Bangkok is a city where some of the street food can
be as good as any of the sit down restaurants and certainly much
cheaper. In addition, Thai's pride themselves on cleanliness.
Compared to our street food experiences in other countries where we
have often gotten sick, we do not get sick from street food in
Bangkok. In many parts of Bangkok street food vendors are seemingly
everywhere and in certain districts they stay open very late.
In addition to eating at numerous street vendors we have also eaten
at the following Bangkok restaurants. Because we are often in
Bangkok we continue to add new restaurant reviews to this page over
time.
| Baan Khanittha
is located off of Sukhumvit Road at 36/1 Soi Sukhumvit 23.
This restaurant serves authentic Thai cuisine. Inside
parking is available. They have a good selection of wine and
other alcohol. The food focuses on both urban and rural
dishes. They have earned "best Thai restaurants" for a
number of years from the Bangkok Dining & Entertainment
Magazine. We ate here recently and have to say that the
quality of food has dropped since they won the |
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"best of" awards. The service was fine, but the
food lacked in flavor and inspiration. For more information visit:
www.baan-khanitha.com
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Bangkok Sky Restaurant
(at
Baiyoke Tower)
- this restaurant is located almost at the top of
Thailand's tallest building, the formidable Baioke I tower. This
restaurant is known for its lunch and dinner buffets. The food is
above average - but not quite top notch. This restaurant certainly
has some of the tallest views overlooking Bangkok! The buffet is
very large and spans 3/4 around the main restaurant room. Lots of
salads, main dishes and a big desert section. For more information
visit:www.baiyokehotel.com
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Coffee Beans by Dao -
has multiple locations in Bangkok. The one we
visited is located at Ruamreuidee Village (0 2254
7117). This branch has a plethora of seating spread
out among several stories. The food here is slightly
above average; it is nothing special. The best item
in our opinion is the Mediterranean salad. The
restaurants are wildly popular despite that, with a
mix of both tourists and locals. The reason you come
here is for their desserts - specifically their
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cakes. The cakes are
baked in a way that they are not overly sweet but
rather more delicate. Visit:
www.coffeebeans.co.th
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River Dinner Cruise - Chao Phraya River.
This is something fun to do in the evenings. Typically the cruise
will last 2 hours and will motor along the Chao Phraya river -
dining is often on the upper deck so you can see all the lighted up
temples as you pass by.
One such company offering river cruises is appropriately named
Chaophraya Cruises - they offer nightly dinner
cruises from 7pm to 9pm leaving from the River City Pier just west
of the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel. They hold 290 passengers - top
deck and downstairs dining available. For more information and to
reserve seats online visit:
www.chaophrayacruise.com or email:
sales@chaophrayacruise.com or Phone: (02) 541-5599
Another river dinner cruise lasting about 2 hours is the
Riverside Bangkok - visit their website at website
www.riversidebangkok.com (site is in Thai). We have been on this
one and its an open air dining deck - good food especially seafood,
a very relaxing river cruise.
Kara Fun Bangkok:
www.karafunbangkok.com, Karaoke & Restaurant
Laem-Cha Reon Seafood
is located on the 3rd floor of the huge Central World
Shopping Center next to the small "Asian Senses" Souvenir gallery.
We keep coming back to this restaurant for the excellent seafood. This is one of their branches.
Throw out any preconceived "western" notions you might have of "mall
restaurants".
Their food is terrific, specializing
in tasty reasonably priced seafood, all cooked Thai style. Some
of the seating at this restaurant overlooks the
Central World windowed walkway and some of the seating is actually
outside of the restaurant on this windowed walkway. A couple of
dishes we highly recommend are the raw shrimp with the fantastic
lemon sauce, the Pakached (vegetable dish) - asl for lemon sauce on
the side, their grilled prawns
(wow!), crab, and large whole fish simmered to perfection. Looking
for a nice specific drink you cannot find that often - choose their
refreshing Y2C Mangosteen juice (actually tastes like Mangosteen
juice and is not that cheap mixed Mangosteen juice you often find at
area supermarkets).
Le Normandie at
the Oriental Hotel - this is the best French restaurant in Bangkok - review coming soon!
Patravadi Theatre
is located mere minutes from the banks of the Chao
Phraya River at 69/1 Soi Wat Rakang - Arun Amarin Road. This theatre
company was founded in 1992 by a famous Thai Actress. Besides the
theatre there is a nice restaurant, an art school, artists in
residence and the art galleries are open free to the public. Please
visit their website for the schedule of performances:
www.patravaditheatre.com
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MahaNaga Fusion
is located at 2 Sukhumvit 29 We originally discovered this
restaurant when we were at a guesthouse in the middle of the Desert
of the Empty Quarter in Oman. We saw a Television commercial
promoting Thailand and the owner of this restaurant was featured in
the commercial. Parking is available on the restaurant grounds. This
is one of the more expensive restaurants in Bangkok. We visited on a
Monday night and our meal took almost 3 hours. We ended up waiting
long periods between entrees and when the food arrived it was not
the high quality or |
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portions we were
expecting. They have an excellent bar although some of the
drinks are served in very small portions. Nice outdoor or
indoor seating - although sometimes there can be a lot of
pesky small mosquitoes outside, despite the lemongrass
repellent they provide you. They also have a second
restaurant in the city of Chiangmai. For more information
call 053 261112 or visit:
www.mahanaga.com
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Sacha's Restaurant, Hotel Uno
maintains a delightful little cafe
located right next to the main lobby in the Hotel
Uno Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 19. A variety of inspired
flavorful dishes are made from their nearby open
kitchen. Tall windows let you look
out upon Soi 19. Service is fast and professional.
Visit:
www.hotel-uno.com or Phone: 02 651 2180
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| Scoozi Pizzeria has nearly
20 locations within Bangkok including the one we ate
at (their flagship location in a 100+ year old
house) along Suriwong Road just down from the Pat
Pong district near Silom. During one recent evening
we saw both Italian and Thai families eating here.
The salads are excellent especially especially the
Spinach and Mediterranean. Also very nice pizzas. |
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| The desserts
can be quite rich especially their home made ice
creams. We love their limoncello. You may also
order online for delivery in most locations in
Bangkok. For more information visit:
www.scoozipizza.com |
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| Somboon Seafood
has four locations in Bangkok. We have eaten at several of
their locations a number of times and keep returning! Their main
restaurant is located at 895/6-21 Soi Chula 8 on Bantadthong
Road. Their restaurants are mostly undiscovered by western
tourists. Somboon largely caters to locals and Asian
tourists - during busy Friday and Saturday nights we've seen
the lines snaking out the door and each restaurant has tons
of seating. Somboon was established in 1969 and specializes
in Thai seafood cuisine. They also have a one page Chinese
menu. The food is amazing and is well worth the price. A
couple of dishes we recommend are the grilled Tiger Prawns,
the raw shrimp, Sea Cucumber and vegetables, the fried curry
Crab, and any of the squid dishes. The current Prime
Minister of Japan, as of press time has eaten here as well
as a number of other Asian celebrities, all with their
photos on the wall. Out of the restaurants reviewed on this
page, this is our favorite one.
For more
information call: 02-216-4203-4. They are located about 10
minutes from the MBK shopping mall via a taxi or Tuk Tuk. |
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Tapas Cafe is located at 1/25
Sukhumvit Soi 11. This is a delightful restaurant with two levels of
inside dining plus a number of tables for street side dining. They
serve authentic Spanish Tapas styled menus with a wonderful bar (be
sure to try the amazing Sangria - this is a popular drink among many
of the diners!) This is a very popular restaurant with young urban
Bangkokites as well as tourists. The focus is both on traditional
and modern tapas. We enjoyed several nice salads and an inspired
grilled asparagus dish. For more information visit:
www.tapascafebangkok.com - |
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Dave's Pick