Yen Ta Fo (เย็นตาโฟ)

Yen Ta Fo (เย็นตาโฟ) is a distinctively pink noodle dish in Thailand.

While it’s not quite as popular as boat noodles, it’s still one of the more popular local soup noodles, and retains its share of loyal connoisseurs.

While you do have the possibility to order Yen Ta Fo with a choice of different rice noodle, sen yai, the Thai wide rice noodles, are most common (and I think the best in this dish).

I recently went to a famous restaurant known as Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo (นายอ้วนเย็นตาโฟ), located walking distance from the Giant Swing near Chinatown Bangkok (video).

Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo (นายอ้วนเย็นตาโฟ)

One of the best things about a bowl of Yen Ta Fo (เย็นตาโฟ) is the assortment of tasty toppings.

Chunks of pork, fish balls, slices of squid, fried tofu, slices of water morning glory, rectangles of coagulated blood, and a big crispy chip, were all floating around in this particular dish.

That’s not even including all the other flavoring ingredients like the fermented soybean paste, chillies, vinegar, fish sauce, and pepper that combined to form the flavor.

So Why Is It Pink?

The pinkness comes from the fermented soybean paste that’s added to every bowl of Yen Ta Fo.

When combined into the soup mixture, it gives a lightly sweet, almost flowery essence to the broth. Other than that, to me it still remains a mystery as to why it’s so pink.

Also, this bowl of yen ta fo was not nearly as pink as some others I’ve seen.

Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo (นายอ้วนเย็นตาโฟ)

Video

Now, be sure to watch this video so you can really see the food and the atmosphere!

Thank you for watching!

(Yen Ta Fo video on YouTube)

The Bottom Line:

This is a well known and long standing establishment in Bangkok that serves Yen Ta Fo. The noodles are excellent and even though I’m not the biggest fan of yen ta fo broth, I really liked all their high quality toppings and the fish balls in particular were wonderful.

What to Order: Get a bowl of the Sen Yai Yen Ta Fo (เส้นใหญ่เย็นตาโฟ)

Prices: A bowl of noodles is 40 THB, which is a little high for most places in Bangkok, but they are famous and located right in the heart of town.

Nai Uan Yen Ta Fo (นายอ้วนเย็นตาโฟ)

Address: 41 Soi Nava Thanon Saochingcha, Phra Nakorn, Bangkok, Thailand 10200
Phone: 02-2229701
Hours: 9 am – 9 pm on Weekdays, 9 am – 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday

นายอ้วนเย็นตาโฟ
41 ตะนาว เขตพระนคร, กรุงเทพ 10200
02-2229701

เปิดวันจันทร์-ศุกร์ 09:00-21:00
วันเสาร์-อาทิตย์ 09:00-16:00

How to Get There:

Taking a direct taxi or the local bus are the best ways to get there. The restaurant is just a few hundred meters down the road from the Giant Swing and is about a 10 minute walk from Democracy Monument.

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