10 Must-Buy Snacks In Bangkok To Bring Back To Singapore

I’ve shopped and eaten my way through Bangkok but there’s one thing left to do before I leave the country: buy snacks. Snacks in every country are always different, and I love to see what each country has to offer.

So here are 10 unique snacks that you should definitely get when you’re in Bangkok.

—Big C Hypermart—

There’s no better spot to do a snack run than a sprawling hypermart!

1. White Chocolate Caramel Mentos

Let’s start with the smaller snacks that you can bring around with you anywhere you go.

These White Chocolate Caramel Mentos (THB15) are slightly bigger compared to the conventional minty mentos you find in Singapore.

These had a caramel chewy outer layer and a white chocolate centre that just melted in my mouth.

With a combination like white chocolate and caramel, I was expecting the snack to be packed full of sugar. However, the overall taste wasn’t too sweet.

After biting into the core of the sweet, the white chocolate helped to bring out the slightly burnt taste of the caramel. For less than S$1, I think this is extremely worth it, especially since its small size means it won’t take up too much space in my luggage.

2. Roasted Chicken Chips With Dip

These Chicken Chips With Sweet And Spicy Suace (THB9.50) was really interesting, as this was the first time I’ve seen a bag of chips that comes with a traditional Thai dipping sauce that was sweet and mildly spicy. 

The chips tasted a lot like the potato wheel crackers that I used to eat during my childhood. Airy and light, the chips are lightly flavoured with a chicken seasoning. Because of the mild taste, the chips went well with the Thai sweet and spicy sauce.

Although I found it slightly troublesome that I had to juggle the bag of chips, the sauce container and picking up the chips, I still think they are a lighter alternative that’s easier to binge.

3. Durian Tao Kae Noi Seaweed

Since Thailand is famous for durians, I wasn’t too surprised to see a durian snack like Durian Tao Kae Noi (THB39). Inside the bag was ten individually-packed packets of durian seaweed.

When I tore it open, I expected to smell the strong pungent scent characteristic of durians, but that wasn’t the case.

Unfortunately, even though the seaweed was very crunchy, it mostly tasted like sweet caramel rather than durian. The durian taste was very mild and only kicked in after I chewed on the seaweed for a while.  

I presume this snack would be great for durian newbies, looking to get their first durian experience but not wanting to be immediately turned off by the smell.

4. Chilli Crab Chips

Chilli crab is a uniquely Singaporean dish, so I wasn’t expecting to find it in Thailand. A bag of Chilli Crab Chips (THB49) caught my eye as I was walking down the supermarket aisle, reminding me of home.

These chips had grooves on them which gave extra texture, and they were quite crunchy too.

I must say I was a little disappointed when it didn’t taste like anything like chilli crab. Instead, it tasted like tomato-based pizza sauce sprinkled with salt.

Despite that, I would still buy these chips, for something slightly different from my usual salted chips.

5. Lobster Hotplate Flavoured Chips

Thailand is famous for its cheap and fresh seafood so seeing this Lobster Hotplate Flavoured Chips (THB28) got me really excited. Upon opening the bag, a strong prawn scent wafted into my nose, with hints of brine too.

The chips have different layers of flavours, hitting my tastebuds first with hot and spicy flavours similar to that of Calbee’s Hot And Spicy Chips. A garlicky prawn flavour surfaced shortly after, and the flavour profile rounds off with the zesty lime.

With such depth of flavour and complexity in a single chip, this was hands-down my favourite snack.

Big C Hypermart: 97, 11 Ratchadamri Road, Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330, Thailand | Tel: +66 2 250 4888 | Opening Hours: 9am – 2am (Daily) | Website

–7-Eleven–

7-Eleven stores are a dime a dozen, so it’s not too hard to hunt for these snacks.

6. Lepan Banana

Moving on to something less oily, the Lepan Banana (THB12) is what I like to call the “Tokyo Banana of Thailand”. 

Unfortunately, this snack isn’t the prettiest. It merely looks like two yellow buns with some greyish cream in the middle. Luckily, it tastes way better than it looks. 

The sponge cakes were extremely delicate and airy, while the banana cream in the middle tasted like the actual fruit. There was the right cream-to-sponge-cake ratio, and I would not have suspected a thing if someone told me that this was Tokyo Banana instead.

Costing only a fraction of Tokyo Bananas at S$0.50, I would definitely buy more of these when I’m in Bangkok.

7. Salted Egg Yolk Tempura Tao Kae Noi

The Salted Egg Yolk Tao Kae Noi (THB39) they sell in Bangkok might just be the new alternative to your regular Irvin’s Salted Egg Yolk Fish Skin.

Each individual sheet of seaweed is battered then fried to give it an extra crunchiness, similar in texture to salted egg yolk fish skin.

Fortunately, the seaweed is lightly battered so it is not too oily.

I really enjoyed the savoury flavours of the batter mixed with the saltiness of the seaweed and salted egg seasoning.

If you’re not a fan of the briny salted egg yolk fish skin, then I think this is the snack for you.  

8. 2 In 1 Lobster With Thai Chilli Sauce Dip Flavour Chips

These 2 In 1 Lobster With Thai Chilli Sauce Dip Flavour Chips (THB55) was interesting. Not only does each pack contain two types of chips, but these two chips are also complementary to one another.

The lobster-flavoured chips are slightly orange, with a slightly salty prawn taste and a sweet glaze on it. The Thai chilli sauce flavoured chips were green and not much flavour on the first bite.

The lime seasoning added some citrus notes to the chips, though there wasn’t much depth of flavour.

If you have the self-control to stop after one or two chips, you wouldn’t be able to taste much flavour. But binging on the bag of chips made me feel like I was dipping prawns into a tangy chilli sauce. The zestiness from the dipping sauce chip was very refreshing too, brightening the flavours of the prawns.

This bag of chips even has a resealable tape to keep the chips nice and crispy! (Not that I’d need to use that resealable tape.)

9. Green Curry Cup Noodles

Do not belittle this cup of Green Curry Cup Noodles (THB35) because it packs a lot of flavours. I wasn’t expecting cup noodles to make it onto this list, but this is a must-try.

After cooking the noodles, the soup turned milky and looked exactly like green curry. I liked the strong coconut flavour of the soup, with notes of different spices such as lemongrass.

Although the noodles were a little bland, they were able to soak up all the intense flavours of the green curry.

I would recommend filling the hot water until it’s slightly below the line to achieve this thick consistency that’s close to that of actual green curry.

10. Tao Kae Noi 4x Spicy Instant Noodles

The Tao Kae Noi 4x Spicy Instant Noodles (THB110 per pack of 5) came with a thick tom yum soup base. I could taste the aromatic lemongrass flavours followed by a spicy kick that hit the back of my throat.

At the end of every mouthful, there was a lingering sourness and tanginess from the lime leaves. If you love Tao Kae Noi, you’ll be glad to know that there’s a piece of original seaweed with each pack.

Not only did it provide a savoury crunch to every bite, but it also gave a subtle earthiness to contrast the tangy and spicy soup.