A Brief Guide to Bangkok’s Little India

A brief guide to Bangkok’s Little India

Most people coming to Bangkok would have heard about or visited the city’s Chinatown, or would at least probably expect to find a Chinatown in a city like the Thai capital, which has a prevalent population of immigrant Chinese stemming back hundreds of years.

But what may not be so obvious about Thailand, and specifically Bangkok, is the fact that a variety of other cultures and sub-cultures have immigrated and integrated themselves into the Thai populace over generations. The obvious examples would be those from bordering regions such as Laos and Cambodia, as well as Myanmar and even Vietnam, but there are also veins of Middle Eastern and Indian migrants stretching way back.

Many facets of Indian culture and regions have indeed been one of the most prevalent and influential to Thai culture along with those of the Chinese, certainly in particular areas of the city where you will see this influence more obviously.

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If you head to Nana in the Sukhumvit Road region, you will find Indian restaurants and vendors in the form of tailors and silk merchants. Then in the Ratchaprasong area of the city there are the famous Hindu shrines that are places of much prayer and merit-making for locals and also many passing visitors.

Which brings us to Bangkok’s ‘Little India’, which is also known locally as ‘Phahurat Market’, and is indeed not too far from the city’s famous Chinatown (which features in another one of our posts, as does another migrant region by way of the ‘Arab Quarter’).

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The Little India region is located in an area of Bangkok largely considered as part of the ‘Old Town’, not too far away from the banks of the Chao Phraya River. The term ‘little’ is kind of appropriate too, as it’s not a massive area by any means, it is rather more one main road and a bunch of alleyways.

So if you were heading for Chinatown you could easily stop off for yet more cultural diversity by way of Bangkok’s Phahurat Market — a.k.a. ‘Little India’.

This is an area nothing like the neighbouring Chinatown district, in which it can be quite easy to actually lose all sense of direction in the maze of streets that all seem to look the same if you aren’t careful, but it’s still worth visiting if you are interested in some of Bangkok’s grass roots diversity, and it’s not a particularly touristy area, which makes it more appealing in some ways.

And even though it’s not exactly a massive affair, there are a few prominent indicators as to the Indian community prevalent here, by way of a huge Sikh temple, identifiable by its golden dome.

There are also probably rather a few more curry houses (not the Thai style) than you would normally happen across, and then there are the silk and other textile shops which are deemed to be the best by local Thais looking to get their own tailoring done (or maybe do some of their own – as even the Thai-Chinese tailors come here to pick up materials).

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Getting there

It is relatively easy to get to Pahurat, and probably a taxi – or even better, a Grab taxi or car – is probably the most hassle-free way to get there from wherever you may be staying.

If you are staying anywhere close to the Old Town, or even better, to Chinatown, you might even be able to walk, as the area is a 10-minute wander from the Express Boat Pier alongside the Pak Khlong Talat flower market.

The nearest MRT Station is Hua Lamphong, which is then probably a 10-minute taxi drive away, depending on the traffic at that time.

The actual address is Little India Bangkok, Phahurat Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200

Attractions

Dining in Little India

For anyone heading up to this region out of interest, aside from the cheap and value-for-money textiles on offer, the promise of authentic Indian food may actually be the main reason.

Indian food is generally not cheap in Bangkok as it most prominently is found in central city restaurants catering to tourists and hence charging international prices. Phahurat Road contains a good few curry-house gems that go big on authentic flavour – which will be fine as long as you are not expecting exceptional and exotic décor, and what some might tend to consider as questionable   cleanliness.

If that seems off-putting, there are a couple of things to consider: namely, the majority of restaurants that you eat in in Thailand, whether they look nice or not, will have, by international standards, what could easily be deemed questionable hygiene practices. The second thing is, you’ll be paying somewhere in the region of a quarter of what it costs over in Sukhumvit for a curry and naan.

But if you consider yourself as something of a connoisseur when it comes to authentic Indian cuisine, you’ll probably defer that there’s plenty of great food around in this area in terms of restaurants and street stalls, with a plentitude of Indian desserts and sweets.

There are a couple of renowned restaurants that are usually listed in guides for this area, and as they are so well-known there’s no reason not to include a brief description here by way of example. Sometimes though, it might be better to just wander around the winding sois surrounding the area until you find somewhere that feels right.

Royal India 

Here is an established name in Indian cuisine in Bangkok that actually 4 different branches in the city, including, by something of a way of contrast in the ‘posh’ areas of Phrom Pong and Siam.

Specialising in northern Indian cuisine, the restaurant first opened in the 1960s and was apparently the first Indian restaurant to open in Thailand. It’s no surprise then that the first premises was the one in Phahurat, which initially opened to service the burgeoning Indian community of migrants in the area before going on to win awards and be covered in a variety of magazines and other journals.

Address: 392/1 Chakraphet Road

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Toney’s Restaurant 

Here you’ll find a distinctly local feel in a place specialising in relatively inexpensive Indian-Nepalese cuisine, and certainly you’ll find it cheaper than the Royal India restaurant. The menu features a range of curries and other dishes, which are served with rice or fresh roti.

It is basically side-street street stall across a footpath, alongside a canal, and can be found on Chakphet Road, in a small soi opposite to the San Chao Mae Tub Tim Chinese temple.

Just to add to the authenticity of the place, the local clientele is mainly Indian men watching football match on the TV. Service is nevertheless in English, and you’ll find favourites like chicken masala, aloo gobi and matar paneer on the menu here.

You can actually see the roti being hand stretched and fried just across the alleyway before they hit your plate, and to top it all off you can get a cup of masala chai tea!

Address: 64/1 Soi Rim Klong Ong Ang, off Chakphet Road

A couple of other reportedly worthwhile stop-offs in this little area in terms of eateries  worthy of noting are the Shiva Family Restaurant (95/51 Tri Phet Road), and also Mama Restaurant and Sweets (436 Chakphet Road, inside Soi Rim Klong Ong Ang which is just a little further down from Toney’s).

Soi Rim Klong Ong Arg is the place where you’ll generally find some great snacks and take-aways like samosas (outside the Indian Emporium shopping centre), and there’s a cheap, vegetarian curry-and-rice stall behind this mall that might be worth a look.

Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha Sikh temple

Image by tiseb sourced from wikimedia commons

One thing if anything that stands out as a symbol of the Little India region of Pahurath, smack-bang in the centre on Chakphet Road, is the Sikh temple with the large golden dome known as known as Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha.

It’s actually difficult to miss this little India landmark, and the temple is well worth a visit if you are in the area – especially if you’ve already done a few Thai temple tours. You’ll actually get some impressive views of Pahurat, as well as Yaowarat if you can make it to the top of the six-storey temple.

This construction has some historical and cultural value in that it actually dates back to 1932 and is apparently the second-largest Sikh temple outside of India.

The temple has something of a reputation for being welcoming, a fact made obvious by the daily buffet feast of vegetarian food that is actually provided every morning, for anyone who wants to partake, regardless of any religious denomination.

Phahurat Road shopping

So don’t expect anything along the lines of a usual Thai market, or even a Thai shopping mall for that matter. What this area is popular for though, even among the Thais, is textile, fabric and traditional dress shops.

It might be a fading tradition but many Thais of previous generous own at least one, traditional-style, hand-tailored dress or suit. They might have it made at their favourite tailor, but there’s a high chance that the textiles used originated in this region.

Many of them go and buy the fabric themselves and then get a local tailor to make it for them, but the prices in Bangkok’s Little India are widely deemed to be the best.

Image by by francisco anzola from creativecommons.org

There is actually a 4-storey mall in the area, which is somewhat run-down by usual Thai standards although it does have the same name as one of the top high-end malls in Bangkok, albeit with India in front of it — India Emporium..

The fabric theme continues within this mall, not surprisingly with many dress shops that specialise in hand-made, tailored dress garments. You can various types of silk sold by the square metre, which again is quite cheap compared to many of the Thai-Chinese traders in other areas.

If you are into Bollywood-themed DVDs you won’t be disappointed either, and there’s a range of jewellery, and Hindu-themed artwork being sold in some stores.

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Spice shops in Pahurat

Another thing long-associated with Indian communities everywhere is spices, and in this particular little neighbourhood they are a-plenty. In fact, anyone who is a bit of a food nerd will likely be somewhat in their element in the Little India region of Pahurat.

So if you are a bit of an ingredients-seeker on the lookout for authentic items, then here is your opportunity to stock up on a range of authentic, pungent and almost ridiculously inexpensive Indian spices, along with a few other essential Indian cooking ingredients to take home.

If you take a wander along the Pahurat Road you will soon start to notice numerous small shops selling dried spices and such like – basically all the good stuff likely to be found in Indian cuisine. Some of it is also used in Thai cooking, which is one of the reasons that many Thai restaurant vendors come down to this area to stock up on particular ingredients that are likely to be much cheaper than anywhere else in the city. 

Most of the shops have a pretty decent range of spices on offer, and if you do a little more digging you will also find a good few market stalls will also be selling various collections of Indian spices and other ingredients prevalent to the cuisine. These stalls are more likely to be found along some of the narrower alleyways that are connected Pahurat Road.

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Another thing that Indians and other migrants from similar regions are known for selling is nuts. So if you have a walk along Pahurat Road and also the Tri Phet Road just around the corner, you’ll also find plenty of stalls on the paths selling bags of all manner of nuts and various other similar items like dried beans.

You’ll find the obligatory peanuts along with a few cashews, pistachios and almonds – again at prices much, much lower than you would be likely to at other Bangkok markets and supermarkets. There will be a few dried fruits and such like, too – again at significantly low prices.

So not a massive area by any means but still worth checking out if you are in the Chinatown region.