A favourite breakfast accompaniment of mine are pa ton go, Chinese-style doughnuts.

They are widely available across Southeast Asia from the Chinese vendors and are often sold with soybean milk.

I consider them essential when drinking the rich local coffee, overly sweetened with condensed milk. Tear a pa ton go in half and dip the little fella in your coffee and it is a match made in heaven.

In Vientiane they are known as kanom jap gluay and many noodle shops have a plate of them on the table so you can help yourself.

I love my neighbourhood. I have a choice of half a dozen fresh markets in the immediate area and many more if I care to travel just a little further.

Every day around 5:30 I take a stroll down to one of them and make the difficult decision of what to buy for my evening meal. It’s usually a curry of some sort, a fish and a vegetable dish, bagged up to take home and enjoy with rice I cook at home.

I’m lucky in that on a Tuesday and Friday the local temple holds a market which includes a vendor selling some of my favourite hard to find northern Thai dishes plus some tasty southern food.

There’s people frying pla tu, grilling shallots and garlic for nam prik, and much more. The variety is astonishing and my dinner for three dishes seldom costs more than 100 baht.

On Sunday, there’s an abundance of Lao and Issan ingredients and plenty of fresh vegetables.

It’s interesting to see the current trend on Bangkok’s restaurant scene emphasizing local produce and ‘authentic’ dishes….and charging a premium for it.

On the streets of Bangkok it has always been so, and it will continue as long as the authorities don’t interfere with market and street vendors, or force them off land to build another bloody mall. I don’t think this fantastic food scene should be taken for granted. It needs protecting.

Want to eat local in Bangkok? Make it part of your daily life. Get down your neighbourhood market.

A quick shot of another seemingly chaotic kitchen knocking out fantastic food. The cook at her woks is preparing dishes for a very popular take-away street stall in Klong Toey, Bangkok.

Pad Thai is a classic, albeit relatively modern, street food dish.

It’s also one that can vary greatly from vendor to vendor, from underwhelming to superb, so it’s worth trying a few out. I also think a little restraint is called for when eating it. Somehow that second plate never quite tastes as good as the first. Some of the best I’ve eaten has been in Sukhothai and Chiang Mai. I’m sure you have your favourite.

Here’s a few more shots from Saturday’s walk to Bangkok’s Chinatown.

The network of alleys make it a endlessly fascinating place to explore.

I usually start at a random point on Charoen Krung Road and wander along in the general direction of Yaowarat, ducking down any side street that takes my fancy.

Seafood is central to the Chinatown dining experience and there’s great produce on display.

Daybreak is a good time to start your stroll, with most markets and street vendors already at work.

In Europe, roast chestnuts are a snack associated cold winter days but in steamy Bangkok they are also popular and are imported from China.

There are plenty of mobile vendors walking the streets with baskets of delights such as green mango.

 Saturday’s breakfast was khao man gai, a dish I’ve not had for a long time, despite it being a Bangkok street food staple. I couldn’t resist the aroma coming from this street stall.

The Hainanese dish is popular across Southeast Asia. In Thailand, the flavourful rice is steamed with chicken fat and served with succulent boiled chicken, blood cake, an accompanying spicy soy bean paste sauce, soup and cucumber.