5 Thai Desserts You Should Try
What are Bangkok's Best Sweet Treats?
When visiting Bangkok, the city’s array of delectable desserts simply have to be sampled! Thailand’s sweets often play on the indigenous flavors of coconut, fresh fruit, and sticky rice, which makes them an exciting culinary experience for Western visitors.
The king of all Thai desserts is mango sticky rice, but there are other lesser-known sweets that are just begging to be savored. Think coconut ice cream, roti pancakes drizzled with sweetened condensed milk, and luk chup (edible fruit sculptures).
What are Thailand’s best desserts?
1. Mango with Sticky Rice
Khao niew mamuang
Good for: Food
What do you get when you mix slow-cooked sticky rice and decadent coconut cream with the world’s most delicious mangoes? The answer? A treat worth writing home about: khao niew mamuang.
This popular dessert can be found in Thai restaurants all over the world, but it always seems to taste better in Thailand. One reason is the quality of mangoes; there’s just nothing like the sweet, golden flesh of the ones grown locally. If you’re seeking something more adventurous, try coconut sticky rice with slices of notoriously pungent durian. The dessert can be found widely across Bangkok, including from vendors positioned on Khao San Road.
2. Thai Pancakes
Roti
Good for: Food
These yeast-free pieces of bread originated in India but can be found throughout South and Southeast Asia. Ever popular among locals, roti deserves a place on the list of must-try Thai sweets. Crafted by continuously flipping dough on a hot greased skillet until it reaches just the right consistency – flaky on the outside and soft in the middle – Roti can be ordered plain (tammada) or with fillings. Try ones layered with banana, pineapple, or sweetened condensed milk
Roti vendors can be found throughout Bangkok, including on Khao San Road. For the best, head to Roti Mataba Restaurant near Phra Sumen Fort. The folks that work there are Bangkok’s unequivocal roti gurus and they’ve been in business for over 60 years.
3. Coconut Ice Cream
I-tim ma phrao
Good for: Food
Though ice cream was first introduced to the Land of Smiles by foreigners, Thailand has adapted it to create its own unique versions. Icy treats like nam kang sai and tup tim kab are reminiscent of shaved ice and are topped with flavored syrups, coconut milk, fresh fruit, and sweet gelatin.
These are tasty indeed, but the best frozen Thai treat is i-tim mat phrao. Made with coconut milk rather than cow’s milk, Thai ice cream is both sweet and refreshing, and locals often enjoy it with kernels of boiled corn or gingko biloba sprinkled on top. They also favor the “ice cream sandwich” ( i-dtim mat phrao) which is wedged between a folded piece of white bread. Check out vendors outside Lumpini Park and those floating along Thonburi’s canals.
4. Edible Sculptures
Luk chup
Good for: Food, Photo, Unusual
The bright and shiny bite-sized sweets known as luk chup are a distinctly Thai adaptation of an almond snack that was introduced by the Portuguese in the 1600s. Luk chup is made by boiling mung beans, sugar, and coconut milk. It’s then kneaded into miniature cherries, oranges, watermelon slices, eggs, and even cute little piglets!
As a finishing touch, colorful jellies are artistically applied. Though the rich (and not at all fruity) flavor is memorable, the visual aesthetic is half the fun. Luk chup are readily available in most large-scale food markets such as Or Tor Kor. Baan Luk Chup Café has been offering them since the 1970s.
5. Sweet sticky rice wrapped in banana husks
Khao niew bing
Good for: Food
The process of making khao niew bing starts with slow-cooking sticky rice in a traditional Thai basket along with coconut milk and sugar. It’s then molded around hunks of banana or sweet taro root, before being wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over a fire. What emerges from the natural wrapper is a distinctly Thai treat featuring a warm and gooey inside and a lightly charred outside.
Khao niew bing are usually not overpoweringly sweet, but the undertones of coconut and fruit, along with smoky hints from the grilled banana leaf, make them a worthy accompaniment to morning tea. The strip of food stalls outside Platinum Shopping Mall is a good place to find them.
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