Thailand Food Courts

Food Courts can be found everywhere as you travel throughout the country, in malls, gas stations/rest areas on the highways and in business office areas (and a hole lot more). The food courts are a natural extension of the street markets found everywhere in Thailand and deeply ingrained into the Thai Culture.  

When I first moved to Thailand I was quite intimidated by food courts for a few reasons:

• I didn't know the food
• I didn't understand the operation procedure 

After living more than 10 years in Thailand I now know the foods sold in food courts. I have a separate blog that will help you with this, but it does take time to become comfortable with identification. I suggest you experiment but a word of caution, most foods are spicy (as I'm sure you are aware).

Food court operation are mostly the same with few changes here and there:

Usually you are required to purchase coupons, which you use as money as the various vendors. The unused coupons are returned in exchange for money. Malls may have swipe cards or some variation.

Select your food, redeem your coupons and bring your plate(s) to an empty table. Easy right? Well, now you need utensils which can be found at the utensil station. These stations have spoons and forks (no knives) and an electric pot of simmering water. The water is used to give the utensils a last brief wash.

​Now you ready to enjoy your tasty Thai food!