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Anyone who’s visited Thailand will tell you that the food here is awesome. A wide variety of flavours, stylin’ restaurants , great service at unbelievably cheap prices is the best of it, while, dodgy chicken, fluorescent lighting, idle wait staff, still at cheap prices is just about the worst of it. Most Bangkokers don’t have kitchens so 99.999% of your meals will be spent eating out. This can mean sitting on plastic stools over putrid drains while chowing down on the best moo ping known to man. Or, it could be dining on the 64th floor of a five star hotel with panoramic views of the city. (Actually it’s not uncommon to do both on the same night.) Here’s a quick recap of food in this city…
Areas to Dine:
Sukhumvit/Langsuan – Most of restaurants on at the beginning of this stretch will be pricier compared to more ‘Thai’ areas. Many expats live and work around here so almost every restaurant will have English menus and English-speaking staff.
Khao San – Most travelers and many expats will tell you to stay away from Khao san for food. On the whole, they would be correct. However, there are some great cheap places to eat around the area that are very Thai and quite funky. Please go to Khao San Revised article for more info.
Ari – This funky little area has a good mix of Thai and farang residents. Lots of great restaurants to explore at affordable prices. Our favourite at the moment is Pla Dip on Ari Samphan Road.
 Silom – Also home to many foreigners, Silom has a vibrant street life day and night. Steering clear of Patpong is easy when there’s so much else to see and do. Convent road and Saladaeng road in the same area have many great low to high-end eateries to try. A few restaurants to check out are: Eat Me Gallery on Soi Piphat, Tabu on Convent Rd, Saladaeng Café on Saladaeng soi 1 and the Sirisathorn Hotel restaurant also on Saladaeng soi 1. On the corner of soi convent and Silom you’ll find the best pork sticks in the universe at a street stall which opens at around 11.30 pm each night especially for wasted party people. For more on Mr. Moo Ping, click here.
China Town – Well known for it’s food, but be prepared to for the hectic street life and manky back alleys. Chinatown is impoverished and quite unsanitary, but of course that’s where you can also find the real gems…
 Thong Lo and Ekamai – Popular among young and funky Thais, you’ll find many cool hang outs along these two streets. Venues are spread out along these strips so you’ll have to know exactly where you’re going beforehand. H1 on Thonglo has a few good, but quite pricey restaurants. Try Chi for one of the most chic designs in the city. Playground mini mall , also on soi Thonglor has a great restaurant on the ground floor called Vanilla Industry which is affordable, delicious and stylish.
Food to Try Thai food is varied in itself will specialities from each region.
North – Most notably from this regions is Isaan food from the north-east of Thailand. Isaan cuisine is often spicy and features many Thai-style salads. The most popular Isaan dish is som tam or green papaya salad, which you’ll find sold at many street stalls. Other Isaan dishes to try are Nam Tok (sliced pork and ground rice salad), laarbmuu/gai (minced pork/chicken and ground rice salad) and gai yang or fried chicken, all served with the customary sticky rice.
South – Southern Thai food shares similarities with Malaysian food due to the country’s proximity to the region. Here, the cuisine leans heavily to curries like the famous massaman curry with coconut milk.
Foreign – If spicy food is unsettling some beastly belly bugs, fear not, many foreign restaurants are available in Bangkok. Thai people love Italian and Japanese cuisine so you’ll find high-end and cheap venues of these types of restaurants almost everywhere.
Warning: Beware at the more generic Italian restaurants, be prepared to be served Thai versions of traditional dishes, i.e involving lots of sugar.
There’s also a Japanese soi opposite Emporium Mall (Phrom Pong BTS station) on Sukhumvit soi 31/1 where many Japanese and Korean restaurants can be found as well as a great Japanese supermarket.
Indian is not so highly favoured but if you’re hankering for a curry in a hurry, there are good Indian restaurants usually at quite reasonable prices. Try Bawarchi at the Night Market and also Himali Cha Cha near Chinatown area.
Arab – You can find a whole soi full of Arab restaurants and food located on Sukhumvit 3/1 (the small street between soi 3 and soi 5), the Arab soi is a great place to get greasy with some Middle Eastern fare. Our favourites are Petra’s and what we call the “Shiny Place” where you can sit outside and smoke a delicious apple-flavoured shisha (hookah). Most of the Arab restaurants do not serve alcohol because of religious reasons, so make sure your hip flask of whiskey is at hand.
Vegetarian Vegetarians don’t be disheartened by the seemingly endless stalls of sizzling meat on the streets. Non-meat options are easy and readily available in Thailand. Almost every restaurant and street stall can modify dishes to jai (vegetarian). If you’re a vegan however, make sure you ask for no nam pla (fish sauce), egg ( **) and… (joel?). A warning for everyone, street vendors love to use MSG and if you’d like to avoid carcinogens then say mai sai pom chalot (without MSG).
 Street Stalls Eating on the street can be risky but it’s a chance you will have to take to enjoy Thai food at its the best and cheapest. You may at first experience some troubling digestive moments, but your body will soon build up the anti-bodies.
Try and stick to stalls that cook food on the spot rather than ready-made dishes festering in pots under the blistering sun.The same applies to food courts at shopping malls. Malls may seem cleaner but in this case, what you don’t see can harm you.
One fantastic food court however which is perfectly safe and offers a new dining concept is Food Loft on the top floor of Central Chitlom (Chitlom BTS station). Pick up a card as you enter and order food from the wide range of quality outlets serving Indian, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Chinese , Vietnamese , dessert and a rotating feature restaurant. The prices are fairly reasonable considering the quality, concept and service.
 Mandatory Hi-so Munchies
Bed Supperclub is a must for fine French cuisine, well-mixed drinks at one of Bangkok’s most innovative locations. Prepare to fork out 1,000 baht ++ per head for a three course meal, a bargain compared to Western prices and for the quality (not-to-mention the hot wait staff).
 Vertigo or Sirocco: The view at Sirocco is better but the atmosphere is more chilled at Vertigo. Both are on the 50th -60th+ floors of five star hotels, so both are priced accordingly, yet neither mix a particularly good drink. But you’re paying for the killer view so we recommend: sunset drinks at Vertigo, then twilight cocktails at Sirocco.
Mandatory Lo-so Munchies Sukhumvit Soi 38 is opposite Soi Thong Lo and is one the most famous street stall hang outs. We recommend the duck, which is served in the first shop (not stall) on the right hand side. The muu satay (satay sticks) are also highly recommended, but make sure you save room for ‘mango and sticky rice’ afterwards as soi 38 is home to arguably the best mangoes in Bangkok.
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