Wu Yi
Photograph: Wu Yi | Bangkok’s weirdest ice cream flavours
Photograph: Wu Yi

Bangkok’s weirdest ice cream flavours

Tom yum. Soy sauce. Dried fish. Pad Kra Pao. Holy water? Bangkok's ice-cream scene is anything but vanilla. These are the city’s strangest scoops worth trying.

Meena Janekrabuanhad
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People come to Thailand for the food, but what if the food is also dessert? That spicy, sour bowl of tom yum? The soy sauce found in practically every Thai kitchen? Bangkok’s ice-cream makers have turned them into frozen scoops – and some of the results are considerably tastier than they sound. 

From suki sauce and fish sauce caramel to pad kra pao, dried fish and even ‘holy water’, here are 10 of Bangkok’s weirdest ice cream flavours to try and judge for yourself.

  • Things to do
  • Phra Khanong

Americans may have ranch, but Thailand has suki sauce. Sweet, tangy, salty and spicy, the bold red dipping sauce gets its savoury depth from fermented soybean paste. Coca takes things a step further by turning its suki sauce into a granita and pairing it with yuzu ice cream. It sounds risky, but the tart citrus and savoury sauce makes a surprisingly convincing match.

Cloud 11 (first floor), 888 Sukhumvit Rd, Bang Chak, Phra Khanong. Open daily 8am-10pm

  • Yaowarat

Galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and fresh red chilli – everything that goes into your typical tom yum turns up in this frozen version too. There’s a Masterchef Thailand contestant behind it, which at least suggests someone has thought the idea through. Not everything needs to become ice cream, admittedly, but this makes a decent argument that almost anything can.

330/1 Tri Mit Rd., Talat Noi, Samphanthawong. Open daily with varying hours

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  • Khlong San
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If getting splashed with holy water at the temple isn’t enough to chase away the bad juju, apparently you can eat it too. This decidedly unconventional ice cream blends olive oil, pink peppercorns and white chocolate. We can’t say whether it will improve your luck, but it should take care of a sweet craving.

100 Soi Charoen Nakhon 10, Khlong Tonsai, Khlong San. Open 9am-8pm (closed Mondays and Tuesdays)

  • Charoenkrung

Fish sauce isn’t the first ingredient that springs to mind when you think of dessert, but at Michelin Bib Gourmand-listed Samlor, pastry chef Saki Hoshino makes a persuasive case for it. Blending Thai and Japanese culinary influences, this ice cream turns fish sauce into a sweet-salty caramel that tastes far less alarming than the name suggests. It may not replace chocolate as your default order, but polishing off the whole container is surprisingly easy.

1076 Charoen Krung Road, Bang Rak. Open for dinner on weekdays and lunch and dinner on weekends (closed Tuesdays)

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  • Bangkok

Watermelon and dried fish might sound like an eccentric combination, but it’s based on a traditional royal Thai summer snack. Chilled watermelon is usually topped with sweet-salty crispy dried fish and fried shallots, balancing juicy fruit with savoury crunch. Turn the watermelon into ice cream and the pairing still makes sense – think of the fish as a particularly unconventional topping with a little extra protein. 

245 Soi Phutthabucha 29, Bang Mot, Thung Khru. Open daily 8:30am-6:30pm

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  • Sightseeing
  • Yaowarat

Rice as ice cream? That’s right, your red curry comes with a scoop of Thai Jasmine rice ice cream, while another pairing puts fried chicken together with ice cream. The latter sounds strange until you remember fried chicken and waffles have been getting away with something similar for years.

The jasmine rice ice cream has gentle floral notes and a flavour that lands somewhere around vanilla. The trickier part is the contrast between hot savoury food and cold ice cream, which may test sensitive teeth. These dishes are part of a limited collaboration, so keep an eye out for whatever unusual combination comes next.

Two locations: Yaowarat open 10am-6:30pm (closed Tuesdays) and SIAMSCAPE, ninth floor, open daily 10:30am-7pm

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You probably know Deksomboon from the yellow sauce bottle with the spikey-haired kid on the label. Its black soy sauce is a familiar ingredient in  pad see ew, bringing sweetness and umami to the stir-fried noodle dish. As soft serve, though, it lands unexpectedly close to chocolate and caramel, with a deep sweetness that makes the whole thing far less peculiar than expected. 

Catch their pop-up at Sou Song Wat until September 18, 2026, open daily 9am-10pm while their permanent location at 438 Yaowarat Road, Samphanthawong is currently closed for refurbishment.

Turn pad kra pao into dessert at Moodaeng’s Amphawa

This is about as savoury as ice cream gets. Moodaeng’s menu reads more like a list of main courses, with pad kra pao, sweet red pork and rice, Chinese mala and even the Thai barbecue favourite moo krata all appearing in frozen form. Locations and daily flavours change from week to week, so check the socials before heading out and see which dish has been turned into dessert that day.

Find their next pop-up location here

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Crunch into Lay’s crisp-flavoured ice cream at 7-Eleven

Those yellow ridges and that crunchy coating shown in the ads set expectations fairly high. Potatoes already have an excellent track record when fried, mashed, or turned into chips, so now it’s ice cream’s turn. Launching September 24 2026 at B25 each, this is one we’ll be trying along with everyone else. 

Available at all 7-Eleven locations

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  • Thonglor

That little yellow bottle with the red cap seen at street-food stalls across Thailand is Maggi, the salty seasoning sauce that’s a match made in heaven for just about any egg dish. Guss Damn Good has found another partner for it: honey. The sauce is mixed with sweet honey and crunchy honeycomb pieces for a salty-sweet scoop that sounds odder than it tastes. It’s part of the ice-cream brand’s annual limited-edition collaborations with familiar Thai household names, which have previously produced flavours ranging from pork floss to chilli paste.

Multiple locations at theCOMMONS Thonglor, Terminal 21 Rama 3 and Sala Daeng. Open daily with varying hours by location

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