Bangkok Food Guide

Yaowarat, Chinatown (MRT Wat Mangkon) is the headline act from 6pm to midnight, when the pavements of Yaowarat Road and its side sois fill with carts: grilled river prawns and charcoal squid at the T&K and Lek & Rut seafood stalls on the corner of Phadung Dao, guay jub (peppery rolled rice noodles with pork offal) at Nai Ek Roll Noodle on Soi 9, bird’s nest and shark fin shops for the curious, pa thong ko doughnuts and bua loy in warm ginger for dessert. Weekends are a crush; Tuesday to Thursday is pleasanter.

Banglamphu and Phra Athit (Banglamphu, Phra Athit pier or a 20-minute walk from MRT Sanam Chai) has the old-city classics around Maha Chai and Dinso Roads: Thipsamai and Jay Fai sit 50 metres apart, Krua Apsorn is on Dinso, and Roti Mataba on Phra Athit Road has made Muslim flatbreads with curry since 1943. Victory Monument (BTS Victory Monument) is for boat noodles: the alley beside the canal on the northeast side of the roundabout holds a dozen shops serving 15-20 baht bowls that you stack up and count at the end.

Bang Rak (BTS Saphan Taksin), the stretch of Charoen Krung around Soi 36 to 50 between the Shangri-La and Assumption Cathedral, is the breakfast and lunch district: Charoen Saeng Silom for khao kha moo (braised pork leg on rice, 60-100 baht, sells out by 1pm), Prachak for roast duck since 1909, and Muslim curry shops around Haroon Mosque. Or Tor Kor (MRT Kamphaeng Phet exit 3, 6am-6pm) is the upmarket produce market with a clean cooked-food section for kanom jeen, curries and fruit. Wang Lang (cross-river ferry from Tha Chang) is the west-bank student market of 30-baht curries and southern Thai food. Talat Phlu (BTS Talat Phlu) is an old Chinese-Thai food street in Thonburi known for its 60-baht khao kaeng curry-and-rice shops and kuay teow kua gai, and Nang Loeng (Nakhon Sawan Road, taxi from Phan Fa khlong boat stop), the city’s oldest land market from 1899, closes by 2pm and is worth it for the Thai sweets and the Chote Chitr-style old recipes. Sukhumvit Soi 38 (BTS Thong Lo), once the famous late-night food soi, has only a handful of carts left since the 2016 redevelopment; go to Yaowarat instead.

Khao soi, the curry noodle soup, is a Chiang Mai dish and the Bangkok versions are imitations; save it for the north. Ask for “mai phet” (not spicy) or “phet nit noi” (a little spicy) when you order; Thai-level heat at a som tam stall will stop a conversation.

• Thipsamai (313 Maha Chai Road, Old Town): Bangkok’s most famous pad thai since 1966, cooked over charcoal and wrapped in egg. Basic plate 100 baht, the “superb” with river prawns about 500. Open daily into the night (it was long evening-only; check hours), with a 20-40 minute queue at dinner.
• Jay Fai (327 Maha Chai Road): the one-Michelin-star street cook in ski goggles. Crab omelette 1,000-1,500 baht, drunken noodles with seafood 500-plus. Closed Sunday and Monday; booking is by phone or queue and the system changes, so check before you go. Raan Jay Fai is the same shop.
• Krua Apsorn (Dinso Road, Old Town, and Samsen Road): royal-household-trained cooking, famous for crab omelette (around 400 baht) and stir-fried crab with yellow chilli (600-800). Mains 150-400. Dinso branch closed Sunday.
• Nai Mong Hoi Thod (Phlap Phla Chai Road, Chinatown): Bib Gourmand oyster omelette, crispy or soft, 100-150 baht. Afternoon to evening, closed one day a week.
• Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice (Soi Phetchaburi 30, Pratunam): the pink-shirt khao man gai shop, 50-70 baht a plate, open from dawn to the small hours in two shifts.
• Wattana Panich (Ekkamai Soi 18, BTS Ekkamai): beef noodle soup from a broth kept going for over 50 years, 100-150 baht.
• Somboon Seafood (Bantadthong Road original; branches at Surawong, Ratchada, CentralWorld and Siam Square One): curry crab 600-1,000 baht per crab, 1,000-1,500 per head with sides. Book at weekends.
• Jeh O Chula (Soi Chula 16, MRT Sam Yan): the midnight tom yum mama noodle pot, 300-500 baht, with a queue system from 5pm.
• Pe Aor Tom Yum Goong (Phetchaburi Soi 5, BTS Ratchathewi): creamy tom yum noodles from 100 baht to 1,000-plus with lobster.
• Mae Varee (corner of Sukhumvit and Thonglor, BTS Thong Lo): mango sticky rice 150-250 baht, 24 hours; K. Panich on Tanao Road in the Old Town has sold it since 1932 for 100-150.

Bangkok’s mall food courts are the easy way to eat street food in air conditioning with English menus and clean toilets, and the mall rents keep prices only slightly above the pavement. Pier 21 on the fifth floor of Terminal 21 (BTS Asok) is the best value in the city: load a card at the counter, then pad krapow, khao man gai and noodle soups at 40-80 baht, with 25-baht Thai iced tea. Eathai in the basement of Central Embassy (BTS Phloen Chit) is the upmarket version, with regional specialities, Isan grills and southern curries at 100-250 baht and a good Thai grocery. Food Republic and Gourmet Eats on the ground floor of Siam Paragon, the MBK sixth-floor food court and Sooksiam at ICONSIAM (cooked regional dishes laid out as an indoor floating market, 60-200 baht) are the others worth planning around. Or Tor Kor’s cooked-food hall and the fruit stalls (a kilo of top-grade mangoes 150-300 baht in season) are the market equivalent.

For river views, the Tha Tien pier area opposite Wat Arun in the Old Town has Supanniga Eating Room (Trat and Isan family recipes, 200-400 baht a dish), The Deck at Arun Residence and the rooftop of Sala Rattanakosin, all best at sunset with the temple lit. In Riverside, the hotel restaurants from the Mandarin Oriental to the Peninsula run 2,000-5,000 baht a head, and the Chao Phraya Princess dinner cruises 1,200-1,800. Rooftop dining means Vertigo at the Banyan Tree (grill, 2,500-4,000), Sirocco at lebua (Mediterranean, 3,000-plus) and Mahanakhon Bangkok SkyBar on the 78th floor of King Power Mahanakhon (BTS Chong Nonsi).

Bangkok has the deepest fine-dining scene in Southeast Asia. Sorn (Sukhumvit Soi 26, BTS Phrom Phong) became the first Thai restaurant with three Michelin stars in the 2025 guide for its southern Thai tasting menu, around 6,500-7,000 baht per person and booked months ahead. Gaggan Anand (Sukhumvit Soi 31) is the progressive Indian 20-course show at roughly 8,000-10,000 baht, Le Du (Silom Soi 7) does modern Thai from local produce for about 4,500-5,000, and Potong (Vanich 1 Road, Chinatown) serves Thai-Chinese tasting menus in a five-storey family shophouse for 5,000-6,000. Other names worth knowing: Nusara by the same chef as Le Du, opposite Wat Pho; Baan Tepa in a garden house; Samrub Samrub Thai for historical Thai; Suhring for German. Add 17 percent for service and VAT, and book through the restaurants’ own sites four to eight weeks out for weekends.

The Michelin Guide Thailand also lists dozens of street vendors as Bib Gourmand, which is the useful tier: Thipsamai, Nai Mong, Go-Ang, Charoen Saeng Silom, Wattana Panich, Elvis Suki in Chinatown and Jeh O are all on it, and the full list on the Michelin Guide site is a free itinerary. By budget: a street meal is 50-80 baht, a shophouse lunch 80-150, a mid-range restaurant 200-500 a head, upmarket Thai 800-2,000, and tasting menus 4,000-10,000. Eating only from carts and food courts, 300-400 baht ($9-12) a day covers three good meals.

Thais eat with a fork and spoon: the fork pushes food onto the spoon, and the spoon goes in your mouth. Chopsticks appear only with noodle soups and Chinese dishes. Meals are shared: order one dish per person plus one for the table, with rice each, and take small portions rather than filling a plate. At street stalls you order, eat and pay at the end, often by telling the vendor what you had. “Mai phet” means not spicy, “phet nit noi” a little spicy, “mai sai phak chee” no coriander, and “mai wan” less sweet for drinks; most cooks will adjust. Chilli, sugar, fish sauce and dried chilli flakes sit on every table for you to fix it yourself.

Tipping is not expected at street stalls or food courts. In sit-down restaurants without a service charge, leaving the coins or 20-50 baht is normal; upmarket places add 10 percent service plus 7 percent VAT (“++”), and nothing further is required. Water is not free: a bottle is 10-20 baht. Thais eat early and often; dinner at 6pm is normal, and many famous shops sell out or shut by 8pm, while Yaowarat and the night markets run to midnight.

Vegetarian eating is easy once you know the word: “jay” (เจ), the Chinese-Buddhist vegan tradition, marked by yellow flags with red lettering on stalls and shops, where everything is free of meat, fish sauce and egg. Jay stalls appear everywhere during the nine-day Vegetarian Festival in Chinatown each September or October. Year-round, May Kaidee (near Khao San) runs a vegetarian Thai restaurant and cooking school, Broccoli Revolution (Sukhumvit 49) and Veganerie (Mercury Ville at Chit Lom, and EmQuartier) cover modern plant-based cooking, and Ethos near Khao San does vegetarian comfort food. At ordinary stalls say “mang sa wirat” (vegetarian) and “mai sai nam pla” (no fish sauce); pad thai, pad krapow with tofu and som tam without dried shrimp all work.

Halal food is concentrated around Haroon Mosque in Bang Rak, on Sukhumvit Soi 3 and 3/1 (Soi Arab, by BTS Nana) for Middle Eastern restaurants, around Phetchaburi Soi 7, and in the Ramkhamhaeng area; look for the green Halal Thailand sign, and note that most Thai Muslim food stalls serve chicken and beef versions of the standard dishes. Food safety in Bangkok is good by regional standards: the tap water is treated but nobody drinks it, bottled water is 10 baht, and ice is factory-made (the cylinders with a hole are safe). Choose busy stalls cooking to order, be careful with raw seafood and pre-cut fruit left in the sun, and carry oral rehydration sachets from any 7-Eleven. Pharmacies at every BTS station sell everything you might need without a prescription.

The two best-known schools sit a few BTS stops apart in Silom. Blue Elephant (Sathorn Road, BTS Surasak) runs half-day classes from about 3,300 baht, starting with a market visit at Bang Rak and cooking four or five dishes in a colonial mansion. Silom Thai Cooking School (near BTS Chong Nonsi) and Sompong Thai Cooking School (Silom Soi 13) charge 1,000-1,500 baht for a four-hour class including a market tour and five dishes, and both take vegetarians. Baipai in Lat Phrao (around 2,500 baht with hotel pickup) and Amita, reached by boat along the Thonburi canals (around 3,000), are the garden-setting options. Book two or three days ahead in high season.

Food tours cost 1,500-3,500 baht for three to four hours. Bangkok Food Tours covers Bang Rak and Chinatown on foot, A Chef’s Tour and Expique run evening tuk-tuk tours around Yaowarat and the Old Town, and Chili Paste Tours does market-focused mornings; all are good for a first night to learn the dishes before you order alone. For the rest of the trip, Sukhumvit gives you Thonglor, Ekkamai and the food courts; Chinatown gives you the night.