Bangkok Restaurant Tips by Tijavi

Restaurant Name: Hemlock

Taking inspiration from the potion that killed Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Hemlock is Thai food romanticized - with lots of chillies and exotic spices, except that I settled for the less spicy rice dish with native sausage and dried shrimps. The odd combination (actually, not really that odd for my Southeast Asian palate) provides a happy contrast between the rich pork concoction that is the sausage and the salty, a-bit-crunchy texture of the shrimp. The rice acted as the unifying agent. Washed down with ice-cold beer, it was a fitting start to what would be a nice gastronomic two-day trip around the city (and country) that boasts one of the world's best-loved cuisine.

The dessert list though did not charm me, so I opted to have it elsewhere. Service was mediocre owing perhaps to the lack of staff (there were only two that night - both doing the serving and the cashiering) and strong customer flow. Unfortunately, I also sense a strong 'preference' for Caucasian customers - both in choice of seats and service quality - an observation that was soon validated in other restaurants. This is a farang-loving (foreigners, Caucasians, specifically) country after all.


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Theme: Local
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: Th Phra Athit

Restaurant Name: Viet Cuisine

Exhausted and famished from exploring the gigantic MBK mall, I found this restaurant's menu tempting - a medley of soft crab concoctions plus some classic Vietnamese dishes. For mains, I had soft crab in tamarind sauce: a tad sweeter than what I would have wanted, but delicious nonetheless, with the tangy tamarind sauce creating a soft burning sensation on your tongue. Before that, I had classic Vietnamese shrimp dumplings: fresh, simple, healthy with the crunchy lettuce wrapper providing a happy contrast with the soft morsels inside.

Overall, it was a light but satisfying lunch.


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Theme: Seafood
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: MBK Mall
Directions: At level of MBK Mall where the restaurants are located.

Restaurant Name: Bangkok's street food vendors

One of Bangkok's greatest attractions is its street food scene - delicious, cheap and fun. If you are on a tight budget you could practically survive on 5-baht-per-stick barbecues, 10-baht pad thai, 20-baht curries and lots and lots of other cheap offerings that are simply delicious. They are also very convenient, with street food vendors found in almost every corner of the city. Sanitation? No worries, many of these food are cooked fresh and on site limiting any chance of getting nasty tummy aches. The biggest danger actually lies in overeating and over indulgence - the food are just too appetizing to resist!

If there is one thing that was the highlight of my short 48-hour trip to Bangkok, this should be it - my great street food adventure. Note that prices in more touristy areas such as Khao San are easily 25-100% more expensive than those served elsewhere.


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Theme: Local
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Street Vendors!
Directions: All over Bangkok

Restaurant Name: 2-level restaurant on Tha Tien pier

There are two restaurants on Tha Tien pier overlooking the river: (a) the one to your left (facing the river) - a single level riverside eatery; and (b) the one to your right - a two-level structure that offers great views of Wat Arun. Both are featured on these pages.

After a late afternon tour of Wat Arun on the opposite side of the river, head to the two-level restaurant for a glass of cold Singha (local brew), Bangkok-style (i.e. lots of ice) and some spicy Thai dish (a local squid dish in my case) as you soak up the sunset over Wat Arun - unfortunately it was cloudy that day so there was no fabulous sunset to enjoy. After the sun has set, you may wish to stay a little longer for great views of the lighted Wat Arun temple (more pictures of Wat Arun here).

The staff are friendly and don't even mind you bringing some food from stalls outside (barbeque in my case) to go with your beer. Love this place!


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Theme: Local
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Tha Tien pier overlooking the river
Directions: It's that two-level restaurant to your right (facing the river) beside Tha Tien ferry terminal.

Restaurant Name: Single-level eatery on Tha Tien pier

There are two restaurants on Tha Tien pier overlooking the river: (a) the one to your left (facing the river) - a single level riverside eatery; and (b) the one to your right - a two-level structure that offers great views of Wat Arun. Both are featured on these pages.

I came to restaurant hoping to having a good lunch with great views of the Chao Phraya river, but I left with a very bad taste in my mouth. It's got nothing to do with the food - a mediocre rice dish with shrimps; it has more to do with its very distasteful treatment of non-farang customers (no offence meant to farangs, or Caucasian tourists, here). Granted the restaurant was packed when I arrived, so I took a seat at a table that doubled as a counter/desk and ordered my food. When a farang couple left their riverside table, I asked to be transferred to that table since there were no other waiting guests - but the staff declared I should stay where I was. Another farang couple arrived a few minutes after and were enthusiastically led to the same table! I hurriedly finished my meal and left the place - with a very taste of discrimination in my mouth (unfortunately this is not an isolated incident in farang-loving Bangkok). How cute!


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Theme: Local
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter

Restaurant Name: Nasir El Masri

This restaurant will probably go down in memory as the worst I had in Bangkok - a potent combination of bad food at top prices, not to mention do-you-want-to-order-or-not mentality of waiters trying to press you to order quickly (what's with the rush - there were hardly any customers when I was there). So I ordered pronto - tom yum soup (yes, that classic Thai dish in an Arabic restaurant) and the special of the day - baked chicken cooked Egyptian style (the name Masri is a giveaway of the restaurant's Egyptian theme). I ended up disliking both dishes. The tom yum rates 2 (out of perfect 10) for the rubbery shrimps while the baked chicken was nothing to crow about - a more respectable 6 out of 10 considering the dry, tasteless meat. All these at nearly US$ 20 including softdrinks!

Now it makes me wonder why the restaurant is featured in almost every Bangkok travel guide. Could it be the flashy, shiny interiors (everything is clad in gleaming stainless steel)? There are other Arabic restaurants in the area (it's rightfully located in the Arabic quarters of Bangkok) but most of them don't get featured in these glossy travel guides.

Moral of the experience: never trust a guide book (or guide books for that matter) and reserve your Egyptian food cravings for the real stuff in Cairo.


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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Directions: Forget it - not worth your while and money