Food and drink in Bangkok
Bangkok is, for me personally, a feast when it comes to food. The city is an endless source of inspiration. Weekend markets, night markets, Chinatown, alleyways and fine dining. There is always something different to eat.
What I find interesting is that in many places, the same kind of food is actually being sold. Pad kraphao, chicken rice and all sorts of other dishes keep turning up again. I have eaten countless portions of pad kraphao and chicken rice by now. That is how you get more of a feel for what is good, and where you yourself keep coming back.
Those are the places I want to share. Not only because I get excited about eating in Bangkok, but also because I think food is one of the best ways to get to know Thailand and Thai culture better.
By Tim van Dellen, who lives in Thailand and regularly travels to Bangkok
How I think about food in Bangkok
Bangkok has so much on offer that I cannot capture it in one kind of eating experience. In a single day I can eat street food, walk around a market, sit down at a table, drink coffee and sit above the city in the evening.
Eating in Bangkok is wonderful for me. It can be cheap, it can be expensive, the range is enormous, and the places really do their best to put a good plate of food on the table. One of my biggest hobbies is wandering the streets of Bangkok, looking for dishes and for places with a story.
I pay more and more attention to what I myself think is good. If you eat a dish often enough in different places, you start to see the differences. Not only in what is on your plate, but also in where you keep coming back.
For me that has become a large part of travelling through Bangkok. Eating is not something that has to happen between two sights. It is a way of getting to know the city and understanding Thailand better.
Street food
I almost always start with street food. It simply belongs to Bangkok, and for me it is one of the most natural ways to eat here.
A dish on the street does not have to be a special occasion. You can just sit down, eat, and move on.
There is a lot of history in Thailand's street food. It is a good way to get to know the culture, and to get to know and understand Bangkok. You see a mix of cultures in the food. China, Portugal. Next time you walk through a food market, notice how many cultural influences you find in the street food.
Read here how I look at street food in Bangkok and what I look for.
Markets
Weekend markets and night markets are, for me, an important part of eating in Bangkok. You do not go there for one dish alone. There is so much to see and taste that it becomes part of your day by itself.
From morning market to night market: these are the places to try lots of different things. Markets like this are all over Bangkok. You never have to look for long. From the basement of a shopping centre to the car park of an office building: there are food markets scattered across the whole city.
Khlong Toei, for example, is a place I use in my time in Bangkok to see another side of the city. Chatuchak belongs to the weekend for me. The day-by-day plan for that is on Bangkok in 3 days.
Chinatown also has its own markets and eating moments. That comes together with the walk through the neighbourhood on Chinatown.
Read more about markets in Bangkok…
Restaurants
Not everything I eat, I eat on the street. Bangkok has neighbourhood tables I like to sit down at just as much as restaurants you really have to plan for.
I find that difference interesting. On the same day you can eat very simply and later end up at a restaurant where far more attention is paid to the dish and the ingredients.
Besides street food, you can eat extremely well in the mid-range. I like going to Emsphere myself. On -2 there is a food court full of good stalls, many of them with a Michelin rating. I like to have lunch there, and it is dirt cheap. About 10 to 20 percent more expensive than street food on the street.
In Talat Noi I go to Duck Noodle House, for example. For the fuller story about the neighbourhood and the places there, I point you to What to Do in Bangkok.
There are also restaurants such as Jay Fai and Sorn. I wrote about those earlier on From Thailand.
The tables I keep coming back to myself, you'll find at restaurants in Bangkok.
Coffee and cafés
Coffee is often a good way for me to get to know a neighbourhood. In Bangkok there are more and more cafés where coffee is part of the place and the surroundings.
My favourite coffee stops in Bangkok are at coffee and cafés.
Rooftops
Sometimes, after a day of eating and walking around, you just want to see the city from above.
The Norm, on the 42nd floor of Dusit Central Park, is not a standard rooftop for me. Design is just as important there as the view.
I see Wallflowers and Ba Hao as part of an evening in Chinatown. Those places belong to that walk, and that is why they stay on Chinatown.
Read more about rooftops in Bangkok…
What it costs
Street food is everyday food here. Count on about ฿60–฿200.
A neighbourhood table is a different decision. Coffee is a pause. A rooftop is an evening. A starred restaurant is planning.
The rest is on the map
400+ places I have visited myself, organised by category. When you travel, you use the same map on your phone.
How that map works, you can see on the maps page.
Complete Bangkok Bundle
If you want the maps and the Bangkok guides together, for less than buying them separately: the Complete Bangkok Bundle. That is what I would take myself if I were going to explore Bangkok and wanted everything to hand.
€19.95 · €35.75 SEPARATELY
Complete Bangkok Bundle
Both Bangkok guides plus all three maps, for less than buying them separately.
View the bundle →Street food or a table?
If you want to keep moving and you are hungry, street food is often the easiest choice. If a dish needs more time, or you simply want to sit down somewhere, you take a table.
Chinatown, for me, is mainly an evening walk. Talat Noi fits the morning and coffee. The map is what I open when I am there.
Two or three days?
Do not cram everything into one route.
Three days, with Khlong Toei on day two and Chatuchak at the weekend, you can read in Bangkok in 3 days.
A few hours, three neighbourhoods: Talat Noi, Song Wat and Chinatown. You can read that story on From Thailand.
If you want a route of your own
If the city does not fit a bundle and you would rather have someone think with you about what suits your trip, you can go to Custom Travel Plan. Or to an advice call.