There are at least 43,000 street food vendors in Bangkok, the municipal government says, a legion of operators of food carts crammed into every available nook of urban real estate. Among them is Siwat “Pong” Supawitmongkol, an 18-year-old part-time model who helps out at his mother’s Bangkok restaurant and sometimes waits tables shirtless to convince both women and men to try the chicken rice.

Thrust into the spotlight after his family’s Sathupradit 25 restaurant was featured in the Tei Tiao Thai TV show last year, Pong has since been named the hottest chicken rice waiter in Thailand thanks to the internet. Chicken rice, a specialty from the Chinese island of Hainan that combines tender boiled chicken with a spicy, ginger- laced soy sauce, served on a bed of rice and accompanied by a small bowl of broth, is a popular food cart offering; served up by a cute young shirtless local boy it also satisfies those who are into both chicken and rice.

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