Lim Lao Sar Fishball Noodle
This Song Wat pushcart has sold fishball noodles for over 80 years, and the famous Michelin plaque in the family hangs at its sibling shop, so knowing which Lim Lao you are standing at is half the visit.
Why go
The order Time Out Bangkok singles out is the dry version: "housemade flat egg noodles cooked al dente and seasoned with vinegar soy sauce," topped with "deep-fried minced garlic and housemade fishballs." The fishballs and the noodles are both made in-house, which at a two-item cart is the entire argument. Their 2017 review closes the case with "you'll definitely want seconds." The cart works evenings only on Song Wat Road, the old riverside trading street below Yaowarat.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the dry (haeng) egg noodles with fried garlic and fishballs, per Time Out, plus fish dumplings on the side.
- Avoid: the name trap. Lim Lao Ngow on Song Sawat Road is a different shop from the same lineage, holds the Bib Gourmand, and absorbs most of the tourist traffic. Also skip daytime plans; service starts at 6pm.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out Bangkok (Feb 2017, Suthima Thongmark): a pushcart
serving up noodles with fishballs
for over 80 years;you'll definitely want seconds.
1 - Michelin Guide Thailand: no listing for this shop; the Bib Gourmand in the family belongs to Lim Lao Ngow. Stated so the plaque next door does not get borrowed.
Good to know
- Timing: daily 6pm to 10pm (Time Out, 2017, and nothing newer has been published, so confirm on Maps). An evening stop, not a lunch one.
- Booking: walk-in, cash, street stools.
- Getting there: Song Wat Road near Trok Saphan Yuan; about ten minutes on foot from MRT Wat Mangkon, or come up from Ratchawong pier.
Verdict
could-visit — An 80-year fishball pushcart on Song Wat with one job, and Time Out's advice to order the dry bowl twice. It slots into any Chinatown evening for pocket change, and the reason it stops there is scope: one dish, no award of its own, and a better-decorated sibling two streets over.