Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
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.
Paolo Vitaletti, a five-star chef whose dad toiled in a storied Roman meat market, runs this cozy space for which reservations are highly advisable. The Italian menu is mostly devoted to Rome specialties, including spit-cooked porchetta (pork roast stuffed with fennel pollen, garlic, and rosemary).
Close to Lumphini Park on Withayu Road, Baan takes recipes that have been handed down through generations and kicks them up a notch by using top-line ingredients and fine-dining presentations. Signature dishes include braised beef Massaman curry, spicy five-spiced egg stew, and dry-aged beef ka-phrao (stir-fry with holy basil and chili).
Bangkok has hundreds of Japanese restaurants, but only Isao has a line out the door almost every night, thanks to the most creative maki rolls west of California. The owner studied under the chef at the revered Green Tea in Chicago, and the repeat clientele attests to the widespread enthusiasm for his culinary flights of fancy in sleek modern surrounds.
This unassuming storefront beneath an overpass is the sort of establishment that brings international foodies flocking to Bangkok. The interior here is nothing special, with poor lighting and bluish walls, but you'll barely notice or care with the lively buzz of the local Thai clientele, expert preparations with balanced flavors, and reasonable prices compared to many other seafood joints.
The emphasis at this traditional Thai restaurant in a century-old house is on fresh seasonal ingredients and hard-to-find regional delicacies, with a regular menu but also a smaller one of specials that is consistently changing. The Local's decor, outdoor terrace, wood floors, antiques, and old photos make for a pleasant setting.
This neighborhood restaurant has little in the way of atmosphere, but seafood aficionados still brave the traffic to Yannawa in order to splurge. Pen is expensive by Thai restaurant standards, but it's still a bargain compared to most hotel restaurants for charcoal-grilled seafood and a range of classic Thai fare.
Launched by food critic Jarrett Wrisley, this gem of a restaurant and bar is in a converted Chinese shophouse in trendy Thong Lor and is usually packed to the rafters. It's no surprise, as the place serves some of the city's best Thai food, with double-pour drinks that are every bit as good as the food.
Thanaruek Laoraowirodge, a successful restaurateur in New York City and Bangkok, has earned high praise for this cozy shophouse venue that specializes in regional dishes based on the recipes of his grandmother. The au courant cocktails go well with the eclectic menu, and Supanniga now has two other locations in Sathorn and Tha Thien.
Proudly displaying the freshest catches on ice out front, this enormous and popular seafood restaurant opens daily at 4 pm and serves until as late as 1:30 am. Make your way through the evening crowds and take a number to secure your table—either on the sidewalk or inside.
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.
This restaurant in a converted house with a pleasant outdoor garden balances a casually upmarket feel with fairly authentic Thai cuisine oriented toward less adventurous palates. The basics are done well here, from chu chee goong mae nam (curried river prawns) to khao yum (southern Thai-style rice salad). Local artwork adorns the walls.
Casually upmarket and aimed at tourists, this decades-old restaurant formerly in Siam Square serves authentic Thai cuisine in an atmosphere a few notches above that of the simple family restaurants. What's best about Ban Khun Mae is its large dining area filled with big round tables, warm wood, and a few antique decorations, offering a comfortable and airy feel perfect for post-shopping relaxation. Both à la carte and set menus are available.
It's easy to laze all afternoon at The Commons, a lofty community mall known for its gourmet food stands, restaurants, and comfortable open-air seating as well as air-conditioned indoor tables. You'll see groups dining on smorgasbords at single tables with cuisines ranging from Thai to Peruvian, as well as dishes like fried chicken and waffles, artisanal sandwiches, and more—but plenty of people simply grab an iced coffee and hang out with their laptops.
Many authentic Korean restaurants do business in Sukhumvit Plaza, but even with three stories of tables, there's often a wait day or night at Doo Rae. Go for the do-it-yourself barbecue grilling, with bulgogi (thin slices of beef in a tasty marinade) and fresh veggies, as well as sake or soju, a rice-based drink similar to vodka but with a lower alcohol content.
This small house near the river is filled with Thai antiques and antique chests scattered with bric-a-brac, which all give 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.
An alley near the National Library leads to this off-the-beaten-track restaurant on a pier overlooking the Chao Phraya River. Kaloang Home Kitchen, which is attached to a guesthouse of the same name, might not look like much with its simple wooden chairs and tables, but it's a local favorite for waterfront breezes that keep things reasonsably cool, as well as generous grilled seafood platters and giant river prawns. The outdoor terrace affords a good view of Rama VIII Bridge to the south, especially at night when the bridge is illuminated.
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 roast duck in gravy). This is a good late-evening eating choice, since it's open daily from 3:30 pm to 11 pm.
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).
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.
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. Madame Musur is good for a late night bite as it's open till midnight.
Helmed by Chef Hernán Crispín Villalva (Mexico) and Chef Roshan Kumar (India), the kitchen here has created a unique and delicious mash-up of Indian and Mexican cuisines. Global superstar chef Gaggan Anand consulted on the menu, which includes such dishes as keema quesadilla, gol goppa puffed masa, and cold curry scallop ceviche.
This unassuming restaurant next to Wat Plaplachai has a steady clientele thanks to fast service and consistently excellent Chinese-Thai dishes prepared according to the owner’s secret family recipes. The lighting and decor are lacking, but that can be forgiven when you taste the traditional tom yum goong (spicy, hot, and sour shrimp soup), which some deem to be the city's best.
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.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
