Hi,

Travelling very soon wo thailand with my two kids (8,4).
problem: myself, and also the kids are not much of "open minded eaters", meaning - we do not eat asian food. My wife is more "open minded" that ourselves, and is a "light" asian food eater.

I've looked thru many restaurants reviews here, and what i cannot find , is a place that may offer both of the 2 worlds: asian and western food.

As i do not want to spend all my days eating McDonald's or KFC, are there any recommendations on such places ?

many thanks.

there are tons of restaurants which offer international cuisines....one really great place would be the loft in the central chitlom department store on the 7th floor...this is a glorified cafeteria but very nice and has almost any kind of food you would want..

where are you staying? that would help us direct you...

crepes and co on soi 12, sukhumvit would be excellent...

there are burger kings, mcdonalds all over the place as well as kfc...

mexican at the rembrandt hotel in senor pico restaurant is wonderful...soi 18 sukhumvit road

l'opera is a wonderful intalian restaurant on soi 39, sukhumvit rd
there are tons of italian places around...

most shopping centers including emporium, mbk, siam and others have tons of places to eat within them....

most all the hotels have good eating places catering to a diverse crowd with other than asia likes and dislikes...

a dish like lemon chicken would work in an asian restuarant....fried fish also is not too asian in nature...

tell us exactly what kind of food you want and we can better suggest places...

bkk is a very kid friendly place....all but the high style restaurants would welcome you

Every upscale hotel will have a western restaurant. Some of them are very good. The Italian restaurants would seem to meet your needs. Also, most hotels have a Breakfast buffet that will be very familiar, eggs, potatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, cereal, french toast and more fruit than you can imagine. They call these American breakfasts, so have at it.

thanks for the replies.

rhkkmk: we will be staying either at the Shangri-la or the centre point silom, which means by the river of course.

we are not looking for upscale restaurants, as the kids are bad eaters (like most kids, no?) .
we do like restaurants that have international food, so everyone will enjoy.

From my previous visit to the mbk (was alone), i noticed the KFC etc, but on the top floors so only asian food/japaneese etc...

I know that the hotels (the shag-la of course) have restaurants, but again, from previous stay at the Shag-la, things like even a hamburger was around 600 baht ...


while talking about food - are there any river dinner cruises that offer internation food ?

We stayed at the Centrepoint Silom and our two bedroom unit had a kitchen (as well as a washer/dryer). The hotel breakfast includes a variety of foods including yogurt, cereal and fruit, as well as asian foods. The Robertson Department store attached to the hotel has a large grocery store so you could stock up and have some western food available. The store also has a food court on the top floor which I think had a hamburger place. The hotpot restaurant in the basement was good, and would be fun for the kids because you cook your own meal-and can include what you like. You just choose off the picture menu. There is also a selection of noodle dishes.

I'd really encourage you to encourage your kids to broaden their horizons. Our daughter is almost 8 and has been to 6/7 continents. She is also a fairly picky eater at home, but she'll try stuff in foreign countries if we don't make a big deal of it. We spent 2 weeks in China earlier this year -- and she ate Asian food morning, noon and night without a complaint. There are many noodle dishes in Asian countries and I haven't met a kid yet who doesn't like noodles! Usually on long trips, we will get something Western towards the end of the trip -- like the French bistro we found in Shanghai our next to last day. We leave for Thailand in a few weeks, and we've gone to our local Thai restaraunt a couple of times. I played it safe and ordered her some bland Pad Thai and she ended up eating most of my more exotic fare!

in that general area around the sh-la i don't really remember any international type restaurants....perhaps pizza...up silom road you might find some things too...

the restaurant at sh-la where the breakfast is held is thier least expensive, but probably a hamby would be $5 i suspect...there is mcdonalds for the kids at robinsons....maybe there is a small food court there too...

again the best bet for you would be the loft at central chitlom---direct access from the skytrain too

You should definitely check out the food court at Siam Paragon. Plenty of good food and many choices.

If you like good Mexican food, then stay away from Senor Pico's. It's average at best.

bisbee, what better mex. is in bkk??

The perfect place for many meals would be the Central Chitlom Department Store. Go to the 7th floor, it's called the Loft and features several restaurants within one of many ethnic and Western Food Types. The prices are reasonable, and you can be as plodding or adventurous as you wish. There will also be lots of families with kids there so you won't be out of place and your bill will not be a shock at all.
Sue

The kids (and you) will love the fruit shakes. Banana, watermelon, pineapple, mango. All the flavors I tried were wonderful (but banana was my favorite). You can get them almost anywhere. I had one nearly every evening.
Second Bob's suggestion on Crepes and Co.
And I'd encourage you tp expand not just the kids' horizons but also your own! I've always been a picky eater and not particularly adventuresome. While I wasn't crazy about some of the Cambodian food, I really enjoyed what we had in Thailand. Mixed vegetables (stir-fried) are very basic and delicious. Crunchy. Not very spicy. Quite nice. Cashew chicken is another simple dish that's not too exotic and often appeals to Western-style eaters. Give it a try at least once (and report back to us!). Chicken cashew is quite good at the Centre Point Silom restaurant right in the hotel (as is pineapple fried rice - yummy). We had Pizza Hut in Chiang Mai. And there's a McDonald's right downstairs from Centre Point Silom - we had lunch there the day of our flight home since it was so convenient.
Good luck.
Karen

rhkkmk, there is no good Mexican food in BKK. The new Coyote on Convent might be slightly better, but that's not saying much. Mexican is really on the only type of food they don't do well in BKK. With so many other excellent places to eat, I'd give Mexican a miss in BKK.

we have had a couple of good meals at senor pico...not true authentic but decent....it is expensive for what it is however...my point was that maybe their kids might like a change...