3 Best Restaurants in The Old City, Bangkok

To enjoy chef Jay Fai’s Michelin-award-winning dishes at her small open-air eatery, plan in advance or be prepared for upwards of a 3-hour wait. It's worth it for the unparalleled crab omelet, seafood drunken noodles, and dry tom yam.

This small shophouse restaurant is a truly capable all-round Thai eatery, a rarity in a neighborhood where you’re generally better off eating at places that specialize in one or two dishes. Recommended plates include nuea pu phat phrik lueang (crabmeat stir-fried with yellow chilies) and kaeng khiaw-wan look chin pla krai (green curry with fish balls).

Serving exceptional traditional Thai food for more than 65 years, Sorndaeng features white tablecloths, lacy curtains, and black-trousered waiters. Fans say the restaurant makes the best thawt man plaa (fried spicy fish cakes) in the city. At lunch, the restaurant tends to fill up with local government office workers.