Bangkok Young Chefs Challenge · Rules for Competitors

The challenge is open to students aged 15 to 20 live or study in Bangkok. Competitors may enter Thai dish, including street food, home cooking and dishes from regional cuisines.

In the final round, each competitor has 90 minutes to prepare three portions of their dish. Ingredients that need long preparation, such as broths and sauces, may be prepared at home brought to the venue.

Dishes will be judged on taste, presentation, creativity and the competitor’s understanding of the dish’s history. Competitors should be ready to explain they chose their dish and how it has changed over time.

All competitors must follow food safety rules. Hair must be tied back, and gloves must be worn handling cooked food. Any competitor who ignores these rules be disqualified.

The winner will receive a scholarship of 50,000 baht. The second- and third-placed competitors will receive 20,000 and 10,000 baht, .

“Food That Belongs to the Street” · Jom’s speech after winning second place

Thank you to the judges, and thank you to my grandmother, who rolled noodle soup on Yaowarat Road for more than forty years.

When I told her I wanted to enter this competition, she laughed. “You can’t even fold the noodles,” she said. She was right. For a month, I practised every evening my hands finally learned what hers already knew.

Street food is often treated as something cheap and temporary. But for many families in Bangkok, it is a heritage from one generation to the next. Every bowl my grandmother serves carries the taste of my great-grandfather’s recipe, he brought from Guangdong as a young man.

Today, that heritage is under pressure. Rents in Chinatown are rising, and some families who have cooked here for decades to move. I believe our city can grow without losing the people who make it special. Tourists do not come to Yaowarat to see new hotels. They come the noodles, the smoke from the grills and the voices of the cooks.

I will use my prize to study food science. , I hope to return one day and help street vendors keep their traditions alive while meeting modern standards. Thank you.

Grandma Lin, I think I can the noodles now.

Yaowarat Night Food Guide · Stall 14: Lin’s Rolled Noodle Soup

Open: 18:00–00:00, closed Mondays
Price: 60 baht (regular), 80 baht (special, with extra crispy pork)
Payment: cash or QR code

What to order: The special. The peppery broth is simmered for eight hours, and the crispy pork is made fresh every evening.

Good to know: The queue can be long between 19:00 and 21:00. Seating is limited to six small tables on the pavement. Vegetarian broth is available on request, but please ask before 20:00, as it is made in small amounts.

Our rating: ★★★★★ for taste, ★★★ for comfort.

History: Founded in 1978 by Lin Weiming, who arrived from Guangdong in the 1950s. Now run by his daughter-in-law, Grandma Lin, and her grandson Jom.

Who Owns the Pavement?

Bangkok’s street food is famous around the world. Food writers praise its flavours, travel guides list its best stalls, and a few vendors have even received international awards. For millions of residents, street food is simply the most affordable and convenient way to eat.

Yet the city has an uneasy relationship with its vendors. In recent years, authorities have cleared stalls from many pavements, arguing that they block pedestrians, create rubbish and make streets less orderly. Some areas, including parts of Chinatown, have been allowed to continue with stricter rules on hours, hygiene and the space stalls may occupy.

Supporters of the clearances argue that pavements belong to everyone, including people in wheelchairs and parents with prams, who often have to walk on the road. Critics reply that the policy affects some of the city’s poorest workers and that it may damage one of Bangkok’s greatest attractions.

Rising property prices create another pressure. As older neighbourhoods become popular with tourists and investors, rents increase. Family businesses that have operated for generations may be replaced by hotels, chain stores and cafés. The result can be a neighbourhood that looks more modern but has lost much of what made it distinctive.

Some urban planners propose a middle path: clearly marked vending zones, affordable licences, shared washing facilities and support for vendors to meet hygiene standards. Their argument is simple. A city that wants to keep its character must make room for the people who create it.

A letter to the district office

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing about the plan to redevelop the row of shophouses on Yaowarat Road, including the building behind Stall 14, Lin’s Rolled Noodle Soup.

I have eaten at this stall every week for more than thirty years. I first came as a university student with no money, and Mr. Lin, the founder, often gave me an extra spoonful of crispy pork without charging me. Today I bring my own grandchildren.

I understand that the city must change. New hotels bring jobs and visitors, and I do not oppose development. But I ask you to consider what kind of development we want. If every old family business is replaced by a hotel or a chain store, Yaowarat will become like any other shopping street in the world, and visitors will have little reason to come.

Other cities have found ways to protect small, long-established businesses, for example by offering them lower rents or tax reductions in historic districts. I believe Bangkok could do the same.

The Lin family has fed this neighbourhood for nearly half a century. Last week, their grandson won second place in the Bangkok Young Chefs Challenge with his great-grandfather’s recipe. Surely a city should be proud to keep such a story alive.

Yours faithfully,
Somsak Tangtrakul