Most Isaan dishes served with sticky rice and are characterized by fiery chilies, strong fish sauces, sour bites, and flavorful saucy mixtures. Many dishes are prepared as salads with a spicy and sour (also fishy) sauce, convenient to be used as dipping sauces for balls of sticky rice. Some of the sauces are notorious for being pungent and smelly or even giving “tong sia,” stomach aches.
Where to Find Isaan Food
If you are looking for an Isaan restaurant or street cart in Bangkok, keep an eye out for carts with a clay pot (krok) and a vendor with a foot long wooden mallet pounding into the pot. Another sign of Isaan food is some catfish or chicken smoking away on the side of a street cart. A restaurant with this description will surely serve som tam and whatever other Isaan specialties that are on hand. Don’t look too hard as Isaan food is available on almost every street in Bangkok.