$50 BANGKOK CHALLENGE!

So just last week I made a leisure trip to Bangkok for 3 days and I decided to challenge myself to spend just $50 on food for the entire trip. Well if you've been to BKK before you know it's possible if I just keep eating street food since street food stalls charge $1- $3.50 for a bowl of noodles/rice. But I wanted to have nice food, delectable desserts, brewed coffee all within $50 so let's see how I fared!

Reached Bangkok at 8.30am and went straight to Pratunam market after dropping my luggage at my boutique hotel in Thonglor. Jetted off straight to the famous wanton mee stall, SabX2, that's filled with Singaporeans now.

Maybe I've eaten it for years already that I don't like it as much as before BUT it still makes a decent satisfying meal. And it's one of the only wanton mee stalls that I know of that opens super early in the morning. The other famous ones in Thonglor don't open till like 11am?

SabX2 is famous for their dry wanton mee and pork rice. Their wanton mee is nice mainly because of the super yummy fried pork lard which adds a ton of fragrance to the dish. The wanton albeit a tad small, is quite tasty too. 

The pork rice? It's tender and fat!!! I love the salted vege that comes along with it too.

Both dishes cost 50baht each and I usually order 1 plate of each cos the portion is quite small.

But since it was breakfast and I'm not a big breakfast eater, I only had 1 bowl of wanton mee.

SabX2 damage : 50baht (SGD$2.00)

SabX2

Petchburi soi 19

One of my favorite drinks to sip on in Bangkok's sweltering heat is this bottle of tangerine juice. It might be too sweet for some of you but if you have a sweet tooth like me, you would love this 20 baht bottle of goodness. It's so refreshing and sweet, and it's only 80cents!

Fruit and juice stalls are common sights in BKK so you can find it easily. Pomegranate juice is quite famous too but I prefer the tangerine one!

Spent an hour running some errands then headed back to the hotel for a nap while waiting for Judith and Denise to touch down and join me! We were rushing to meet our other friends so we settled for dinner right outside our hotel which was quite packed during dinner time.

 Tom Yum Goong

Ordered morning glory with garlic, tom yum soup with seafood, and fried pork. 

Niyom Pochana is listed as one of Thonglor's best street food but I'm not too sure about that. The food tasted alright, but not something I would go back for. Maybe their other dishes are nicer?

Dinner (with drinks) damage per person : 150 baht (SGD$6)

Niyom Pochana

125 Sukhumvit Soi 55, 02-3911517

This was on day 2 when we headed back to Pratunam area so the girls could shop around. Started my day with my favorite coconut juice from road side stalls. 30baht for a sweet coconut hmmm!

We wanted to have yum-mama noodles for lunch but it was already closed so we settled for omelette rice along Petchburi soi 19. I know it sounds damn simple but somehow it just tasted really good! They added minced pork and spices into the omelette so it tasted really yummy!

Shared a bowl with Denise since we weren't that hungry and it was only 35 baht! 

Headed back to Thonglor area to chill while the girls continued shopping and decided to check out Boyy cafe alone which I've been wanting to after hearing reviews about their dope croissant.

Nestled in the heart of Thonglor, Boyy cafe has a rustic and welcoming touch to it. I like how some cafes are designed to make people feel comfortable even when they're alone and Boyy is just like that. It's just the ambience and various elements like having books/magazines and round tables. 

Had the plain croissant which was really nice! Crispy crust with a slight salty buttery taste to it. Had a cup of iced blended chocolate banana drink to go with my afternoon of reading and going through Instagram (:

Damage at Boyy Cafe : approx 250 baht (SGD$10)

Boyy cafe

Grass, Thonglor Soi 10

We were heading out to party at Demo (ekkamai area) so we decided to grab dinner nearby. A quick google search led us to this famous Thai eatery that's popular among the locals. Ordered 6 dishes for 3 people heheh. My favorites have got to be the stir-fried vege with egg bits and tom yum goong! They are famous for their chicken but I've tried nicer ones around.

Total damage for 1 person : 250baht (SGD$10) 

So ridiculously cheap for 6 dishes!!! I'd definitely go back again. Nice and cheap!

Sabai Jai Gai Yang

Ekkamai soi 1, opposite Health Land

On the last day of our trip we decided to be a little adventurous with our cafe selection and picked this japanese-italian fusion cafe, Vanilla Bakeshop, tucked in an inconspicuous alley along Ekkamai.

And this, was our first meal. Unregrettably sinful!

The ring is their signature dish which is a hybrid croissant donut topped with vanilla custard top ice cream and caramel grass. SO GLORIOUS I LOVE IT. 280 baht, anytime brah! 

We also ordered the all-day Big Breakfast set (550baht) to share and it left all of us so freaking full. It comes with eggs of your choice (sunny side up, scrambled, omelette), orange juice, coffee, smoked ham, bacon, italian sausage, garlic mushroom with spinach, cheese toast and sauteed potato served with yoghurt with berries and maple puff pancake. That was the biggest and most value for money big breakfast I've ever eaten in my life. $22 for an endless list of food. If you're not a big (no scrap that, make it huge) eater, then make sure you share it with a friend or two.

Vanilla Bakeshop damage w tax per person : 304 baht (SGD$12)

Vanilla Bakeshop

Ekkamai Soi 12

Made a last quick stop at Maewaree for Thonglor's best mango sticky rice (120baht) according to a few friends!

Rice was super fragrant and had a nice texture but mango was a bit too sour that day. Apparently, it's not usually that sour so gotta go back to try again. They also have a choice of white, green and black glutinous rice so we picked white and green. Still prefer the former. Shared this among 3 people and it was sufficient considering the heavy lunch we had.

Maewaree damage per person : 40 baht (SGD$1.60)

Maewaree

Sukhumvit Soi 55.

Walk down towards Thonglor from Thonglor BTS and you will see it on the left side. It's one of the first few stalls along the road.

Before we headed to the airport, we had a quick meal at Thonglor where I spent 90 baht on a plate of pork basil rice. Didn't have time to take pictures cos we were rushing to the airport.

That's all the food I had in BKK for 3 days and I'm a satisfied girl. Had a good mix between roadside stalls and cafe food!

TOTAL DAMAGE FOR 3 DAYS : 1202baht, SGD$48.10!

MISSION POSSIBLE!

Super glad that I passed my own challenge but of course it helped that I went with 2 other friends so we could order more and split the bill. I think it would still be possible to do it alone, but maybe at less fancy cafes. I hope this post helps those of you planning to go BKK with a tight budget. Should I do one with a $30 budget next? Challenge me something, I'll do it if it's interesting (:
sophia.chong@hotmail.com or comment in the comment box below.

Also, you can view my BKK 3 days $50 challenge pictures on Instagram by searching #50bkkchallenge .

It's possible to to live with $50 after all (:

XX

Sophia Chong

Instagram : @sophiachong