Review: Food City at the Mall Ngam Wong Wan in Nonthaburi, Thailand

Several times a month I travel to Nonthaburi, a province on the outskirts of Bangkok, to have lunch with a close friend. We eat at various places, but one of our favorites is Food City at The Mall Ngam Wong Wan. Both of us are food court lovers, due to the always cheap prices and usually delicious fare, but when I say Food City at The Mall Ngam Wong Wan is superb it's actually an understatement.

Location of Food City at The Mall Ngam Wong Wan - The Mall Ngam Wong Wan is located on Ngam Wong Wan Road, just across the Bangkok-Nonthaburi line. Food City is the mall's massive food court, which you'll find on the fifth floor of the mall. Stand-alone restaurants are around some of the edges, with the food court itself occupying the middle section.

Buying Food at Food City - Before you purchase food at any of the stalls at Food City, you must buy coupons. You can purchase them in any denomination you like at one of the coupon counters. I always begin with 100 baht ($3.10). That's usually enough for a main course, a dessert and a drink and I still usually get change back. But, if I'm feeling greedy, and I've used all the coupons, I go back to the coupon counter to buy more later. Don't forget, if you buy coupons and don't use them all, you can return the unused ones for a full refund. You just must do it on the same day you purchased them.

Food Stalls at Food City - The first time my friend and I ate at Food City, we couldn't make a decision on what to eat. There's so much choice and, with every one of the 35 or so food stalls cooking amazing looking food, narrowing down one dish from the several hundred on offer is extremely difficult. My suggestion is to walk around and check out every stall to see what's on offer before you decide on food from just one. Remember too, you can order dishes from different stalls -- a fun thing to do if you're eating with a group as you get to sample so many things.

Typical dishes includes chicken, pork and beef dishes with rice. soup, noodles (dry, with soup, or fried), som tam (spicy papaya salad), noodles in gravy with pork and kale (my favorite dish), Thai omelettes, Pad Thai, fried rice (with shrimp, pork or chicken), vegetarian dishes, Chinese sausage, seafood, fried fish, curries, coconut soups, and hundreds more things.

Once you've made your decision, place your order if you speak Thai (most vendors here don't speak any English as it's a non-tourist area). If you can't speak Thai, no worries, simply point either at the food or at a photo of a dish you'd like and your food will be cooked fresh while you wait and, of course, served with a smile. Buy a drink at a separate counter (soft drinks, fruit juices, fruit shakes, iced tea, iced coffee and more), and pick up some clean utensils from a utensil tray on your way to a table. Enjoy your meal (and I guarantee, you will).

You'll find, after just one visit to Food City, you're dying to eat there again. During the first month of my discovering the food court, I ate there five times as, not only is everything they serve authentic Thai taste and very tasty, prices are the cheapest of almost any food court in the Bangkok area and portions are large.

Prices - Most main dishes are in the 30-40 baht ($1.00 to $1.30) range. Drinks are 15-20 baht (50 cents to 75 cents) for an iced tea, iced coffee, fruit juice or soft drink, and Thai desserts between 15-20 baht also.
As you can see, for only 70 baht ($2.30), it's easily possible to enjoy a nice meal, a delicious traditional Thai dessert, and a drink. When an iced coffee in most places in the US costs more than all of this put together, now you can see how cheap Food City is.

You'll find Food City at The Mall Ngam Wong Wan. Take the BTS sky train to Mo Chit station then hop in a taxi from there. It's just a 10 minute ride. (By the way, the name of the mall is pronounced "Ngaaaam Wong Waaaan".

More Information:

The Mall Ngam Wong Wan website