This store, visited by Taste of Thailand Food Tours on our Village of Love Tour, has a very long history dating back to World War II. The store is run by Mr. Prawit, the grandson of the original founder. Before the war started, Mr. Prawit’s grandfather was a carpenter, then he had an idea to open a grocery in Bangrak, an area with much history. The store was called “Yan Who Yun”, similar to the Thai soy sauce’s name, that means ‘a land that abounds with food and water’.

     

He has run this business for a long time since he was young. This store is very well known in the neighborhood because they are still selling Chinese herbs and Chinese ingredients, as they did years ago. There are so many kinds of sauce sold here in this shop, including spicy sauces and soy sauces.

 

This store remains modeled after the classic Cantonese style shophouse. The walls are lined with sauces, dried herbs, and vegetables. They even still have a very unique and classic wood lift that his grand further built by himself in front of the store.  It used to be used for lifting items between floors, but now they are using it for hanging meat jerky!

 

Moreover, Wa Tow is well known for selling their own herbal drinks. Besides more common drinks such as Chrysanthemum, Roselle, Pennywort and Lotus juice, they are famous for a drink they call “bitter water.” This kind of drink has many benefits for your health. If you believe in Chinese medicine, you should not miss trying it!!

When you visit the shop, any questions that you have about Chinese herbs, any kind of sauces, Chinese and Thai ingredients and Thai herbal drinks can surely be answered by Mr. Prawit. He is a very kind owner, who enjoys what he does. He also likes photography and loves to talk about cameras too! If you go visit Mr. Prawit at Wa Tow, you will come back with a smile!