Restaurants in Bangkok we book every time

Dining in Bangkok ranges from bustling street food joints slinging fragrant pad kaprao to Michelin-commended superstars. To get a true taste of the city, you’ll want to get your chops around both.

It’s impossible to walk the city streets without running into a tiny trolley or street vendor with a snaking queue (tip: the longer the queue, the better the food), no matter the time of day. After dark, make a trip to one of the city’s famed night markets or street food mainstays like Chinatown, Silom, Soi Rangnam, Samyan, Onnut and Talat Phlu, to sample local delicacies such as world-famous phad thai stir-fried noodles and tom yum goong (spicy soup with prawns). This is also the place to dive a little deeper into local staples, like tom kha (coconut curry), phad see ew (stir-fried noodle with soy sauce), and ubiquitous phad kaprao (stir-fried basil, chilli and garlic with choices of meat).

Navigating the Bangkok food scene

Thai food is known for searing spice, but there is also for those looking to keep it cool, too. Its restaurants span fine dining establishments reinterpreting local produce to hip local hangouts. Team it with a trip to one of Bangkok’s brilliant bars for an action-packed evening.

This South-East-Asian super city is vast and ever-changing, but stick to our guide and you won’t go wrong.

Restaurants in Bang Rak

Aksorn

Best for: Authentic, Michelin-starred Thai in Old Bangkok
Location: 1266, Charoen Krung Road, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500
Price: $$$$

Old is new again, Thai food included. Despite the surge in restaurants dishing out fusion cuisine, Michelin-starred Aksorn has stuck to its guns, preserving traditional Thai cuisine one recipe at a time. Acclaimed Australian chef-writer David Thompson mined Thai cookbooks from the 1950s to the 1970s to build his menu of family-style feasts. Some of the retro favourites are prawns and wild ginger wrapped in coral leaves; rice vermicelli with blue swimmer crab, and chicken and galangal braised in coconut cream. Sit inside to watch the open kitchen in action, or dine alfresco on the balcony for views of the State Tower skyscraper.

100 Mahaseth

Best for: Nose-to-tail cooking spotlighting north and northeastern Thai
Location: 100, Mahaseth Road, Si Phraya, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500
Price: $$$

The deep flavours and rich textures of offal are a big deal in Thai cooking, and this nose-to-tail restaurant is the place to go for a taste of pig’s heart, bone marrow, and dry-aged beef tongue. The menu is based on the food of Thailand’s north and northeastern regions – where no part of a cow or pig goes to waste – and is given a slick, modern spin by chefs Chalee Cader and Randy Nopprapa. Start with charcoal-roasted bone marrow and densely flavoured oxtail curry with cassia leaves before braving grittier dishes, like the two-week dry-aged tongues grilled over longan woods and served alongside pickled radish, pepper seeds and chamuang leaves. It’s also worth noting that all the ingredients are top-quality and sourced from local farms. While you’re here, you should nip upstairs to bar Mahaniyom for adventurous, savoury cocktails made from squid ink or beef fat.

Restaurants in Watthana

Chenin

Best for: Natural wines and rising-star chefs
Location: 29/4 Sukhumvit 31, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
Price: Small plates from 450 THB / 13 USD; large plates from 550 THB / 16 USD

This stylish restaurant and wine bar has been making waves since it first opened in Watthana in 2022. Here, evening menus have a Mediterranean flex with appetisers like beef tartare and Sicilian crudo followed up by a string of fresh pastas such as duck ragu. The drinks menu is centred around natural wines from all different corners of the world, while fun spirits like Japanese Suntory Roku Gin and Scottish Ardbeg whisky can be enjoyed on the rocks or in a highball. The team (who formerly ran popular Asok Pi Shop) champion unconventional cooking and regularly invite emerging and established chefs into the kitchen to shake the pans. In 2024, London-based chef Ed Mcilroy of Four Legs and LA-born Coleman Griffin of Sower restaurant in Lake Biwa have plated up a one-off meal. Interiors, designed by Berlin-based studio Affin have a modern finish with dark wood, terrazzo flooring, stainless steel tables and bouclé banquettes.

Goat BKK

Best for: Vivid Thai-Chinese flavour with a Michelin Green Star
Address: 12, Ekkamai 10, Yaek 2, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
Price: $$$$

Although named after the gentlest zodiac sign, Goat is known for its bold Thai-Chinese cuisine and interior, which reverberates a 19th-century Sino-Portuguese atmosphere. Vintage floor lamps hanging from the ceiling and a striking mural covers one wall. Behind a buzzing open kitchen, chefs plate up coconut bonbon infused with burnt smoky shallots and chili, alongside local-caught fish of the day and shrimp paste jam.

The tasting menu (4,590 THB / 147 USD) runs 13 plates, each honoring the Thai province of origin of its ingredients. In addition to thoughtfully curated Thai beverages, Goat presents a “soft pairing” option made through fermentations with ingredients like guava and rose petals. The restaurant exclusively uses local ingredients, from cheese to fish sauce and all food waste is converted into bio-fertiliser for local farmers, reinforcing its farm-to-table ethos.

Restaurants in Thonglor

Khua Kling Pak Sod

Best for: Spicy southern Thai and BYOB wine
Address: 98/1 Pai Di Ma Di Klang Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
Price: $$

Grandmother’s recipes, seasonal ingredients from the south and friendly service shine at this homely restaurant in a Thonglor backstreet, which draws a stylish, local crowd for its spice-driven menu. A fiery dry-fried minced pork curry is the undeniable signature, eaten wrapped in cabbage with raw yardlong beans, carrot and white turmeric. For seafood fans, deep-fried crab meat rolls come with a price tag, but are as good as you’ll get. Hot and sour mackerel soup is aromatic and cleansing, while stir-fried sator beans and prawns with kapi shrimp paste embody the unique flavours of southern Thai cuisine. Sweet pork belly with herbs and soy sauce is braised for up to six hours for a melt-in-the-mouth finish, while local flowers and greens like cowslip creeper and climbing wattle are prominent throughout. Cool down the palate with Thai iced juices, craft beer or your own wine for a corkage fee (500 THB / 14 USD per bottle). There are additional branches of Khua Kling Pak Sod across Bangkok, but Thonglor is the original.

Restaurants in Talad Noi

Charmkrung

Best for: Tapas-style Thai with local energy
Address: 6th floor, 839 Charoen Krung Road, Khwaeng Talat Noi, Khet Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
Price: $$

The follow-up to sought-after Charmgang carves out a unique space as a lively fusion of a Thai curry shophouse and a natural wine bar. Occupying the sixth floor of an old warehouse, interiors not to the surrounding Talad Noi neighbourhood. Patterned tiles and cafeteria-style seating create a laidback, vibrant space, while an elongated counter – good for solo dining – offers prime kitchen views. The menu encourages sharing, featuring tapas-style dishes like the deep-fried pork hock terrine paired with fresh pineapple slices. The wine list leans organic, while a hip-hop playlist keeps the place vibing.

Samlor

Best for: Elevated street food on Bangkok’s oldest road
Address: 1076 Charoen Krung Road, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500
Price: $$

Pumping hip hop and exposed brick walls set the tone at Samlor, one of the most sought after dining tickets in town on Bangkok’s oldest road. The pace is energetic but not rushed, as friendly staff flit from bar to table with plates that lend themselves to sharing. Prawn ceviche atop cos lettuce is a two bite flavour-bomb, and you’ll be asked how bitter you’d like the spicy wagyu tartare starter. Crunchy duck larb is eye-wincingly sour, and a grilled green eggplant salad with water bug vinaigrette arrives unexpectedly as finger-friendly pretty little cylinders. A showstopping Thai omelette flies out the kitchen and is gently opened by waiters to reveal the gooey core of the souffle-like structure. Local craft beers on tap are served in can-shaped glasses, while locally made YORA ice cream finishes the night.

Samphanthawong

Potong

Best for: Michelin-starred, progressive Thai-Chinese
Location: 422, Soi Wanit 1, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
Price: $$$$

Thai celeb chef Pitchaya ‘Pam’ Utarntham converted her 120-year-old family-run pharmacy to house her restaurant, which serves a 20-course menu (from 4,500 THB / 132 USD), so make sure you come hungry. Each dish is a Thai-Chinese delicacy inspired by Utarntham’s childhood memories: frog dumpling soaked in frog bone broth, slow-cooked duck tongue with tri-coloured sauces, and sinister-looking (but no less delicious) pitch-black chicken. For a post-prandial digestif, make your way up to the fourth floor where you’ll find speakeasy Opium Bar.

Phra Nakhon

Jay Fai

Best for: Legendary street food that is worth the wait
Location: 327, Maha Chai Road, Samran Rat, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200
Price: $$

Jay Fai’s Michelin-starred street food isn’t exactly a secret, but this casual spot is deserving of its reputation as a BKK institution. There’s no doubt that you’ll have to wait in line for a table, but the signature crispy crab omelette and top-notch phad kee mao drunken noodles are worth it – as is the sight of 77-year-old Supinya “Jay Fai” Junsuta wearing a black beanie and ski goggles in full wok-frying mode. Pro tip: put your name on the list and head across the road to Tai Soon Bar to pass the time with a craft beer.

Restaurants in Chidlom

Inddee

Best for: A culinary journey through the Indian subcontinent
Address: 68, 1 Soi Langsuan, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330
Price: $$$$

Inddee is a standout in Bangkok’s evolving Indian dining scene, rooted in the city’s Indian diaspora. The fine dining restaurant occupies a restored two-story house off Langsuan Road, designed by lighting maestro Matteo Messervy. Tables sit beneath illuminated vaulted ceilings, while a glass-roofed second floor floods the space with natural light.

Led by Mumbai-born Chef Sachin Poojary, a tasting menu (5,500 THB / 176 USD), is a creative reflection of regional Indian dishes, guided by food historian Dr Pushpesh Pant, who helps preserve key recipes. The smokey Baigan Chokha is a savoury mix of grilled eggplant, chili, and tomato, served on crisp millet bread with pickled mackerel and mustard seed oil. An impressive wine list ranks among the most extensive in the city.

Still hungry? Check out ROADBOOK’s guide to the best street food in Bangkok or hit up one of these recommended markets. Need a bed for the night? Our Bangkok hotel guide has you covered.