu Boat Noodles

Thong Smith Wagyu Boat Noodles — *Thong Smith does not skimp on the toppings!*

OK here we are, the the glorious Thong Smith Boat Noodle! I ordered the boat noodle soup with egg noodles (sen bamee) topped with Sliced Australian Wagyu Round, Braised Beef Shank, Tendon, and Pork Meatballs.

The Boat Noodles look absolutely gorgeous, not only are there your proteins and noodles but you also get a generous scoop of fried garlic and shallots as well as shredded basil for some extra flavor! You can tell that Thong Smith does not skimp out on the toppings and ingredients, the bowl might be a bit small but it’s jam packed with flavor.

I ordered mine medium spicy, but I found it not enough for my taste so I added a little bit more dried chili powder.

I found the Boat noodle broth at Thong Smith to be fairly richer and more intense compared to other boat noodle restaurants which are often more watery. The soup is spicy, it’s comforting, it’s “earthy” in a good way, there is no funky irony flavor from the coagulated blood. Slurping the broth feels like if Mr Thong Smith was your grandpa and he’s giving you a warm hug on a rainy day.

The Bamee egg noodles are my go-to noodle variants for Thai noodle soups, the bamee noodles at Thong Smith are cooked to perfection, a little firm and very slurp-able. The sort of squiggly shape allow for the noodles to capture a lot of that rich and spice packed boat noodle broth so every bite is flavorful.

Alright, let’s get to the part where everyone actually goes to Thong Smith for, the premium cuts of beef that’s served with every order of Boat noodles.

The Australian Wagyu Round slices are absolutely delicious, though not as fatty or “melt in your mouth” as you would expect it to be, which I think is the right call, you wouldn’t want a slice of fatty A5 Kobe Beef in your beef noodle soup, it would be wayyy too rich and fatty.

Nevertheless, it’s still tender, meaty, beefy, and since the Australian Wagyu is sliced thin with all the rough surfaces between the muscles, the wagyu beef does a very good job at holding all the delicious soup, chilis, and spice.

My order also came with some braised beef shank, tendon, and meatballs, they were good as well, the tendon is like biting through butter. But nothing compares to the Australian Wagyu Round slices.

The Accoutrements, Basil Leaves, Bean Sprouts, and Pork Cracklings

I also wanna mentioned that every bowl of your Thong Smith Boat Noodles come with a little coup of accoutrements like fresh bean sprouts and basil leaves.

I love adding the mint leaves because it gives the boat noodle soup an extra cool and herbal flavor that really adds to the aroma of the soup broth. In fact, I even like to just snack on the basil leaves by itself.

I know some of you might not like bean sprouts, but I find that they add a nice fresh crunch to the boat noodles, they don’t have a lot of flavor, it’s mostly just a textural thing but I welcome the experience. Plus it helps tricking your mind into thinking that all that fatty Australian Wagyu beef and rich soup broth is at least balanced with a little bit of healthy veg.

Thong Smith pork crackling — *You can eat them on the side like chips, or add them to your boat noodles like I do*

The other extra addition that is common to find throughout every Boat Noodle restaurant in Thailand are pork skin cracklings, though these often cost extra, and at Thong Smith it’s no different.

You can eat these guys on the side or add them to your bowl of boat noodles.

They serve a similar purpose to the bean sprouts in that they provide a nice crunchy texture along with some nice oily fat, but the difference here is that if it sits too long in the broth it becomes soggy, that might sound bad but actually if you crush up the pork crackling and let it soak, you get pieces of pork crackling that’s absorb all that flavorful rich boat noodle broth. Sort of like fried tofu in a Chinese hotpot.

Thong Smith’s Braised Ox Tongue

Thong Smith Braised Ox Tongue — *I keep telling y’all don’t judge the OX Tongue, it’s absolutely delicious!*

I’ve mentioned before that Thong Smith has the option for you to order extra toppings, and for me, without fail, every time I go to Thong Smith Central World (or any branch for that matter) I always order extra Ox Tongue. If you know me, or you are a long time reader of Feastography, you know I am absolutely obsessed with Ox Tongue, I’ve even explored the Best Beef Noodles in Bangkok just to eat braised Ox Tongue!

The Braised Ox Tongue at Thong Smith, while not the best I’ve ever had, are still damn good. Ox Tongue has the unfortunate notion of being tough and rubbery if cooked improperly, but Thong Smith’s Braised Ox Tongue is so juicy and tender, I bet you can even bite it with your lips!

The Braised Ox Tongue is absolutely delicious, incredibly tender, mouthwatering-ly juicy, really beefy, there is no funky smells or taste, a definite must try!

Thong Smith’s Grilled Beef Meatballs

Thong Smith Grilled Beef Meatballs — *Eating balls have never been so good*

Another classic Thai street food snack that you can find at street food stalls all over Thailand is the humble beef/pork meatballs, they’re often sold by the stick and come in a variety of sauces from sweet to sour to spicy.

Thong Smith’s balls are made from beef and they come lathered in a thick sweet and spicy chili sauce, which also comes on the side for extra dipping. One order gives you 3 sticks. These beef meatballs are tasty! bouncy, a little bit of a firm chew, and toasty from being grilled over an open flame.

The sweet chili sauce is also very nice, it’s thick and sticky, almost honey-like, in fact I’m pretty sure they add some honey to the sauce, and for me I don’t think it’s too spicy. A great appetizer for sure!

Thong Smith’s Crispy Fried Pork Wontons

Thong Smith Crispy Fried Pork Wontons — *Hands down these are maybe the best fried wontons I’ve ever had, no joke*

One last appetizer I want to touch on are these crispy fried pork wontons served with a sweet plum sauce for dipping. As a kid I’ve had many a fried pork wontons but most only give you a small dollop of pork meat in the middle and they were always quite hard or dry.

But the geniuses at Thong Smith Siamese Boat Noodles managed to make these crispy fried pork wontons actually crispy and not only that, they give you a big portion of minced pork as well. To be honest, maybe it’s because these crispy fried pork wontons were freshly out of the fryer.

Anyways, biting into the wonton, the wrapper basically crumbles and the small fry bubbles basically disintegrates and melt away into your mouth. The porky filing is so steaming hot and flowing with juice, so yeah, be careful when biting into the wonton.

The plum dipping sauce adds a nice sweetness and a little bit of sourness as well, perfectly contrasting the oily and greasy crispy fried pork wonton. Well done Thong Smith, my younger self would’ve been so happy!

Thong Smith’s Khanom Tuay

Thong Smith Khanom Tuay — *Khanom Tuay is the perfect way to end your Boat Noodle meal*

In Thai Khanom Tuay translates to “dessert/snack cup” and it’s the quintessential way to end a meal of Boat Noodles. You’ll literally find these little cups of joy at every single boat noodle restaurant, in fact, it’s kind of hard to find them elsewhere.

Khanom Tuay consists of 2 layers: a dense, chewy, and mild coconut tapioca bottom layer, and a rich, creamy, super sweet coconut cream top layer. The Khanom Tuay at Thong Smith is just ok… I know underwhelming… The bottom layer is has Pandan essence in it giving it a deep green color, but that layer’s flavor is so subtle it’s almost non existent, and also the texture was pretty dense, like I had difficulty cutting it with the wooden spoon they gave me. The coconut cream layer was nice though, rich, creamy, and sweet.

Maybe the batch they gave me was sitting out for a while and so it wasn’t as fresh and delicious as it could’ve been…

Thong Smith Boat Noodles Conclusion

Pros

A wide selection of toppings and customization for your Boat Noodles
High quality and fresh ingredients
Clean and stylish presentation, great care and attention to detail, great staff
Everything tasted great, good strong flavors

Cons

Expensive for Boat Noodles but that’s to be expected, it’s value is ultimately up to you
Can be crowded, very popular, wait times can be long

Overall I highly recommend you try Thong Smith Siamese Boat Noodles, though it’s not the most authentic version of the classic Thai Boat Noodles, it’s still a very tasty high quality bowl. The menu is very customizable with a lot of options, albeit a little expensive. The restaurants are very clean with great service and the boat noodles themselves taste absolutely delicious with the high quality and fresh ingredients.

You might need to come early though, especially at Thong Smith Central World where a long queue can form pretty quickly.

Have you ever tried Thong Smith? Do you have any other boat noodle recommendations for me? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and follow Feastography for more Bangkok food reviews!

Thong Smith | 8.5 / 10

Phone: +66 2 068 6588

Location: CentralWorld 3rd Floor, 999/9 Rama 1 Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330

Opening Hours: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM | Mon - Sun

Pricing: 150 - 400++ THB | $$$

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