Thai desserts
Thai desserts are built on coconut cream, palm sugar and ripe fruit, and mango sticky rice is the one people cross town for, at its best from March to May. Judge it by the fruit and the cream: deep golden mango, and coconut that tastes salty as well as sweet.
Photo: Muzirian (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The dessert people cross town for is mango sticky rice, best when mangoes are ripe from March to May. A portion is often 50 to 120 THB. Look at the fruit. Pale cubes are a skip. Coconut cream should taste salty-sweet, not like syrup only.
The rest of the tray is khanom krok (coconut cups), tub tim krob (water chestnut in coconut ice), bua loy (rice-flour dumplings), and lod chong (pandan noodles in coconut milk). Old-style crepes sit at Nang Loeng in the morning. Fruit by month is on the season page.
What to order
- Khao niao mamuang when the mango is deep yellow.
- Khanom krok hot from the pan. The middle should still be soft.
- Tub tim krob if you want cold and crunchy. It is a cup, not a meal.
More food guides
Book
Compare Across Southeast Asia: Thai Food vs. Vietnamese Food
Eating your way across Southeast Asia? Pair Thailand’s wok-fired street stalls and regional curries with Vietnam’s herb-bright broths, banh mi, and specialty coffee.
Vietnamese Food Guide & Dish Directory
Regional dish breakdowns, street-stall addresses, and ordering rules for pho, bun cha, banh mi, cao lau, and egg coffee.
Explore Vietnamese Food Guide →Northern Broths & CoffeeHanoi Street Food Guide
Charcoal-grilled bun cha, beef pho at dawn, crispy crab spring rolls, and Old Quarter café culture.
Read Hanoi Food Guide →Southern Markets & SeafoodHo Chi Minh City & Da Nang Food Guides
Late-night shellfish alleys, broken rice plates (com tam), crispy banh xeo crepes, and Central Vietnamese noodle bowls.
Read Saigon Food Guide →Common questions
- All year mango?
- Stalls try. March to May is the ripe season. Other months, inspect the fruit.
- Vegan?
- Mango sticky rice usually is, if the cream is coconut. Ask about egg.