Som tam is the Isan-Lao pounded papaya salad: shredded green papaya, palm sugar, lime, fish sauce and bird's-eye chilli bashed in a clay mortar to bruise the fruit into the dressing. Eaten with grilled chicken and sticky rice.
Som tam migrated to Bangkok with Isan northeastern Thai labour migration in the mid-20th century and became the canonical Bangkok lunch dish by the 1980s. Som Tam Jay So in Sathorn was Michelin-listed with a Bib Gourmand in 2018, pounding to order in clay mortars from a sai-mok northeastern recipe lineage. Variants now include som tam Thai (Bangkok sweeter style), som tam pu pla ra (with fermented crab and fish sauce), and som tam Lao (with raw aubergine, less sugar, more pungent).
3 editor picks for Som Tam in Bangkok, ranked by editorial score. All Bangkok signature dishes · Som Tam across every city.
Som Tam Jay So ★ 4.5
silom-sathorn · 402/16 Soi Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra 3, Yan Nawa, Sathon, Bangkok 10120
Som Tam Jay So in Bangkok's Sathorn is the Bib Gourmand papaya-salad room from a sai-mok northeastern Thai recipe lineage. Pounded fresh to order in clay mortars.
Soi Polo Fried Chicken ★ 4.5
silom-sathorn · 137/1-3 Soi Polo, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330
Polo Fried Chicken in Bangkok's Soi Polo is the Bib Gourmand garlic-fried-chicken room, a 1989 family business deep-frying half birds blanketed in crispy fried garlic.
Or Tor Kor Market food stalls ★ 4.5
101 Kamphaeng Phet Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900
Or Tor Kor in Bangkok's Chatuchak is the cleanest food court in the city with curry plates and som tam stalls under 200 baht, the Bib Gourmand som tam pla ra is a 90-baht plate.