Sanguan Sri: Egg Sausage Soup & Other Home-Cooked Thai Dishes Along Wireless Rd In Bangkok, Thailand

Surrounded by malls, hotels and office buildings along the busy Wireless Road in Bangkok, Sanguan Sri is easy to find and yet easy to miss too.

A five-minute walk from Ploen Chit BTS station, you just have to keep a lookout for the signage and nondescript entrance of this hole-in-the-wall eatery.

Enter and you will be greeted by typical Thai restaurant decor from the 80s. Named after the lady boss herself, Sanguan Sri has been in operation for about 48 years.

Unpretentious and buzzing with hungry folks, locals sit shoulder to shoulder enjoying their meal.

Just wait at the cashier counter and someone will help you locate a table. While most of the elderly staff don’t speak English, they can understand enough to know what you need if you speak slowly.

In the meantime, grab a copy of the English menu, a pencil and paper. You will need to write down your order and doing so in English is fine. Portions are small but this allows you to order a few more dishes for sharing and sampling.

For starters, the Crispy Rice with Pork Coconut Sauce (THB60/THB120) is a must-try. Spoon a little of the gravy onto the cracker and pop it into your mouth.

The savoury minced meat with the gravy, well-flavoured with spices, and the sweetness of the coconut milk were a great combination of textures and flavours.

The Fried Mackerel and Shrimp Paste Sauce (THB90/THB180) came with a generous portion of fresh vegetables and cubes of omelette with Acacia leaves.

The mackerel was lightly seasoned and fried to a lovely brown. I am not a fan of fermented shrimp paste but the use of it in this dish gave an extraordinary boost of flavour without stealing the show.

A common dish done street-style, the Chicken Green Curry (THB60/THB120) was light and slightly watery. It was bursting with flavour from the chillies, peppercorns, basil and kaffir lime leaves.

It was interesting to note that the addition of coconut milk gave it a natural coconutty sweetness without too much creaminess, meaning the dish didn’t get jelak at all.

Since we had our meal there on a Wednesday, we ordered the Cassia Curry with Pork (only available on Wednesdays) (THB70/THB140). Made with red curry paste and local Thai Cassia leaves, the dish arrived looking similar to the previous dish, brimming with green leafy Cassia and pork slices.

The aromatic medley of cumin, coriander, galangal, chilli and zesty lime made for a good blend of spices in the curry that brought out the flavour of the ingredients, especially the pork.

The Pork Ribs Spicy Soup (THB80/THB160) looked pretty manageable but be warned – it was light and clear, but packed a punch of tangy spiciness that lingered on the palate long after each sip.

An ancient street dish, this Egg Sausage Soup (THB60/THB120) is a clear soup that tasted like the classic minced pork tofu soup but with the addition of the egg sausages.

The mini macaron lookalikes actually comprise egg stuffed in pork intestine sausages. The texture was a cross between hard-boiled egg whites and fishballs; slightly bouncy and chewy. Together with the minced pork and soft tofu in the soup, this dish was naturally sweet and comforting.

The Fried Fish Paste Balls (THB80/THB160) were really just fish paste combined with chilli, spices and thinly-sliced green beans before being fried to a golden brown.

Dip the pieces into the homemade sauce that was sweet, vinegarish and slightly salty as it helped to cut through the oiliness and amplified the juicy fish paste mixture in terms of umami-ness.

The Fried Pork Slices with Garlic and Gravy (THB90) is a quick stir-fry of thin pork slices in oyster sauce with garlic and pepper. It was a simple dish that had the taste of grandma’s cooking.

Overall it was tasty without too much garlic but was a tad too salty even when eaten with white rice.

We wanted some greens to balance out all the meat dishes, so we decided to opt for the Blanched Pork with Peanut Sauce & Morning Glory (THB70 /THB140).

The peanut sauce added a nice little bit of crunch to the dish, and there was quite a hearty amount of morning glory, meaning there was enough to go around.

If you’re looking for another vegetable dish, go for the Fried Kale with Salted Fish (THB80/THB160). It turned out to be quite the winner, featuring kailan that was crunchy and sprinkled with the bits of salted fish – aromatic with the right balance of sweet and savoury.

The Minced Pork Omelet (THB60/THB120) took forever to arrive and when it did, we had finished our rice and all the other dishes.

It looked pretty average but really took us by surprise. Crispy on the outside with a juicy interior of egg and minced pork cooked to perfection, there was no need for any accompaniment. Make sure you order this, it was worth the wait!

The dishes at Sanguan Sri may look ordinary and home-cooked but all the ingredients worked so well together and made for a hearty, satisfying meal.

If you are looking for authentic no-frills Thai food, this is definitely a place to try. To avoid the crowds, try to go before 11.30am or just after 1.30pm. They close at 3pm however, so don’t head there too late.

Expected damage: THB200 – THB500 per pax