Thai Restaurants and Bars in Bangkok

From a single restaurant in the Saladaeng area of Bangkok, Anna’s Café has become an institution with outlets all around Bangkok, with other branches in Rama 3, Wireless Road, Bang Na and Sukhumvit. Each of the restaurants features an eclectic menu featuring some lesser known Thai dishes alongside some quirkier international dishes. Very ‘hip’ establishments, they are surprisingly inexpensive – Som Tam comes in at 60 Baht and Kai Satay (chicken on sticks) the same price. What probably brings people in though is the desserts. Fried Banana and Ice Cream again comes in at 60 Baht and is well worth it! If it’s your birthday, let them know; they sometimes put some birthday cake your way!

49 Soi Ruam Rudee
Lumpini
Pathumwan
Bangkok
10330

Run by a famous former politician who is head of Thailand’s ‘Population and Community Development Association’ this is a curious combination of fine cuisine and advice on birth control! This is a spacious restaurant and bar with indoor and outdoor dining, whether permitting. If you can accommodate the idea of a restaurant having birth control issues as its central theme (one of the restaurant’s bars is called the Vasectomy Bar), the Thai food here is excellent – the ‘usuals’ like Tom Yum Gung readily available on an extensive menu with excellently stocked bar. Very strangely, free condoms are available and condoms from every part of the world provide decoration! Weird, but wonderful! The nearest BTS station is Asok and Sukhumvit the nearest MRT station.

Sai Chol Restaurant offers authentic Thai and Vietnamese cuisine in the beauty of exquisite gardens and a riverside view. The restaurant specializes in savory dishes with Roasted Duck in Ginger a particular favorite amongst patrons. Quite a large restaurant with upwards of 150 (indoor and outdoor) tables, Sai Chol has an excellent bar with an extensive choice of wines. The restaurant opens 18:00 to 22:30.

‘Thai on 4’ is probably one of the more ‘nouveau’ establishments as reflected by its cuisine – an ever-changing selection of specials painstakingly developed by Khun Sisamon Kongpan - a Thai food expert who has been in print and on television. The restaurants décor is as ‘nouveau’ as the cuisine so this one Thai restaurant that is not attempting pacify the traditional image of a Thai food restaurant, although traditional dishes are available. Surprisingly, dishes are not expensive, coming in at around 180-200 Baht each. A genuinely different Thai food experience.

Located on Bangkok’s famous Khao San Road – not always regarded as best place in Bangkok for Thai food, this reputation changed with Tom Yum Gung’s arrival on the strip. Excellent food at a good price; the fact that it is always full of locals and there are actually few foreigners present indicates the quality.  Obviously, Tom Yum Kung is the restaurant's namesake and you should therefore try it – very authentic… hot and spicy. Other favourites are Yam Bra Bradu-fu (catfish fried until it's dry and then wetted up again with a 'salad' of mango, garlic and other ingredients in a spicy juice), Gy Pat Mit Mung Muang (chicken and cashew nuts) and Gung Gurry Nua (green beef curry). Costs are moderate. You don't need a map - there's a massive neon light on Khao San Road telling you where it is.

Yok Yor Restaurant offers Asian cuisine (mainly Chinese, Korean and Thai) alongside international dishes. The restaurant has an air-conditioned indoor section, but you can also dine ‘alfresco’ on the restaurants’ outdoor terraces. Yok Yor serves genuinely good food which draws a strong local following. This restaurant has a very appealing riverside location.

Open: Mon-Fri 11.00-14.00, 16.30-23.00    Sat, Sum & holidays: 11-23.00

Excellent restaurant providing Thai cuisine from very authentic traditional recipes prepared to absolute perfection. All manner of provincial Thai dishes are available on the menu, from the expected to the very much unexpected. Excellent views of the Chaophaya River available from tables. The restaurant has a well-stocked bar with local and foreign wines, spirits and beers. Open from 11.00 to 24.00m, the average price of a meal is 500 for 2 people.

This restaurant is so good it offers lessons on how to prepare excellent Thai cuisine! The 100-year old building the restaurant is located in adds tremendously to the authenticity of this establishment – strange then that it is part of a world wide Belgium-based restaurant chain! The menu offers ‘Royal Thai’ cuisine and many of your old favorites are there to enjoy (next to some you are likely to have never heard of but might be worth trying). Open for business between 11:30 and 14:30 (lunch) and 18:30 and 22:30 (dinner), this is an excellent choice for those looking for the real deal!