Bangkok Restaurant Reviews
Bangkok has a huge selection of restaurants serving cuisine from every part of the globe and with new places continually opening, it's hard to keep up! So to help you, we've been out and found some excellent restaurants well worth a mention (if you have any recommendations please feel free to contact us).
Tips and Taxes
In restaurants (not noodle shops or local cafes) 7% VAT is added to the bill. An additional service charge of around 10% is also added in places like hotels and more sophisticated restaurants. If your bill doesn't contain a service charge, then a tip of around 10% is often appreciated if the service has met your expectations..
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The unique flavours of Thailand need little introduction. Neither does Bangkok's famous Spice Market restaurant, a firm favourite of local Thais, expats and visitors in the know for the past 25 years since the luxury Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok opened in 1983 at its prime inner-city location in Rachadamri Road. With a new chef at the helm - who has introduced an interesting twist on many popular dishes - Spice Market is all set to boost its fan base over the next 25 years... (READ MORE)
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This lovely restaurant, set in a Thai style house surrounded by tropical gardens, is one of the most relaxing and elegant in Bangkok. Located on Sukhumvit Soi 8, Le Banyan serves delectable French cuisine including a selection of foie gras and distinctive seafood main courses like snapper fillet with fresh apples and apple brandy. Succulent meat courses like grilled pressed duck are among the house specialities. Sumptuous desserts, top notch sevice, very classy. Set weekly specials available. A restaurant to impress.
Le Banyan
Location: 59 Sukhumvit Soi 8
Contact: +66 (0)2 253 5556
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With Christmas around the corner, Catherine Bowers samples a taste of the festive season at La Scala. When La Scala first opened in 2002, the modern Italian restaurant with its chic, innovative interior was an immediate hit with both the local elite and overseas visitors alike. Four years down the road, La Scala has established itself as one of the best Italian dining spots in town, offering the highest quality Italian cuisine. (READ MORE)
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This award winning restaurant serves signature dishes from all over Thailand, beautifully presented on distinctive Celadon tableware. Dishes can be toned down for visitors so ask for local style if you really prefer very spicy. Dishes like spicy river prawn soup with glass noodles and prawns with tamarind sauce are beautifully done. Located off Sukhumvit Road the restaurant has a very soothing ambiance with Thai style decor, polished floors and artwork. An outdoor seating area is also available.
Baan Kanitha
Location: 36/1 Sukhumvit Soi 23
Contact: +66 (0)2 258 4181
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Calderazzo seems to be joining the extended list of understated Bangkok new wave restaurants. Almost stark in appearance with white tablecloths, cream interior and very little fussy decoration, it's clean and refreshing airy with an emphasis on well cooked Italian food. A ceiling to floor glass wall gives a great view over Lang Suan, giving a feeling of being outside on the street, rather than air-conditioned comfort.
As well as the usual fare of pastas and pizzas, Calderazzo also has some house specialities which are well worth the visit. Try the Salsiccia - fantastic home made pork sausages served with rocket and a balsamic dressing or Tuna Carpaccio (Tonno) served with a lovely drizzly mustard dressing. Vegetarians won't miss out either. A home strozzapreti with the classic ingredients of north Italian cooking - white beans, ricotta, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese makes a real treat.
Most of the food is based on classic Italian principles - combining the best ingredients with simple and expert cooking methods to produce dishes like steamed sea bass with mushrooms, pine nuts and olives, or veal served with risotto (just the right consistency - not too soggy)
For dessert, classics like Panna cotta and Tiramisu still delight. Calderazzo offers good service with staff who do know about their food, and a wine list with a varied slemake this a definite place to check out.
Calderazzo
Location: 59 Lang Suan, Ploenchit
Contact: +66 (0)2 252 8108
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A charming Vietnamese restaurant, located on busy Soi 23, a short walk from Sukhumvit Road and Soi Cowboy, Le Dalat Indochine ranks among the best Vietnamese restaurants in the city. Housed in an imaginatively converted 1950's villa packed with plants and works of art and memorabilia. A huge window overlooks a beautifully kept garden. Le Dalat Indochine captivates customers even before they enter the building.
As you would expect, the food reflects the strong French and Chinese influence on Vietnamese cusine - elegant to look at and delightful to eat. Tempting appetisers include Hue Flute, similar to spring rolls, but with a delicious mixture of crab meat and herbs, delicately fried. Goi Sen, a salad of chicken or prawns and julienned lotus root tossed with a port based dressing is definitely worth a taste.
If you're fond of seafood, the spectacular Cua Rang Me - a whole pan-fried crab coated with tamarind paste, spring onions and pounded garlic is just to die for. Not easy to eat if you're wearing your best outfit - you just have to dig in, wear a bib and enjoy this unforgettably tasty dish!
The French influence is very apparent in the "bouillabaisse" of baby clams, prawns, crabmeat, crab roe and anchovy paste, one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. The style is French, but the flavour Vietnamese and uniquely delicious. If you enjoy duck, try Cari Vit. Served with either a baguette or pilao rice, it's a recipe from the French enclave in India and blends French, Indian and Vietnamese flavorus in a unique way.
Wine is expensive in Thailand and the restaurant wisely includes less expensive New World wines as well as French. A Chilean Chardonnay costs around THB1,100. Instead of coffee try the unique, artichoke-smoked tea.
Le Dalat
The sister restaurant of Le Dalat Indochine, located across the street. Similar food but less of a French influence. Both restaurants can be reached by Skytrain to Asok station and walk across busy Soi Asoke (Soi 19) to Soi 23.
Location: 14 Sukhumvit Soi 23
Contact: +66 (0)2 261 7967-8
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Vastly under-rated, Vietnamese food offers an incredibly subtle combination of textures and tastes, taking the best of Thai, Chinese and in Pho's case, a hint of Japanese. Old established dishes take on a new look with exquisite and imaginative presentation. Like many of Bangkok restaurants Pho has gone for the no frills, 'understated' look - and it works. From the alternating dark and blond wood, terra cotta floor tiles, marble table tops, white orchid planter and chandeliers giving just a hint of frivolity - it's pretty stylish.
And the food? Even the simplest of dishes get the treatment. Stainless steel containers arrive like a welcoming bouquet, brimming with a salad of local herbs and varied lettuce The lemongrass juice (only 30 Baht) has fine stemo of lemongrass as a swizzle stick, gently reminding this is fresh and it isn't a Coca Cola. But it's not just the presentation, the food is extremely good. Traditional dishes like bi cuon (bite sized wrapped rolls of shredded pork and shrimp served alongside an unusual carrot and dalkion relish with a hint of sweet chilli. Put the two together and wow!
It's partly the secret of Vietnamese food. it's the combination of dipping sauces, relishes, ingredients, textures and tastes which make it such an unusual and delightful cuisine. (So there's no point in ordering simply one dish!) Recommended dishes: Beef in lime - Wonderfully soft tiny morsels of beef are marinated in a blend of sweet chilli and lime - piquant rather than sweet and sour, it melts in the mouth. Marinated salmon, colorfully presented with a twist of orange, gets a similar treatment.
Finish with a fine dessert like fried banana - ever so lightly fried and dusted with icing sugar served with a ice cream gently placed in an edible crispy basket. At only 60 baht you can eat more than one! Unobtrusive service with well trained and attentive staff, make Pho a place to return to. Main dishes range from 70- 180 baht. Verdict: Excellent value.
Pho
Location: 25 Soi Chidlom, Second Floor, Alma Link Building
Contact: +66 (0)2 251 8945
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We take a fresh look at one of Bangkok's long-standing seafood restaurants, Lek Seafood. A resolutely unglamorous establishment situated a stones throw away from Chong Nonsi BTS station, its the well-priced, scrumptious and totally Thai dishes to be had here that do the talking. (READ MORE)
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Tahsaneeya is a converted antique teak wood rice barge, exuding splendour and authenticity all around her. The moment you step onboard, you will be welcomed by one of Loynava's traditionally attired hostesses who will greet you with a customary 'wai' (Thai greeting), accompanied with a sweet-smelling garland and a sprinkle of rose-water - a truly Thai way to show respect to someone. (READ MORE)
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It prides itself as 'the best little Vietnamese restaurant in Bangkok', and Xuan Mai (Spring Flower in Vietnamese) definitely lives up to its reputation. Serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine right in the heart of Bangkok, Xuan Mai offers wholesome, home-cooked Vietnamese cuisine. Despite being located deep within Sukhumvit Soi 13, it's not a hassle to find... (READ MORE)
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If good food is "a celebration of life", as Sophia Loren was once quoted as saying, the place to be living it up in Bangkok these days is Breeze - complete with a celebratory toast to all the finer things life has to offer. And if that good food comes in a gloriously glamorous setting 200 meters up in the sky, life surely doesn't get any better. Welcome to heaven on earth... (READ MORE)
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Ice cream, one of the world's greatest inventions, have long taken its rightful place in everyone's hearts - young or old. Served previously exclusively in the bygone European royal courts, this frozen dessert was considered a delicacy so divine that, as somebody aptly put, it should be illegal. Illegal or not, we all love it, especially when it comes with a little twist... (READ MORE)
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Like an oasis in the middle of the ever-hectic Sukhumvit area, Bangkok's one and only authentic crêperie is surrounded by lush tropical gardens, allowing guests to enjoy a healthy dose of fresh air (you can dine out here too if you wish). The restaurant is divided into three sections: the Lounge, the Dining Room, and the Terrace. (READ MORE)
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The association between oysters and sex is such a cliché that ordering some on a date is embarrassing. Equivalent, say, to sounding your glass in a restaurant, calling for hush and declaring to a room full of strangers your lustful intentions. Order some at Distil though - an extravagantly styled malt whisky, vodka, wine, cigar and oyster bar up high on the 64th floor of leBua at State Tower Bangkok- and swallowing a few of the most obvious of aphrodisiacs becomes seductive and sexy again. (READ MORE)
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Epicurean debauchery. Nothing more, nothing less. That best describes the sinfully decadent culinary spread that can be enjoyed at River Caf- & Terrace, the posh Peninsula Hotel's popular riverside restaurant which re-opened in September (2006) after being closed briefly for refurbishments. If 'Krung Thep' (Bangkok's Thai name) means 'The City of Angels', this must surely be the heavenly food angels feast on. To mention 'debauchery' and 'sinful' in the same breath as 'heavenly food' and 'angels' sounds like a contradiction, but then again this is Bangkok after all... (READ MORE)
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