Doong Deng Dai Traditional Boat Noodle

A friend of mine recently had lunch at Thonglor Tops Boutique shopping mall. He said it was really good. So, we decided to go there for lunch. The restaurant is called Doong Deng Dai and it specializes in traditional boat noodle. Boat noodle comes from the ancient times in Thailand when Bangkok was known as the Venice of Asia. Before roads, Bangkok had canals. That is how people traveled and sold food. In those times, noodle soup was sold on boats traveling up and down the canal. Stopping by the pier, someones home or another boat passing by.

DDD is a well decorated and is quite large for a place that only serves boat noodle. Large windows allow lots of light to shine through.


DDD has an open kitchen (with glass windows), and you can see the cooks making your orders.










On each table has the usual condiments of sugar, fish sauce, vinegar & chili. But, here they also have a bowl with packs of crispy pork skin and deep fried seaweed. I am used to eating both, but I really like the deep fried seaweed. You can eat them as snacks (they charge 20 baht for every pack you open), or you wait for your soup and dip them into the soup for extra flavour and texture to the soup.










For boat noodle, you choose the type of noodle you want and you choose what you want to go into your soup. You can choose between pork or beef, then what type of pork or beef (pork balls or fresh pork or both), then the vegetables you want in the soup and then if you want it dry or with liquid (you even get to choose the type of liquid; dark or clear). I ordered sen-mee (thin rice noodle), with beef balls and fresh beef, morning glory and dark soup. I have to say it was very good. I even ordered a second bowl. I swear, I swear, the bowls are small. Its not that I have a black hole for a stomach or anything like that.


DDD does not only serve boat noodle, they also have plenty of dishes that are considered side dishes. Of course, they consist of either pork or beef as well. They come any way you want. For example for the pork, you can order pork balls grilled on sticks, boiled or fried. Each one comes with its own special sauce. We ordered the grilled pork balls with sweet & spicy sauce. The pork tasted very good and had a good texture, the sauce was not too sweet (which was nice) and the pork balls were grilled just fine.

DDD is a great place to have great soup and some snacks. A very nice and homey atmosphere. A lot of families come here on weekends for lunch. So be warned on weekends, you actually might have to wait for a table. However, the nice thing is that they have a counter at the bar or in front of the kitchen with stools. Which is nice to eat there, you can catch all the action.