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Thais are passionate about food, and love discovering out-of-the-way shops that prepare unexpectedly tasty dishes. Nowhere is this truer—or more feasible—than in Bangkok. The city's residents always seem to be eating, so the tastes and smells of Thailand's cuisine surround you day and night. That said, Bangkok's restaurant scene is also a minefield, largely because the relationship between price and quality at times seems almost inverse. For every hole-in-the-wall gem serving the best sticky rice, larb (meat salad), and som tam (the hot-and-sour green-papaya salad that is the ultimate Thai staple) you've ever had, there's an overpriced hotel restaurant serving touristy, toned-down fare. In general, the best Thai food is found at the most bare-bones, even run-down restaurants, not at famous, upscale places.
If you want a break from Thai food, many other world cuisines are represented. Best among them is Chinese, although there's decent Japanese and Korean food as well. The city's ubiquitous noodle shops have their roots in China, as do roast-meat purveyors, whose historical inspiration was Cantonese. Western fare tends to suffer from the distance, although in the past few years many upscale and trendy western eateries have opened, some of them quite excellent.
As with anything in Bangkok, travel time is a major consideration when choosing a restaurant. If you're short on time or patience, choose a place that's an easy walk from a Skytrain or subway station. The easiest way to reach a riverside eatery is often on a Chao Phraya River express boat.
Lotus ponds reflect the city's beautiful evening lights at this romantic restaurant. The upmarket Thai food is good, with elegant touches that cater to locals as well as foreigners. A classic Thai dance performance takes place nightly at 7:30 and 8:30, complementing well-known Thai dishes served à la carte or an eight-course tasting menu.
This restaurant has long been a favorite among government ministers and corporate executives, both for its outstanding Cantonese cuisine and its private areas, perfect for business lunches or romantic dinners. The main dining room is elegant, with crimson carpeting, carved screens, lacquer furniture, and porcelain objets d'art.
This Aussie establishment is both a high-end eatery and an art space where temporary exhibits from H Gallery provide quite a funky atmosphere. The international fusion menu is also reflected by a staff well mixed between foreigners and Thais, including mixologist Buntanes "Pop" Direkrittikul who’s been generating buzz for his creative Thai-inspired cocktails using ingredients like toasted rice, shallots, and chili paste.
A good sign of quality, this restaurant is packed with Thais sharing tables filled with northeastern favorites like grilled chicken, spicy papaya salad, and minced duck salad. The open-air dining area can be hot, it's often crowded and noisy, and the staff don’t speak much English, so you’ll need to pick and point from the menu—but that's part of the fun.
This small house near the river is filled with Thai antiques and anatique chests scattered with bric-a-brac, which all gives the ambience of dining at a relative's house. The staff is very good at helping indecisive diners choose from the brief menu, and although the restaurant has become more touristy over the years, it also retains a loyal and regular local clientele.
Cha Cha, who cooked for Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, died in 1996, but his recipes live on and are prepared with equal ability by his son Kovit. Typical Indian-themed decor and a long-standing menu of traditional dishes as well as intriguing daily specials make this restaurant an oldie but a goodie, with two other locations in Bangkok also available.
This simple family restaurant serves plenty of Thai-Muslim dishes, but it’s most famous for the khao mok gai (chicken biryani), a spicy rice dish that’s served here with pickled eggplant and a side dish of sweet yogurt sauce. The restaurant is a 15-minute walk from the Saphan Taksin Skytrain station. If arriving by taxi, tell the driver to come in via Soi 40.
This famous noodle shop outside the Hua Lamphong railway station is perfectly placed for a quick meal when you first get into Chinatown or on the way out. Thanks to an air-conditioned second floor, it’s a little comfier than your average noodle stand, but still quite cheap, and the window offers great people-watching on the street below.
Operated from the Shangri-La Hotel, the buffet dinner cruise aboard the Horizon, with Thai and international cuisine, departs each evening at 7:30 pm.
In business since 1956, this expensive but worthwhile Chinatown classic takes you straight to Hong Kong with its excellent Cantonese roast meats, dim sum, and service that is authentically brusque. Hua Seng Hong has other locations across Bangkok, including at CentralWorld mall in the city center, but this is the original and most beloved for its bustling atmosphere—from inside to outside on Chinatown’s main vein, Yaowarat Road.
Locals adore this Thai-Chinese eatery for various stir-fried seafood dishes, loaded with fried garlic, pepper, and fragrant curry, as well as reasonably priced lunch set menus. The decor is homey but attractive, with warm colors and lots of space, making the Sukhumvit location of this popular chain both comfy and convenient.
A romantic, candlelit outdoor patio and a sleekly contemporary indoor dining space set a stylish tone that's echoed in the equally refined Italian cuisine served at Jojo. Traditional antipasto, pastas, and so on are gussied up with modern flourishes and high-quality products imported from Europe and beyond, perfectly befitting the luxe surroundings of the prestigious St. Regis hotel where the restaurant is located.
An alley near the National Library leads to this off-the-beaten-track restaurant on a ramshackle pier overlooking the Chao Phraya River. Kaloang Home Kitchen might not look like much with its plastic seats and simple tables, but it's a local favorite for waterfront breezes that keeping things comfortably cool, as well as generous grilled seafood platters and giant river prawns.
In a century-old building across from Santichaiprakarn Park on the Chao Phraya, a short walk from Khao San Road, this little two-story restaurant serves Indian and Thai-Muslim cuisine. The specialty, as the name suggests, is sizzling mataba, unleavened flatbread filled with your choice of vegetables, chicken, beef, fish, or seafood. The oxtail soup is also highly recommended.
Across the street from Wat Bowonniwet, this humble eatery is famed for high-quality khao tom, rice soup served with a wide variety of Chinese-Thai dishes, including excellent phat phak bung (water spinach stir-fried with chili and garlic), jap chai (mixed-vegetable stew), and pet phalo (five-spice duck in gravy). This is a good late-night eating choice, since it's open daily from 5 pm to 3 am.
A real hole-in-the-wall where friends gather to enjoy great meals together, this long-running eatery turns out excellent Thai-Chinese cuisine in a simple dining room. All the classics everyone should try at least once on a Bangkok trip are served here at reasonable prices, making it a favorite among the Thais and expats who live and work on laid-back Soi Lang Suan.
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 chili) and kaeng khiaw-wan look chin pla krai (green curry with fish balls).
This light-and-airy space maintains the aura of its former life as a warehouse, but it's certainly more chic than shabby these days, with polished metal and blond wood adding a hip counterpoint to cement floors. Kuppa serves traditional Thai fare as well as many international dishes, and it has a dedicated following for its coffee, roasted on the premises.
Fresh pasta made with 100% Italian semolina and organic duck eggs is the signature at La Dotta, a Mediterranean-inspired dining room on Convent Road. Standouts include the wagyu bolognese with tagliatelle and bucatini all'amatriciana, topped with a sauce that is slow-cooked for four hours and served with dry-cured pork cheeks from Rome. Appetizers lean towards fresh seafood, including clams sautéed in white wine and garlic and grilled octopus with cannellini beans and chorizo stew. A short but well-curated list of Old World wines pairs well with the food.
At this modern Michelin-starred Thai restaurant, helmed by chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, you're likely to try something new in the 4-course and 6-course tasting menus (no à la carte)—maybe a crunchy ant larvae topping or a charcoal-grilled pork jowl curry. Sleek minimalist surroundings put the focus on the food and drink, and since the chef is also a sommelier, you can expect wine pairings that perfectly complement each course.
You'll want to be spotted at this so-called "neoclassic Chinese” restaurant in the Hilton hotel, where the contemporary-focused concept and design come from the creator of the equally snazzy Green T. House in Beijing. The natural light and wood interior create a soothing effect, enhanced by the superior service you'll receive despite a large dining room that’s often packed, especially for dim sum lunches.
The only restaurant in Banglamphu focusing on northern Thai cuisine is tucked away in a quiet corner of Rambutri Road not far from Khao San. Khao soi, a northern Thai dish of egg noodles in a mild curry broth, is a house specialty.
Beautifully restored antique rice barges depart from Anantara Riverside Bangkok at 5 pm, with Thai canapes by well-known Chef Phong. It's free for Anantara Riverside Bangkok guests.
Serving exceptional traditional Thai food for more than 60 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.
This branch of the Michelin-starred Sri Lankan restaurant, Ministry of Crab specializes in fresh, meaty crab flown in daily from that country. Crabs are prepared with your choice of sauce–garlic chili, baked, black pepper, or curry–and range in size from 500g "small" crabs to five-pound "crabzillas." Also on the menu are a variety of other crab dishes, including a creamy crab liver pate, fresh king prawns, clams, and oysters.
My Choice might be located a bit far off the main Sukhumvit drag, but it’s very popular among Thais with a taste for their grandmothers' traditional recipes. Natural light, modern wood furniture, and leafy plants create a warm and inviting atmosphere, but when the weather is cool, diners prefer to sit outside.
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