Bangkok: Rung Rueng – Best noodle restaurant in Bangkok

My friend Annie in Bangkok recommended me this place, when I asked her, where I could find the best street food in Bangkok. Rung Rueng is a family run restaurant, which is hugely popular among locals, who go there for the restaurant’s delicious and inexpensive noodle dishes.

There is no English menu, but some of the staff members speak English and can help you place your order. Basically, you choose what kind of noodles you want, whether you want them with or without soup and spicy or non-spicy. You can also purchase cold beverages such as iced tea and coke.

The noodles are served with fish balls, ground pork and offal, which is what gives the soup that amazing, finger-licking good taste, so don’t be surprised to find a piece of intestine or a slice of liver along with your noodles. I think you’re supposed to eat it, but if you’re not too keen on that, do as I do and stick to the ground pork and the fish balls.

Strictly speaking, Rung Rueng isn’t a street food place, as it has walls and a real floor as well as a couple of fans in the ceiling to keep the place cooled down. The kitchen is right at the entrance, so you can see how the food is prepared. You sit on plastic chairs around ramshackle steel tables and since noodle dishes are from China, you eat them with chopsticks and not the usual Thai spoon-and-fork cutlery.

Rung Rueng closes at 16:30 so this is primary a place to go for lunch, and around noon, Rung Rueng gets very busy. The restaurant is full of in-diners and in addition, people are lining up outside to pick up their lunch to go. I suggest that you either come a little early (around 11) or wait until the lunch rush is over. Then the staff will also have more time to help you ordering your food and explaining what you are eating.

• Rung Rueng is located some 150m down Sukhumvit Soi 26. If you walk from Sukhumvit Road, you will find Rung Reung on the right side of the street, immediately after Arize hotel and Nadoa Salon & Spa.

• Opposite Rung Rueng, there’s an orange building, Yorimichi.

• The restaurant doesn’t look of much from the outside and can easily be missed, but look for the small red signs over the entrance and you will know, that you’re at the right spot. There are two restaurants under one room, but they’re both Rung Rueng and they serve the same food. Annie likes the one to the left better, but I couldn’t taste the difference.

• Each bowl costs 40-50THB. Expect to order 2-3 for a full lunch.

Rung Rueng (Rungraeng), Sukhumvit Soi 26, Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Nearest BTS: Phrom Phong