Food in Thailand 2026: what to try and what it costs to eat in Pattaya

9/29/2026

Street lunch from 50 baht, food court from 40, a seafood market that sells by the kilo. 10 dishes worth trying, 5 places in Pattaya with maps, and a list of things everyone raves about that you should skip.

Food in Thailand is a place where Pad Thai from a street stall costs 60 baht, a dinner of fresh prawns for two comes to 500, and the most honest restaurant in town sits on the fifth floor of a shopping mall. Below: 2026 prices for Pattaya, 10 dishes worth the flight on their own, 5 places with maps, and a short list of things everyone raves about that you should skip. First, a quick money compass so you don't overpay from day one: 1. Street food cart (a little kitchen on wheels parked right on the pavement) - 50-80 baht a dish, 10-20 a skewer. 2. Mall food court - 40-90 baht a plate, lunch for one 100-150. 3. Thai cafe for locals - 90-150 baht for a main. 4. Tourist restaurant on Beach Road or Walking Street - from 300 baht a dish, Tom Yum 150-200. 5. Night market - Thai dishes 60-120, a plate of seafood 150-250. 6. Drinks - 1.5 L of water 11-15 baht, Thai iced tea 25-40, a shake 40-70, coffee 40-90, a 0.33 can of Chang around 45. If you eat on the street and at food courts, 300-400 baht a day per person covers three meals plus dessert and a drink. What to try if it's your first time in Thailand: 1. Pad Thai - stir-fried rice noodles with egg, tamarind and peanuts, 50-80 baht. The safest first dish: you set the heat yourself with the condiments on the table. 2. Tom Yum Goong - hot and sour prawn soup with lemongrass, 80-120 at a food court, 150-200 in a restaurant. Ask for "nam khon" if you want the richer, creamy version with coconut milk. 3. Som Tam - green papaya salad, 40-80 baht. The real thing is fiercely spicy, so say "phet noi" (just a little spicy). 4. Pad Krapow - pork or chicken with holy basil and chilli, topped with a fried egg with crispy edges, 50-70 baht. It's what Thais order for lunch more than anything else. 5. Khao Pad - fried rice with chicken, prawns or crab, 50-80 baht. A lifesaver for anyone who doesn't do spicy. 6. Massaman curry - a mellow curry with potatoes and peanuts, barely spicy, 80-120 baht. Even kids love it. 7. Khao Man Gai - poached chicken on rice with ginger sauce and a cup of broth, 50-60 baht. Thailand's answer to a kebab: fast, filling, everywhere. 8. Moo Ping - charcoal-grilled pork skewers with sticky rice in a little bag, 10-20 baht each. Breakfast for half of Pattaya. 9. Mango Sticky Rice - ripe mango with rice cooked in coconut milk, 60-120 baht. Mango season in Pattaya is March-May; the rest of the year it's pricier and more sour. 10. Roti with banana - a thin pancake with banana, condensed milk and chocolate, 30-60 baht. Made right in front of you: look for a cart with a flat cast-iron griddle. Where to find all this in Pattaya - 5 places the locals actually go: 1. Pier 21 food court at Terminal 21 - fifth floor, dishes 40-90 baht, air con and clean toilets. You top up a card at the entrance and get the balance back at the counter. Open daily. 2. Thepprasit Night Market - Friday to Sunday, 17:00-23:00. Grilled seafood 120-300 baht, skewers 10-20, desserts 30-80. The biggest food choice in town. 3. Jomtien Night Market - daily from 17:00, right by the beach, smaller and calmer than Thepprasit. Same prices. 4. Lan Pho fish market in Naklua - opens in the morning, and the best of the catch is gone by lunch. Prawns 350-650 baht a kg, squid 250-450. The stalls next door will grill or steam it all for 80-120 baht per kilo. 5. The street food carts near where you're staying - carts on any soi with a queue of Thais in front. The queue is the best quality stamp there is: nothing sits around, it's cooked while you wait. 7-Eleven deserves its own chapter. The ham and cheese toasties they heat up for you at the till cost 25-40 baht, onigiri 25-40, a cup of Tom Yum noodles 15-25, All Café coffee 35-55. Since 29 May 2026, shops sell alcohol from 11:00 to 24:00 with no afternoon break, but on Buddhist holidays the fridges are locked nationwide: the next one is 26 October, and we have a separate guide on it. Three phrases that will save your stomach: "mai phet" - not spicy, "phet noi" - a little, "tao rai" - how much. Pointing at someone else's plate works too. Ice in Thailand is factory-made, the kind with a hole in the middle, and it's fine everywhere. Tap water is something even Thais don't drink: bottles and water coolers only. Now for the stuff everyone raves about that you should skip: 1. Scorpion on a stick on Walking Street - 100-200 baht for a social media photo, and it tastes like fried nothing. Thais don't eat it. 2. Durian back to the hotel - almost every hotel has a crossed-out durian sign, and the smell in your room earns you a cleaning fee. Eat it at the stall, where they'll open it for you too. 3. Tom Yum at a Beach Road restaurant with a picture menu - 300-400 baht for what costs 80 at a food court. The only difference is the view of the traffic. 4. A bucket of SangSom "Thai whiskey" and Red Bull - it's rum with syrup and an energy drink, and the morning after simply never arrives. 5. Sushi at a night market in the heat - raw fish sitting out in thirty-degree air costs 10 baht a piece for a reason. 6. Fruit that's been sliced and sitting in the display case since morning - go for the ones they cut while you watch. If you want food with a story rather than just food, Pattaya has a few day trips where the eating is good enough to call them foodie tours: 1. Damnoen Saduak floating market and the Maeklong railway market - food straight off the boats, lunch at a restaurant in Amphawa and an evening with fireflies, the "Amphawa - city on the water" tour, from 3,000 baht. 2. A pineapple plantation with tasting and a buffet lunch on the way to Khao Kheow zoo, where you feed the animals by hand, Khao Kheow with a plantation and lunch, from 1,100 baht. 3. Lunch on Koh Larn - Thai-style seafood fried rice right on the beach, Koh Larn + Koh Sak, from 900 baht, runs daily. 4. Dinner and a show after the Pattaya floating market (buffet in high season) - an easy pick for evenings when you don't feel like hunting for food yourself, city tour with dinner and a show, from 1,700 baht. Naklua is about half an hour from Jomtien, Thepprasit is the same from the north of town, and getting there by public songthaew means changing cars with no guarantee the second one goes where you need. A bike for the day is from 200 baht, cheaper than two taxi rides; all options with prices and terms are in our transport rental catalogue. Cheat sheet for your phone: Pier 21 food court by day, Thepprasit on Friday-Sunday evenings, Naklua in the morning for seafood, "mai phet" for anything spicy, 300-400 baht a day for food. Forward this to friends flying to Pattaya in November-December: they'll save on their very first dinner and won't buy a 200-baht scorpion.