We did Bangkok in the summer of 2017, on the tail end of the city's last great street food era before the government started "cleaning up" sidewalks. Most of what we ate then is still there in slightly different form.
Where is the best pad thai in Bangkok?
Thip Samai, 313 Maha Chai Road, near the Golden Mount. Order the pad thai with prawns wrapped in egg (the famous version), 100 baht (£2.30), and a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. The pad thai is more savoury than sweet (the right ratio most Western Thai restaurants get wrong), the prawns are bigger than your thumb, and the egg crepe is the first thing you'll cut through. Eat inside. Sticky plastic stools and fluorescent lights. This is the genuine pad thai.
What are boat noodles and where do I find them?
"Boat noodles" (kuai-tiao reua) are small dark beef-broth bowls that used to be served from canal boats. Now they're mostly served from open-fronted shops around Victory Monument. The portions are tiny by design (you eat six or eight in a sitting), the broth is dense with pork blood and five-spice. 15 baht a bowl. The pile of empty bowls in front of you at the end is the bragging right. We did six between two.
What is the best Thai restaurant in Bangkok?
Krua Apsorn, 503 Samsen Road. The famous southern Thai restaurant with the country's best crab omelette (yam pu kai jiao, 280 baht) and a stunning massaman curry (220 baht). The queue moves fast. It's the kind of food the rest of the world thinks of as "Thai food" but executed at a level you simply cannot get in London. Linda still talks about the crab omelette three years later.
What to eat in Chinatown Bangkok at night
Yaowarat Road comes alive at 7pm and runs until 1am. The stall to find: T&K Seafood at the corner of Padungdao and Yaowarat. They cook outdoors, the woks are visible, the line is on the street. About 800 baht (£18) for two with a giant grilled prawn dish, stir-fried morning glory, and a whole steamed fish.
What did Bangkok's fine dining scene look like?
We did BO.LAN, the modern Thai tasting-menu place. About 3,000 baht/person (£70). Twelve courses of regional Thai dishes: hand-cut tom yum, fresh-river-prawn yum, lamb massaman with cardamom braised eggplant. The standout was a single bite of fermented sausage, raw shallot, peanut and lime leaf called miang khum.
BO.LAN closed in 2020. The current go-to places are Le Du, Suhring, 80/20, and Nahm. Le Du is the newer benchmark.
Bangkok street food budget for 6 days, two people
| Street food meals (12 meals for two) | 4,000 baht (£92) |
| Market snacks and drinks | 1,500 baht (£35) |
| One fine-dining dinner | 6,000 baht (£140) |
| Sky Bar sunset cocktails | 600 baht (£14) |
| **Without fine dining** | **6,100 baht (~£140)** |
| Total | 12,100 baht (~£280) |
Frequently asked questions
With a spoon and fork. Not chopsticks. Thai food is spoon-and-fork.
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