One Western fast food chain in Thailand that is often overlooked by tourists craving food from home is Auntie Anne’s — a restaurant that specializes in Philly soft pretzels and related food items. Perhaps the reason that Auntie Anne’s is overlooked by many people is that Philadelphia soft pretzels are more of an East Coast of the United States fast food, even though Auntie Anne’s now has over 600 locations worldwide.
While Auntie Anne’s was founded in the suburbs of Philadelphia, its soft pretzels are a little different from traditional Philly soft pretzels, which are chewier on the outside and only ever served with mustard. Long ago they were a very satisfying 10 cent lunch for people who were low on money. Auntie Anne’s are softer overall, and more in the style of a dessert pretzel. They come in two categories in Thailand: Savory (which includes sour cream, garlic, sesame, and original) and Sweet (which includes almond, cinnamon, and glazin’ raisin).
In Thailand, you will often find an Auntie Anne’s inside a Robinson’s Lifestyle Mall. That means you can find an Auntie Anne’s not only in big cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai, but upcountry too. We recently did a taste test of 4 different Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels at their Robinson’s location in Sakon Nakhon. We would rate the cinnamon soft pretzel as being crazy good. Dipped in a little sweetened condensed milk and its like a decadent Cinnabon.
The almond soft pretzel is great with a Thai coffee, which you can order at Auntie Anne’s, as well as traditional country-style lemonade. The sour cream soft pretzel is a good accompaniment to a lunch or dinner dish, and is thus the kind we would get to-go and reheat in the oven at home. The glazin’ raisin soft pretzel is a delicious doughnut style pretzel (but not as good as the cinnamon one by our reckoning). Lastly, the original soft pretzel is nice when dipped in yellow or brown mustard, but it’s not as chewy as a genuine Philly soft pretzel, and sadly Auntie Anne’s doesn’t serve mustard but only chocolate, cheese, and caramel dipping sauce.
If you are on a keto diet, you won’t find any keto friendly soft pretzels at Auntie Anne’s Thailand, but they have begun catering to vegetarians. Every few months Auntie Anne’s creates a new special soft pretzel dish, and their latest one is a Meat Zero pizza pretzel, which is really good (even for meat eaters). If you aren’t familiar with Meat Zero Thailand’s vegetarian products, check out our post on the best vegetarian sandwich in Thailand. Auntie Anne’s also does hot dogs wrapped in pretzel dough which are quite tasty.