The Blood-Broth Noodles at Pata Paplean Are Elusive No More

Not only noodles in pork blood, either. Now, as it did during its pre-pandemic weekend noodle episodes, Pata Paplean also makes a sensational bowl of tom yum noodles. Though less complex than the brooding nam tok soup, the tom yum noodles are electrifying in their own right. Their translucent and bloodless pork broth is augmented with fish sauce and lime juice and then garnished with ground pork and fish balls. Like nam tok, tom yum noodles can be ordered in a dry version, which is not exactly dry but does contain much less broth.

When Pata Paplean sold noodles only on weekends, they were served in small bowls that you could hold in one hand. In this, the bar followed a Thai tradition that goes back to the original boat noodle vendors, who ran their businesses out of narrow one-person vessels floating in the canals in and around Bangkok; supposedly, larger bowls would have been harder…