Food carts - Franchises and favourites

[naboo]

On occasion, it is convenient/inexpensive/necessary to eat from one of the delicious street food carts in Chiang Mai.

I had always thought these were independent sellers and survived if they were any good and disappeared if not. Imagine my surprise when I found out there were some franchises about.

This is a thread about sub 60 Baht food from carts on the street and your favourite franchises or independents around Chiang Mai.

I'll begin with "Chemp Noodle" as they were the first stall I noticed to be a franchise.

You may recognise the stall, found all over Thailand and appears to have some awards printed to the left of the logo.

Bog standard noodles with 'luk cheen' pieces of processed pork. Currently my wife's late night snack choice as they have a cart in front of the Moo Baan.

Tasty soup, supplied as standard with a good portion of beansprouts and cabbage. Downside is they don't offer any alternatives to the 'luk cheen' meat option.

[hellodolly]

I don't have a picture but their is a kebob food cart franchise here in Chiang Mai. I understand they even have a cart in Pai.

I find them very reasonable 50 baht a kabob. Has Chicken lettuce onions and tomatoes in it wrapped in a pita wrap.

[NancyL]

Five Star chicken. BBQ chicken and other related things. Really good. Often set up next to a som tam cart. I rarely cook chicken any more, instead fix a dish that requires chicken and throw in pieces of their cooked chicken right at the end of the cooking of the veggies, etc.

If you study the operation of these carts, I don't think they fully cook the chickens at the cart, but rather finish chickens that are pre-cooked elsewhere. Helps to make the quality more consistent from cart-to-cart.

These carts are all over. Let's see -- Sompet Market, parking lot of Macro-Hang Dong, inside one of the big buildings in Wararot, on the road running north of the YMCA, on Suthep Rd. across from the Neurological and Suan Dok hospitals. Where else? There's one behind Kad Suan Kaew, but they just serve gai thoot -- which is deep batter fried, much higher calories and not the same as the BBQ chicken normally found at a Dao Haa, or Five Star cart. They really need a proper Five Star cart near Kad Suan Kaew.

Edited November 28, 2013 by NancyL

[Paangjang]

How much do these kind of franchises cost?

[daoyai]

How much do these kind of franchises cost?

Afew years ago I saw an advert from 5star chicken everything to start for 30k thb.

[daoyai]

Five Star chicken. BBQ chicken and other related things. Really good. Often set up next to a som tam cart. I rarely cook chicken any more, instead fix a dish that requires chicken and throw in pieces of their cooked chicken right at the end of the cooking of the veggies, etc.

If you study the operation of these carts, I don't think they fully cook the chickens at the cart, but rather finish chickens that are pre-cooked elsewhere. Helps to make the quality more consistent from cart-to-cart.

These carts are all over. Let's see -- Sompet Market, parking lot of Macro-Hang Dong, inside one of the big buildings in Wararot, on the road running north of the YMCA, on Suthep Rd. across from the Neurological and Suan Dok hospitals. Where else? There's one behind Kad Suan Kaew, but they just serve gai thoot -- which is deep batter fried, much higher calories and not the same as the BBQ chicken normally found at a Dao Haa, or Five Star cart. They really need a proper Five Star cart near Kad Suan Kaew.

I do the same with the Haa Dao 5star, I like the black pepper one, they do start raw, i have seen them load the machine, the birds appear to be only marinated. Great for sandwiches, chicken salad, etc. the small soi along the south side of KSK has good bbq, big tub tim and gai yang.

Miracle coffee stands are pretty good, the grind the beans when you order.

[NancyL]

I've only found bbq chicken wings on the small soi on the south side of KSK -- not nice juicy whole chickens. There are bbq chickens available from the restaurant just steps away from the mouth of that soi, on the moat road, but they're not as big and juicy as the 5Star chickens.

Love the black pepper 5Star chickens, too!

Edited November 28, 2013 by NancyL

[daoyai]

That place by 7-11 S. of KSK, is called gai yang ruam jai, the "whole" chickens there can be dry and THEY DON"T HAVE WINGS !

Their tom yung goong is exelent as is their spare rib soup....

[NancyL]

That place by 7-11 S. of KSK, is called gai yang ruam jai, the "whole" chickens there can be dry and THEY DON"T HAVE WINGS !

Their tom yung goong is exelent as is their spare rib soup....

Exactly, dry chickens without wings -- the soi is just crying out for a proper 5 Star!

[Ulysses G.]

I never buy whole chickens, but the roast chicken at this place is moist and tasty.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ulysses G.

[NancyL]

That, Ulysses, is a picture of a 5 Star stand that just specializes in Gai Thoot, or fried chicken. Other 5 Star stands have the same "trade dress" colors, but have rotisserie racks where they're BBQ-ing chickens, too. Maybe the stand next to it is doing BBQ-ing

I never buy whole chickens, but the roast chicken at this place is moist and tasty.

[Ulysses G.]

That explains why I saw one that said "Fried Chicken" on it in English. I thought that it was a mistake as the ones that I use only have BBQ chicken.

[daoyai]

five star also has few roast duck stands have not gotten around to trying it .

[junglechef]

I prefer the "Chicken Ladies", as I so fondly refer to them, the independent stands for BBQ birds that are often butterflied (whole split in half) that also offer som tum and sticky rice if your lucky. Once I find one near-by that I like I immediately build a rapport, usually by buying a few chickens at a time which will make them remember me, never the less looking like some crazy falang on a bicycling way out in the villages. The big problem is they most usually only last a few months or sometimes the quality and/or price change once they develop a good business. Then it's back to the local 5 Star which isn't bad, especially the "gai ban" (house or local chickens) they offer by where I live and though these have less meat they are tastier than the regular "chemi" ones that are a CP Foods product which also own the 5 Star brand.

[Microwave]

I don't know if ice cream freezers qualify as food carts, but I saw the Wall's ice cream freezer in the upper left corner of the 5 Star fried chicken stand in Ulysses' photo and thought that I'd give Wall's ice cream a plug. It's difficult for me to pass a Wall's ice cream freezer without buying a cup, even if the ice cream is frozen like a rock. The ice cream melts quickly enough here that even rock solid ice cream is edible within a few minutes out of the cooler. Can't forget to mention the wooden spoons given out with the ice cream : )

[NancyL]

Speaking of ice cream -- even though I really should watch the calories -- sometimes I just can't resists those ice cream push carts where the guy/gal is offering two flavors of ice cream served in a slice of crustless white bread. Especially, if they're brave and pushing the cart down a busy street like Huey Kaew.

[Frank James]

I don't have a picture but their is a kebob food cart franchise here in Chiang Mai. I understand they even have a cart in Pai.

I find them very reasonable 50 baht a kabob. Has Chicken lettuce onions and tomatoes in it wrapped in a pita wrap.

Oh YES! That guy makes a fantastic wrap, almost a taco type concept in a pita bread rollup. His stand is often found in front of the 7-11 nearest the Thapae Gate on Moon Muang (1/2 blk south of Black Canyon) around 5:00 PM. Thanks for the reminder, haven't had one of those in a while.