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Marielle Descalsota
- I traveled to Bangkok in late July to try one of the city's most famous soups.
- Wattana Panich is best known for its beef and goat soup that was first cooked half a century ago.
- The owner of the restaurant said they store the soup every night and add water to it in the morning.
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Bangkok is a food paradise — the capital city of Thailand is home to over 320,000 restaurants.
Bangkok is one of most popular destinations in the world, with 40 million people visiting the city in 2019. Many foodies travel to Bangkok for its abundance of dining options, from street food to family-owned restaurants to Michelin-starred establishments.
I traveled to Bangkok in late July on a reporting trip to learn more about the city's food culture.
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Before my trip to Bangkok, I had heard of a legendary restaurant called Wattana Panich. The family-owned restaurant is famous for its half-a-century-old beef and goat soup.
The restaurant has rave reviews online, with fans describing their dishes as "delicious and aromatic" with a "real depth of flavor that's hard to explain."
As a big fan of meaty soups, I decided to take a 40-minute ride from Sathorn to Ekkamai Road in central Bangkok to taste one of their most popular dishes for myself.
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When I arrived at the restaurant for lunch, throngs of delivery riders, locals, and tourists were busy collecting and making orders. A chef was preparing dishes from a huge cauldron of boiling soup. The aroma was heavenly.
Nattapong Kaweenuntawong, the owner of the restaurant, told me the woman who was cooking is his mother. He explained that the family-run business is now in its third generation, and that he, alongside his parents, prepare the dishes.
"The soup has been boiling for over 45 years," Kaweenuntawong told me in Thai. "We never make it new, instead, we store it every night and we add new ingredients and water to it everyday." He added that the cauldron "never gets empty."
There were around 40 diners at the restaurant during my visit, most of whom looked to be locals and tourists from around the region.
I took a look at their menu, which Kaweenuntawong says was influenced by Chinese cuisine. The family is of Thai-Chinese descent.
The restaurant had around a dozen menu items, including the most popular dishes, goat stew in Chinese herbs and beef noodle soup. Kaweenuntawong explained that the Chinese herbs make their soup different from traditional Thai broths, which use ingredients like lemongrass and local chillies.
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There were pots filled with meat in various parts of the restaurant — including right outside, by the sidewalk.
Some of the meats used in the soup include goat, bovine (which can sometimes be buffalo), and beef.
The interior of the restaurant was old-school, colorful, and cluttered. A dozen assistants helped prepare ingredients at the back of the restaurant, where everything from utensils to kitchenware was stored.
The ingredients were cooked over a stove before being mixed into the simmering soup. There were also large rice cookers that cooked rice to accompany the meaty dishes.
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The restaurant has amassed dozens of awards over the years, with plaques from the Michelin guide hung on a wall.
The restaurant's walls were decorated with certificates, newspaper clippings, and framed photographs of monks.
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After a 10-minute wait, my soup arrived. I opted for the very first item on the menu: goat stewed in selected Chinese herbs. It reminded me of a dish that's popular in Singapore and Malaysia called bak ku teh, or pork rib soup.
The broth, which is more than twice my age, was the most delicious dish I had eaten during my reporting trip to Thailand.
It was fragrant and flavorful, and meaty but not gamey. It was so good that ate it on its own, without rice or other dishes accompanying it. And the goat was one of the best I've ever had when it comes to soups — it was fall-apart tender. I devoured the dish in a few minutes.
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I also ordered a bottle of roselle juice, which is made from the Hibiscus flower. It was the perfect pairing to the hearty broth — light and refreshing.
I paid 200 baht, or $5.60, for the goat broth and juice — much cheaper than my $50 bill at another popular Bangkok food joint, Jay Fai.
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My visit to Wattana Panich exceeded all my expectations. I'm no stranger to trying out unusual foods, but it's rare that I end up enjoying it this much.
Kaweenuntawong and his family were extremely hospitable towards me — knowing I am a foreigner and don't speak Thai, they took the time to explain the menu to me. His daughter even helped translate his words into English. When I paid for the meal, he gave me a small but much appreciated discount of 50 baht, or $1.40.
If you're ever in Bangkok, I highly recommend giving Wattana Panich a try. The broth deserves its legendary status — I left wishing that Kaweenuntawong's family would never let it stop simmering.
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