Pattaya Bites Food Tour with 15+ Tastings

Lunchtime in Pattaya is the culinary boiler room of the Chonburi coastline—and Naklua is the place where the region’s flavours are forged every morning. While the crowds down south are just waking up, the charcoal here is already glowing and the first stockpots are at a rolling boil.

Our feasting tour of 15+ tastings invites guests on a culinary experience around the backstreets of old Pattaya, led by our team of professional foodie guides.

Before we get started, our tour reflects the local cuisine and the limitations of street food vendors means we unfortunately cannot cater for every dietary restriction. Here's an honest appraisal for the tour so no-one is disappointed:

✖️Vegetarians have 3-4 less tastings due to limited alternatives at some vendors.

✖️Unsuitable for severe allergies, due to risk of traces and cross-contamination.

If you are feeling adventurous for a foodie journey, read on!

There’s no tourist polish here; only the creak of timber laneways, and the aroma of grill smoke drifting through this centuries-old fishing enclave.

Kick things off at a 40-year-old shophouse for a bowl of tom yum noodle soup—a sharp broth spiked with toasted chilli and lime, where the crunch of roasted peanuts meets the silky snap of hand-pulled rice noodles. Witness jaeng-lon fish-cake skewers being blistered over glowing embers, releasing a fragrant core of red curry paste and kaffir lime.

Pivot to a small eatery where a couple, bonded by a shared escape from the Bangkok grind, serves up a vegetarian rebellion. Forget bland—this is isaan larb moo jay pulsing with the zip of fresh lime and mint, and golden tofu tossed in an addictive salt-and-chili rubble. From there, your local foodie guide weaves through old shopfronts and narrow backstreets, passing stacked metal towers hissing with steam to find a pillowy bbq pork bun.

Pull up a stool for beef brisket slow-rendered in a mor fai pot, submerged in a rich broth of cinnamon and star anise. Follow it with an icy-cold roselle hibiscus juice—a bright, floral refresher—before steering into the Lan Pho Na Kluea 'Old Market'. This is the seafood hub of the district, where the day’s haul is still thrashing on the scales.

Through a hidden alleyway, we uncover the ghost-map of 'Old Pattaya'. Once a legal opium den where the air was thick with vice, it’s now a quiet corridor of sun-bleached teak. We’ll pay our respects at the Chaomae Thapthim Shrine, where local fishermen still pray for safety before heading into the Gulf.

Score a local favourite: jor pu crab meat rolls, audibly crunchy on the outside, paired with a preserved plum soda—a salty-sweet punch that doubles as a savoury dipping sauce. With 15+ tastings packed into our four-hour tour, this is a gauntlet of the coast's best-kept culinary secrets.

Reward the morning's walk with a maritime spread at a harbour-side hideaway. We’re talking squid sautéed into a deep-sea ink emulsion, and fried king mackerel served with a razor sharp green mango salad. Finish off with lod chong—fluorescent-green pandan jellies swimming in a slush of crushed ice and coconut cream. It’s the final, cooling salute to a day spent off-the-beaten-path.

This is the unfiltered, high-noon energy of Pattaya. Beyond the tourist trails, you’re instead witnessing the stubborn survival of a fishing community holding its ground against a skyline of resort towers. It’s an invitation to sit at the tables of families who built this town, one bowl at a time. Come for the heat, stay for the history, and leave with a taste of the real Chonburi.