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Thais are passionate about food, and love discovering out-of-the-way shops that prepare unexpectedly tasty dishes. Nowhere is this truer—or more feasible—than in Bangkok. The city's residents always seem to be eating, so the tastes and smells of Thailand's cuisine surround you day and night. That said, Bangkok's restaurant scene is also a minefield, largely because the relationship between price and quality at times seems almost inverse. For every hole-in-the-wall gem serving the best sticky rice, larb (meat salad), and som tam (the hot-and-sour green-papaya salad that is the ultimate Thai staple) you've ever had, there's an overpriced hotel restaurant serving touristy, toned-down fare. In general, the best Thai food is found at the most bare-bones, even run-down restaurants, not at famous, upscale places.
If you want a break from Thai food, many other world cuisines are represented. Best among them is Chinese, although there's decent Japanese and Korean food as well. The city's ubiquitous noodle shops have their roots in China, as do roast-meat purveyors, whose historical inspiration was Cantonese. Western fare tends to suffer from the distance, although in the past few years many upscale and trendy western eateries have opened, some of them quite excellent.
As with anything in Bangkok, travel time is a major consideration when choosing a restaurant. If you're short on time or patience, choose a place that's an easy walk from a Skytrain or subway station. The easiest way to reach a riverside eatery is often on a Chao Phraya River express boat.
Proudly displaying the freshest catches on ice out front, this enormous and popular seafood restaurant opens daily at 4 pm and serves until as late as 1:30 am. Make your way through the evening crowds and take a number to secure your table—either on the sidewalk or inside.
This famous noodle shop outside the Hua Lamphong railway station is perfectly placed for a quick meal when you first get into Chinatown or on the way out. Thanks to an air-conditioned second floor, it’s a little comfier than your average noodle stand, but still quite cheap, and the window offers great people-watching on the street below.
In business since 1956, this expensive but worthwhile Chinatown classic takes you straight to Hong Kong with its excellent Cantonese roast meats, dim sum, and service that is authentically brusque. Hua Seng Hong has other locations across Bangkok, including at CentralWorld mall in the city center, but this is the original and most beloved for its bustling atmosphere—from inside to outside on Chinatown’s main vein, Yaowarat Road.
This unassuming restaurant next to Wat Plaplachai has a steady clientele thanks to fast service and consistently excellent Chinese-Thai dishes prepared according to the owner’s secret family recipes. The lighting and decor are lacking, but that can be forgiven when you taste the traditional tom yum goong (spicy, hot and sour shrimp soup), which some deem to be the city's best.
This open-air seafood restaurant is full of festive round tables and tanks containing live whole crabs, lobsters, and sea leech ready to be cooked in traditional Thai-Chinese style. There are lots of à la carte options from land and sea, but ordering off one of the many set menus is the best way to sample a variety of dishes.
This second-floor restaurant has been serving Chao Zhou cuisine for more than 70 years and though it lacks the elegance of the hotel restaurants in the area—the dining room is simple and you have to walk through the dishwashing room to reach the bathroom—it's a solid option in the heart of Chinatown. The Chinese-style sashimi and the fresh crab claws with ginger are excellent, but if you're feeling bold, try the ham with goatskin dipped in rice vinegar.
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