Nak Klam Noodle - บะหมี่นักกล้าม

The shop is located in the heart of Sathon, right in front of the former bodybuilding champion Mr. Ngao Kaewtananon’s front door. He has just turned 80 years old and is known by locals as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Thailand. He used to sell Ba Mee Pok Pok noodles from a motorcycle in Bangkok. "Pok Pok" refers to the sound of knocking on the bowl when the motorcycle arrives. Later, the shop became more stationary and his granddaughter gifted him the "muscles & noodles" sign. Unfortunately, it is not working properly anymore, so they decided to replace it with a blue umbrella to show that the shop is open.

Mr. Ngao started bodybuilding in his early twenties and competed all over Bangkok. He was even featured in a famous show on national TV. At that time, his wife ran the shop during the daytime while he was at the gym, they then worked together at night. All the training required a lot of extra protein, so he had to supplement the noodles with different types of meat, milk, butter, and eggs. This could be a bit of a problem since there was almost no money in the sport back then. The prizes were mainly just trophies. Most of his beloved trophies were kept on a shelf in the gym. In return, he received a pair of customized pants from a famous tailor shop that he could wear with pride

His last training session was 10 years ago, and now he focuses on his shop, where he receives help from his daughter. However, Mr. Ngao was recently asked by the gym in the nearby Teochew Cemetery if he could do some teaching, an offer he is still considering. Bodybuilding is a sport that requires discipline and high endurance, and Mr. Ngao has little faith in the new generation, "They mostly play with their mobile phones all day”.