A first-timer's guide to Bangkok
48 hours in the city? Here are the restaurants, bars and dishes you mustn't miss
I’ve only once been to Bangkok and that was some 25 years ago so I jumped at the chance of getting an up-to-date guide to this fascinating city by a talented young food and travel writer I’ve got to know recently, Meg Houghton-Gilmour.
Meg edits her own Substack The Bristol Sauce which gives a down to earth, insider’s take on Bristol’s vibrant eating out scene so to have her do the same for Bangkok, where she spent a month earlier this year seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
I’ll let Meg take over . . .
Bangkok grabs you by the taste buds from the moment your soles hit its sizzling streets, and stays with you long after you leave.
To condense its highlights into a 48 hour tour is to bottle lightning - but still, I’ll do my best to cram its chaos into a carry-on.
You’ll have to help me. Feel the heat rising up from the pavement just as fiercely as it blazes from above, swipe away the tears making a break for it as you squint through a perilously spicy som tum.
Look up at the horizon all watercolour roses and skyscrapers as you sip on an ice cold singha. There. That’s the beginning. Ready? Let’s eat.
Rise and shine, shine shine
First up what else but pad thai? There’s no better way to start your adventure.
The history of pad thai is an often contested one - according to some sources it was invented in the ‘40s when the Prime Minister of Thailand wanted a national dish that incentivised the consumption of noodles.
Others claim pad thai has Chinese origins and made the pilgrimage during the early 20th century. Yet others suggest it was a reaction to an influx of Americans due to war and then tourism made necessary a dish that represented ‘Thai-ness’.
Though it may be unsure of its heritage, pad thai retains a strong sense of identity. Noodles, flat, like a semi transparent al dente tagliatelle. Beansprouts. Eggs, usually in the form of a broken up omelette mixed through - though sometimes it arrives wrapped up in its entirety. A sweet and sour sauce made from tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, peanuts and a wedge of lime is non-negotiable.
At Bib Gourmand Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu (above) this simple dish is elevated to great heights by the addition of tantalisingly crisp roast pork, grilled pork loin or generous juicy prawns. Or all of the above, which is the recommended menu item. This is the best pad Thai in Bangkok.
Punctuate your afternoon with a stop at K Panich for one of Thailand’s most well-travelled dishes: mango sticky rice (below). Nowhere in the world does it better than here. After a short queue, place your order at the counter and head over to the spot across the road, where strangers are sat shoulder to shoulder completely lost in the plastic tray of joy in front of them.
The Thai equivalent of rice pudding is served with mango so perfectly ripe, smooth and sweet - a different fruit entirely to the sorry version you might find in Tesco. The combination of the sweet coconut sauce and delectable mango is one you won’t forget in a hurry.
No doubt you’ll have found the time and inclination to stomp around a few of Bangkok’s ornate temples by this point, and your feet will be starting to feel a little sorry for themselves. Wat Pho Traditional Massage School is a no-frills affair, but their expert masseuses will revive aching limbs in no time, and for less than a tenner.
Sunset on the river
As afternoon catapults into evening, head for the neon lights of Chinatown, via a short trip on the river, if suitable. Bangkok’s Chinatown is one of the biggest in the world - a throng of streets heaving with people dizzied by all the sights, sounds and smells on offer. The streets are lined with hawkers offering skewers hot off the grill, grannies exhibiting decades of skill in a single wok toss and family run stalls boasting crisp roast pork or fresh seafood.
Dive into the side alleys to witness vast buckets of dried fish maw, bubble tea topped with cream cheese and other rare delicacies.
Snacking is encouraged but when time is so precious and great eateries are so many — Chinatown is not the best place for dinner. For that, you must walk the 20 or so minutes to nearby 100 Mahaseth.
100 Mahaseth could be named after the street number, or after the marks you’ll give it out of 100. The initial twenty points will be for the menu, which balances being distinctly Thai while also exciting and innovative as expertly as a professional unicyclist on a tightrope.
Next, a further 20 for the complimentary array of salads, pork scratchings, crudités and dips (above) that will be brought out straight after you’ve ordered and are almost a meal in themselves.
The food itself, charcoal-kissed and outrageously good - we’re comfortably over halfway to 100 now.
Then the hospitality, which is perfect, oh and did I mention it’s really good value too? It’s within striking distance of flawless.
It’s perfectly normal to lament the end of a dinner so good, and even more understandable to head immediately upstairs to the sister cocktail bar, Mahaniyom, to drown your sorrows.
You won’t be sad for long. But if there was ever a place to wave a firm goodbye to your cocktail comfort zone, this is it. On the menu you’ll find bone marrow, duck, beef, blue cheese and even quesadillas - but these are not food items, rather drinks inspired by food.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how these expert mixologists manage to take savoury flavours and whip them up into such elegant and interesting drinks. Order something weird - I’ll bet you 100 baht you love it.
Heavy is the head
Depending on your cocktail consumption and near inevitable Bangkok dehydration, you’ll be in need of a headache remedy this morning. Thai 7/11 is not the place to go on a hangover - it’s totally overwhelming - but if you can make it in and out quickly via the drinks fridge you’ll be all the better for it.
Pick up a ‘Pocari Sweat’ - yes, I know the name is odd - a blue label on a bottle of what looks like a horribly over skimmed milk. Pocari is a Korean brand that makes two things; the Pocari Sweat drink and IV drips for hospitals. It’s the Asian equivalent of a Lucozade Sport, only better. It has restored my health on more than one occasion.
Head for Mit Ko Yuan for a flavour lesson in the form of a bowl of tom yum - a Thai soup often topped up with fleshy prawns or noodles. How this small, family run cafe manages to impart so much taste into each spoonful of tom yum broth is beyond me. It’s sweet, sour, umami, spicy and irresistible all at once; the equivalent of taking your taste buds to a rave.
Adventure time
Now for one of the closest experiences you can get to walking through Jurassic Park, sans imminent death and destruction.
Head to the first big green space on your map: Lumphini park - home to meandering paths, pedalos and a healthy colony of Asian water monitors. These shy, gentle lizard giants are almost as common around the waterways and lakes in Lumphini as 7/11s are on the neighbouring streets. They’re evidently quite comfortable living in the vicinity of humans, but don’t get too close - they’re wild animals and you wouldn’t want to make an enemy of one.
When you’re done dinosaur spotting, take the sky bridge over to Benchakitti Park, and follow it around through the pond-flecked landscape for as long as you have the energy. It’s particularly beautiful at sunset, and all the more enjoyable with the accompanying slight drop in temperature.
Time to get celestial
Head to number 41 on the world’s 50 best bars list, Bar Us, to congratulate yourself on another great day in Thailand’s capital. It’s in this moody, gothic room that you’ll experience more sensational cocktails inspired by much-loved food dishes like ramen and pizza Margherita. Chat to the staff; they’re lovely and make brilliant recommendations.
We end our tour with one of the most memorable restaurants I’ve eaten in. Actually, Haawm isn’t a restaurant. It’s a supper club by way of celestial revelation, and one favoured by the like of Dua Lipa. Did it inspire the hit song ‘levitating’? Probably.
Run by Dylan Eitharong, a self-taught Thai American chef, Haawm is a single table in a small front room that seats 10. The food is Thai, but taken to a level that is quite the opposite end of the spectrum from street-side eats. To call it elevated feels reductive. This isn’t just a meal — it’s a revelation. Each dish lands like a cymbal crash: flavours jagged and wild, textures precise, presentations arresting. You’re not eating so much as experiencing blow-by-blow moments that lodge themselves into memory, daring you to forget them. It’s flavour that defies understanding. Lose yourself in it, and in conversation with your fellow tablemates, who will have made the pilgrimage from all corners of the world too.
Where to stay and when to go
Visit anytime aside from monsoon season, which runs from May to October. Outside of those months Thailand is generally hot year-round. Keep an eye out for holidays and celebrations - they sure like a party in South East Asia - and these can push up accommodation prices. If you like water fights, visiting during Thai new year, known as Songkran, for a particularly memorable experience.
Stay either in Sukhumvit if you want optimum proximity to restaurants, or near Chinatown for more touristy sites such as temples.
Avoid these
The Michelin Guide is hit and miss in Thailand and South East Asia in general. A couple of starred restaurants in Bangkok that I’d recommend not wasting your time and money on would be Jay Fai, known for their crab omelette (you have to queue for minimum four hours and it leaves you with an oddly perfumed finish I can only describe as soapy) and Akkee, which was dull and bizarrely had a telly showing football on the wall.
Getting around
Traffic in Bangkok is awful. Add an extra 20 minutes onto anything Google tells you if you’re travelling by taxi. Tuk tuks are fun but more expensive than other modes of transport. The best way to get about is on foot, on the metro if it’s convenient - though the coverage isn’t great - or by Grab bike.
Grab bikes are by far the most fun and give you a chance to see the city as you travel. Boats along the river are a relaxing way to get around, convenient and cheap.
Some more places for your wishlist
Chenin - a wine bar with regular, extremely well curated, food pop-ups
BKK Social Club - the 12th best bar in the world
Vesper - another great cocktail bar, the 85th best in the world
The food court in Icon Siam mall (top image) is an underground city and quite overwhelming, but the food on offer is surprisingly good
Chatuchak weekend market is a great place to spend an afternoon getting lost and buying souvenirs, clothes, shoes, handbags - you name it, they’ve got it. There’s also a big food area. As the name suggests - weekends only!
48 hours in Bangkok is barely enough to nibble at the edges - but it’s more than enough to fall in love
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Any other Bangkok recommendations? Do share!