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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.
This legendary restaurant has been delighting diners with its fried chicken seasoned with black pepper and plenty of golden-brown garlic for more than 50 years. The restaurant is a bit hard to find—as you enter Soi Polo (Soi Sanam Khli), it's about 50 yards in on your left.
This little place with bare walls and a tile floor is beloved by locals for its juicy pet (roast duck) and moo daeng (red pork). Getting here early is a good idea—by 6 pm there's often little duck left—and allow yourself time to find the entrance, which is easy to miss on busy Charoen Krung Road.
The menu at Saffron mixes creative modern Thai with classic dishes, and the food is just as exciting as the stunning views from the 52nd floor of the Banyan Tree Bangkok. Even if you don't come for dinner, stop by the adjoining bar on the balcony for a cocktail or some street food–inspired snacks—the comfy seating, cool breeze, and vistas are superb.
Come to Sala Rim Naam—part of the Mandarin Oriental hotel but across the river in Thonburi—to soak up the atmosphere, which includes a classical Thai dancing show (Wednesday to Sunday at 7:30 pm) in an indoor pavilion, or enjoy the romantic mood of alfresco tables overlooking the river. The renditions of Thai food are tamed down for international palates but are generally authentic, and the set dinners, buffet lunches, and à la carte menus offer plenty of choices. There is a complimentary shuttle boat across the Chao Phraya River from the Mandarin Oriental.
In Thai-style teak pavilions facing the Chao Phraya River, this restaurant has a setting that practically guarantees a romantic evening—book an outside table so you can enjoy the breeze. Although the food may not have as many chilies as locals would like, the Thai standards are represented on the menu, including an excellent yum som o pu nim (spicy pomelo salad with prawns, roasted coconut, and crisped shallots).
In this century-old corner building in Bang Rak, a small team of Thai chefs turn out gub glam---simple dishes that are traditionally meant to accompany an evening of drinking---but the food more than stands up on its own. Signature dishes include Jay Joe’s crab omelette, thick with chunks of fresh crab; fried chicken wings in a fish-sauce glaze; and pork ribs braised in a soy-ginger sauce and served with garlic rice and greens. On the same premises, a Japanese partner makes world-class homemade ice cream with Thai ingredients.
The seafood at this 1,500-seat, garishly fluorescent-lit establishment is way overpriced (plus you pay a charge for the cooking), and the atmosphere is extremely touristy, but the place is always packed and it makes for a fun night out. As in a supermarket, you take a small cart and choose from an array of seafood—crabs, prawns, lobsters, clams, oysters, and fish—which chefs then cook how you prefer.
Operated from the Shangri-La, the buffet dinner cruise aboard the Horizon, with Thai and international cuisine, departs Tuesday through Saturday at 7 pm. The price includes a glass of sparkling wine, free-flowing soft drinks, chilled juice, and water.
This small two-story shophouse serves some of the best Isan (northeastern Thai) cooking in the entire neighborhood, and since it opened a decade ago, the owners have expanded to branches in New York, Tokyo, and Taipei. The menu boasts several varieties of the namesake somtum, including a few that use plaa raa, a more pungent version of the fish sauce used in most Thai cooking. The varieties of laap---the spicy minced-meat salad---are done particularly well here, as is the goi, a similar salad heavy on fresh lemongrass. Almost everyone orders the fried chicken, served here with a thick dark-red chili sauce called jaew.
In an attractive, 1970s vintage house decorated with old-school Thai touches, this is one of the only restaurants in the city focused on the cuisine of eastern Thailand, particularly Chanthaburi and Trat. Don't miss the lon pu kai, a creamy coconut-chili dip made with fresh chunks of mud crab and accompanied by fresh local herbs and vegetables.
Located on the Chao Phraya River across from the Grand Palace, this charming restaurant is in the former home of Khunying Supatra, founder of Bangkok's express boat business. A free ferry from Maharaj Pier shuttles diners back and forth to enjoy impressive views and Thai cuisine, with multicourse prix-fixe meals and à la carte options.
This open-air seafood restaurant is full of festive round tables and tanks containing live whole crabs, lobsters, and sea leeches ready to be cooked in traditional Thai-Chinese style, with a major Teochew influence. There are lots of à la carte options from land and sea, but ordering off one of the many set menus is the best way to sample a variety of dishes.
From the outside Tawandang looks like a big barrel, which represents the 40,000 liters of lager and other beers brewed here every month under the supervision of a German brewmaster. Its specialties are lager, weizen, and dunkel beers on tap. With such an active brewery, you might think food would be an afterthought, but the kitchen actually turns out quite good Thai food, with some German, Japanese, and Chinese fare thrown in. The stage in front puts on cheesy but very fun entertainment, which includes comedy drag, Thai folk music, and Thai pop.
In the ultramodern Velaa Sindhorn community mall on Soi Lang Suan, Vaso has an oval-shaped bar—no tables—surrounding an open kitchen that serves modern Spanish tapas and shared plates, including fresh oysters and imported Iberico jam. The short well-curated wine list includes cava, Spain's bubbly equivalent to prosecco or Champagne.
You'll feel on top of the world at this classy 61st-floor space, one of the loftiest open-air restaurants in town. The international menu focuses on grilled seafood prepared with flair, and the food is quite good, but as with most of Bangkok's rooftop restaurants, you're paying for the sky-high setting, not the food—you might just prefer to come for a sunset drink to enjoy the stupendous views. Service is brisk and cheerful.
This second-floor restaurant has been serving Chao Zhou cuisine for more than 70 years and though it lacks the elegance of the hotel restaurants in the area—the dining room is simple and you have to walk through the dishwashing room to reach the bathroom—it's a solid option in the heart of Chinatown. The Chinese-style sashimi and the fresh crab claws with ginger are excellent, but if you're feeling bold, try the ham with goatskin dipped in rice vinegar.
Departing each evening at 8 pm, the Yok Yor is a little like a floating restaurant. The boat ride costs B200, and the food is ordered à la carte as opposed to a set menu, making this different from most of Bangkok's dinner cruises.
Hotel restaurants in Bangkok often disappoint, but this casual street-kitchen–inspired spot at the Grand Hyatt Erawan serves high-quality Thai food—particularly northern Thai dishes—at reasonable prices. Come for the good range of noodles, curries, and congee, served à la carte or as buffet options, with premium add-ons such as lobster, crab, and braised beef available.
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