The wide-noodle alternative to Pad Thai — more char, more savoury, less sweet, harder to master.
Wide flat rice noodles (sen yai) stir-fried with egg, Chinese broccoli (gai lan), and pork or chicken in a sweet soy sauce — the goal is wok char on the noodles.
Pad See Ew is darker, more savoury, less sweet; the noodles can clump and char where Pad Thai separates cleanly; many Thai food obsessives prefer it.
Getting wok hei (the charred smoky flavour) requires extremely high heat — the single most important variable; street stalls over commercial gas achieve it; home cooks rarely do.
Available at most Thai street food stalls alongside Pad Thai; 50–100 THB; ask for it 'haeng' (dry) if you want it with less sauce.
Chicken, pork, and beef are all common; some stalls also offer a seafood version — specify your preference when ordering, as it's rarely fixed to one default.
Visible smoke and audible wok clanging are good signs — the high heat needed for proper char is unmistakable, and a quiet, slow-cooking stall is unlikely to nail the texture.