Forget the hotel buffet, for breakfast in Bangkok you can’t go past this $3 dish

Your hotel in Bangkok probably serves a decent, or even an amazing, buffet breakfast. So there’s no real reason to be out and about before 8am, the sweat already building on your brow, navigating the choked streets of Sukhumvit in search of something to eat. Except, there is because Rung Rueang Pork Noodle exists, and this is how you begin a day in the Thai capital in style.

Rung Rueang’s specialty is as it declares on the sign: pork noodles, in this case a variety of styles of noodles and flavours, and your choice of pork bits and fish balls on top. First, take a seat on a stool at a metal table and select your style: tom yum with soup, tom yum without soup, clear soup, or no soup. Then choose between various rice and egg noodle options, and finally the porky toppings. Someone will eventually sling your bowl of noodles onto the table, ready to be seasoned with sugar, fish sauce, chilli flakes or chillies in vinegar, and then devoured. Just like that, your day is off to a spicy, savoury, delicious start, and it costs about $3. Who needs a hotel buffet?

There’s no wrong order here, though our pick is the tom yum with soup, with medium rice noodles and a mix of minced pork and fish balls. You get a riot of flavour here, with plenty of sourness to balance the spice.

At Sydney, grab some excellent Thai-style pork noodles at Yok Yor in Haymarket (yokyor.com.au). In Melbourne, Khao Soi in the CBD is your destination for Thai noodles (facebook.com/khaosoi.melbourne). In Brisbane, try the pork tom yum at Doo Dee Boran (doodeeboran.com).

There are two Rung Rueang Pork Noodle outlets in Bangkok, and they’re across the road from each other: known, charmingly, as “Left shop” and “Right shop”. Both serve the same food. The restaurants are open daily for breakfast and lunch, at Sukhumvit 26 Alley, off Sukhumvit Road, near Phrom Phong BTS station. No website.