We had many good meals in Bangkok, but my absolute favourite meals were at Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant, and Ping’s Hotpot Restaurant. They were so good, I decided to dedicate an entire blogpost to them.
We met up with Stranger in Bangkok on Sunday, and being typical Singaporeans who love eating, we asked him for food recommendations. He immediately told us about Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant, since we were staying at Siam Kempinski, which is within walking distance of Pathumwan Princess Hotel, where Ping’s is located. He told us that they served the best fish maw soup he has ever tasted, and I was sold after reading his review.
We ordered some orange juice while trying to decide what to eat, and although Noah isn’t usually a fan of orange juice, he liked the sweet and slightly sour taste of the fresh orange juice we had.
Enjoying the orange juice
It took us some time to decide on our menu, simply because everything looked SO GOOD. We ordered their signature fish maw soup, of course, as well as the fried fish maw with prawns, because I love fish maw. Jacqueline, the owner of Ping’s, assured us that it wouldn’t be too ‘jelat’, ie we won’t suffer from a fish maw overdose, and she was right. In fact, I wanted MORE fish maw! I’m not a food blogger, so I don’t know how to describe the food very well, apart from “yummy”, “delicious”, and “very good”, but I will try my best.
We started with the fish maw soup, and when it was served to our table, the first thing that caught my attention was the mouthwatering aroma that came from the claypot. Mmmmm… Jacqueline suggested that we try the soup on its own first, before adding the condiments. I can’t remember what the green or the cream-coloured sauces are, but I think they were supposed to be spicy, while the black sauce was vinegar. In my defence, the soup was so tasty, it didn’t require any of the extra condiments provided. Really! Even C, who usually adds at least pepper to his soups, didn’t use any of the three sauces provided either.
I LOVED that the soup was so full of flavour and umami. It was chock full of fish maw, and had chunks of crabmeat and mushrooms, which I gobbled up. It wasn’t starchy like some of the fish maw soups I’ve tried, and I really scraped the claypot to get every single possible drop of that soupy goodness.
Although I like eating fish maw, I’m always a tad hesitant to order it, because I’ve had one too many that tasted oily and fishy. Ping’s was done to perfection, and I was secretly happy that Noah didn’t like the texture (because he’s a super fussy eater), because that meant I could have more. He liked the soup a lot though, and kept asking me to feed him more of it. Mr Drama King even went “Mmmmmm…” and closed his eyes after a few spoonfuls of it!
The absolutely amazing fish maw soup with the (unnecessary) condiments
Look at the gorgeous brown broth and imagine how good it smells!
Full of good quality ingredients
Smiling for the camera so that he could have more soup #bloggerkidwoes
Slurping the soup up
“Mmmmmm…”
The deep fried fish maw was nice and “springy”, yet not oily at all, and the prawns that it was fried with gave the dish an extra fragrance. Each piece provided just the right amount of bite, and I savoured every delicious mouthful of the dish. I regretted not ordering a large portion of this, because I really wanted to eat more of it. C was kind enough to let me have most of the dish, but I’m pretty sure I can eat the entire small serving of it on my own, once a month, if not once a week. It was THAT good.
Deep fried fish maw with prawns
Jacqueline recommended the oyster omelette, but because I don’t eat oysters, we opted for the prawn vermicelli instead. That was an excellent choice, because the vermicelli was really well-done, and full of flavour. C and I thought that the prawn was a lobster, as it was so huge, but Jacqueline told us that it was a medium-sized river prawn instead (large ones can grow up to 600g!). Lobster or prawn, it was really juicy, and the prawn’s head was particularly delicious.
Prawn vermicelli
We originally ordered plain rice to go with our food, but Jacqueline suggested that we try the crabmeat fried rice, and I’m glad we did, because it was very tasty too. I liked that there were huge chunks of crabmeat in the rice, and Noah ate a lot of this dish, because he likes fried rice.
Crabmeat fried rice
To add a little balance to our rich meal, we ordered a token vegetable dish, stir-fried morning glory. We hadn’t heard of it before, even though it’s supposed to be a Thai speciality, and our unsophisticated tastebuds made us think that we were eating kangkong. Haha. Noah ate the leafy parts of the morning glory without any complaints, so if you’re looking for a “safe” vegetable dish for your kids, this is it.
Stir-fried morning glory
Even though we were stuffed after all that good food, we couldn’t resist trying the desserts. I ordered the coconut jelly, and was surprised when it came in a huge coconut. We thought we couldn’t finish it for sure, but it was very light and refreshing, and before I knew it, I had finished the entire thing. C ordered the yam paste, which was cooked with pumpkin instead of the usual lard (so it’s less sinful), and he said it was good too. Be warned though, the yam paste is meant to be shared, and C only manage to eat less than half of it.
Coconut jelly
Yam paste
We spoke to Jacqueline after our meal, and I couldn’t stop gushing over how yummy everything was, in particular the fish maw, and she told me that Ping’s uses very high quality fish maw, that costs more than THB5000 per kg, compared to many of the Chinatown restaurants serving the same thing, but with fish maw that costs a few hundred baht per kg. I was surprised at how expensive the fish maw was, because the food wasn’t pricey at all. I also noticed that the chefs cooking the fish maw soup would taste it as they cooked, and Jacqueline informed me that it was to ensure consistency. Good to know that they do their best to serve consistently high quality food!
Chefs at work
Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant
Because our meal at Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant made such a great impression on us, we decided to try the hotpot restaurant for lunch, the day before we left Bangkok. Pathumwan Princess Hotel is a short walk away from our hotel, but we wanted to let Noah ride in a tuk-tuk, so we hired one for the short distance. Good thing too, because it started pouring shortly after we left Siam Kempinski!
First tuk-tuk ride
Ping’s Hotpot Restaurant
There were a few options for the hotpot soups, and I opted for the original chicken broth, which is the same stock that they use to cook their shark’s fin soup, while C chose the tom yum soup base. I know many places offer this dual-pot option now, but I still must say that it’s good for people like us, because I don’t take spicy food, while C really likes it. This way, neither of us will have to compromise!
Two different soups
We weren’t sure what to do with all the sauces and toppings on our table, so our server offered to mix everything for C. I don’t usually take sauces, not even light soy sauce with my sushi, so I didn’t get him to mix a non-spicy version for me, but I think C enjoyed the special concoction with his meal.
Sauces and toppings available
All mixed up
We ordered a selection of vegetables, bacon, handmade fishballs, prawn balls, and wantans, as well as a serving of sea bass. Everything was really fresh, and I particularly appreciated that they served the fish on a full bed of ice.
Some of our ingredients
Everything boiling together nicely
Noah’s favourite was definitely the corn, and he demolished four small cobs all by himself. He also had an entire bowl of rice, soaked generously in the fragrant soup, with the fish slices, vegetables, and prawn balls. He usually doesn’t like prawns, but I think it’s all in the mind, because he didn’t seem to have any problems with the prawn balls, most probably because we told him that they were fishballs. Kids. Pfft.
Too busy eating the corn to look at the camera
Stranger in Bangkok recommended the boiled rice set (read his review here), but we decided to get some egg noodles instead. We were expecting meepok, since the goose web meepok is one of Ping’s specialities, but were pleasantly surprised to see that the egg noodles weren’t very yellowish in colour. After cooking, the noodles turned very pale yellow, almost white in fact, and were very smooth and silky, a little like kuay teow, I think. We slurped them up really quickly, and if we weren’t so full, we definitely would have ordered an extra portion of it.
My yummy egg noodles and wantans
Oh and because they’re right next to their seafood restaurant, we could order anything we wanted from that menu too! I was so happy that I could have the deep fried fish maw again, I tell you. I was tempted to get the fish maw soup as well, but figured that I had more than enough soup in the hotpot already.
My favourite fish maw dish
We thoroughly enjoyed both our meals at the two Ping’s restaurants, and my biggest regret is that we only managed to eat at each place once. Oh well, at least now we know where to go for excellent food the next time we’re in Bangkok! Please heed my advice and go to Ping’s when you go to Bangkok. They have many other great dishes on their menu, so if you go in a large group, you can try more items. Enjoy!
Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant / Ping’s Hotpot Restaurant Pathumwan Princess Hotel Website HERE
PS. Pathumwan Princess Hotel is directly linked to the famous MBK shopping centre, so you can do some shopping before and/or after your meal. The nearest BTS Skytrain station is National Stadium, and from there, it’s a very short walk to MBK and Pathumwan Princess Hotel. Very convenient and accessible!
PPS. Ping’s is offering a 10% discount to customers who snap and share their food photos on Instagram and/or Facebook! Don’t say I didn’t tell you! #goodthingsmustshare
*Disclaimer: We enjoyed a complimentary meal at Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant, and paid for our meal at Ping’s Hotpot Restaurant. All drool photos and opinions, are as always, our own.
This is the second post in our #GWTTinBKK series. Do read about our hotel stay HERE, and check back soon for the other posts in the series. In the meantime, you can take a look at some of our photos from this trip on Instagram, by searching for #GWTTinBKK.
Update: You can now read about our shopping tips in Bangkok HERE!
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