Things to do in Bangkok
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Tuba
Part storage room for over-the-top vintage furniture, part friendly local boozer, this bizarre bar certainly doesn't lack in character. Indulge in a whole bottle for once and don't miss the delicious chicken wings.
reviewed
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Chatuchak Weekend Market
Among the largest markets in the world, Chatuchak Weekend Market seems to unite everything buyable, from used vintage sneakers to baby squirrels. JJ, as it’s also known, is the ideal place to finally pick up those gifts for people back home, not to mention a pretty item or two for your own home. The market is roughly divided into thematic sections, the best guide to these being Nancy Chandler’s Map of Bangkok. Because Chatuchak is a Thai institution, food also plays a significant role, and there are numerous drinks and snack vendors, and several good restaurants on the outside edges of the market. Plan to spend a full day, as there’s plenty to see, do and buy. But com…
reviewed
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Blue Elephant
The Blue Elephant got its start in Brussels more than two decades ago as an exotic outpost of royal Thai cuisine. After spreading to other cities, the owners boldly chose Bangkok, the cuisine’s birth mother, as its ninth location. Set in a stunning Sino-Portuguese colonial building with service fit for royalty, the restaurant also features an impressive cooking school.
reviewed
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MBK Food Court
The granddaddy of Bangkok food courts offers dozens of vendors selling dishes from virtually every corner of Thailand and beyond. It's a great introduction to Thai food, and standouts include an excellent vegetarian food stall (stall C8) and a very decent Isan food vendor (C22). To pay you must first exchange your cash for a temporary credit card at one of several counters; your change is refunded at the same desk.
reviewed
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Café Primavera
If the coffee was just a tad better, this dark-wood and marble-topped table trattoria is just the kind of place we’d like to make our local cafe. The pizzas and homemade gelati offer more hope, and the friendly and efficient staff seal the deal.
reviewed
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Le Banyan
Sukhumvit’s trendy diners demand change every six months: new menu, new décor, new chef, anything to chase away restaurant boredom. But for the monogamous eaters who value a stiff-lipped experience, this classy French restaurant proves its dinosaur wisdom with formal efficient service and traditional fare. A lush garden surrounds the charming house illuminated with candles and gleaming wine glasses. The house speciality is pressed duck, but the seared foie gras steals the show.
reviewed
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Taling Pling
You know you've picked well when Thai families outnumber expats. And you get a stylish setting, pretty enough for Bangkok gays. A few menu standouts include yam plaa salid taling pling (a fried fish salad with the namesake sour vegetable), chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves and phàk dam lung (stir-fried gourd leaves).
reviewed
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Ko Kret
The cheapest and most local way of experiencing riverine Bangkok is by boarding the Chao Phraya Express Boat at any tha (pier) and taking it in either direction to its final stop. Also appealing are the Sunday trips to Ko Kret and back.
reviewed
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Mahboonkrong (Mbk)
This unbelievably immense shopping mall is quickly becoming one of Bangkok’s top attractions. Half of the city filters through the glass doors on weekends, stutter-stepping on the escalators, stuffing themselves with junk food or making stabs at individualism by accessorising their mundane school uniforms with high slits or torturous heels. You can buy everything you need here: mobile phones, accessories, shoes, name brands, wallets, handbags, T-shirts. The middle-class Tokyu department store also sells good-quality kitchenware.
The 4th floor resembles something of a digital produce market. A confusing maze of stalls sell all the components to send you into the land of …
reviewed
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Jim Thompson’s House
In 1959, 12 years after he discovered the fine silks being woven across the klorng in Baan Krua and single-handedly turned Thai silk into a hugely successful export business, American Jim Thompson bought this piece of land on Khlong Saen Saeb and built himself a house. It wasn’t, however, any old house. Thompson’s love of all things Thai saw him buy six traditional wooden homes and reconstruct them in this jungle-like garden. Some of the homes were brought from the old royal capital of Ayuthaya; others were pulled down and floated across the klorng from Baan Krua –including the first building you enter on the tour. Beware well-dressed touts in soi near the Thompson ho…
reviewed
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May Kaidee’s
Serves entirely meat-free dishes. Also offers a veggie Thai cooking school.
reviewed
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Cabbages & Condoms
‘Be fed and be sheathed’ is the motto of the restaurant outreach program of the Population & Community Development Association (PDA), a sex education/AIDS prevention organisation. And likewise, for many visitors to Bangkok, this quirky garden restaurant has served as an equally ‘safe’ introduction to Thai food. Thankfully it’s done relatively well. This is a good place to gauge the Thai staples, such as the rich green curry, or the briny pàt pàk bûng fai daang (flash-fried water spinach). Instead of after-meal mints, diners receive packaged condoms, and all proceeds go towards PDA educational programs in Thailand.
reviewed
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Nickermann’s Tailor
Corporate ladies rave about Nickermann’s tailor-made power suits: pants and jackets that suit curves and busts. Formal ball gowns are another area of expertise.
reviewed
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Gaysorn Plaza
A haute couture catwalk, Gaysorn's spiralling staircases and all-white halls preserve all of fashion's beloved designers in museum-curatorship style. Local fashion leaders occupy the 2nd floor 'Thai Fashion Chic', while the top floor is a stroll through home decor, highlights of which are the eclectic D&O Shop, the fragrant soaps at Thann and the Asian-influenced ceramics at Lamont.
reviewed
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Siam Paragon
Paragon epitomises the city’s fanaticism for the new, the excessive, and absurd slogans. The ‘peerless’ venue is the second-largest mall in Southeast Asia, sprawling over 500,000 sq metres, and is a showcase for luxury retailers, like Van Cleef & Arpels and Mikimoto, who had not previously had a pedestal in the country. There’s a Lamborghini dealer on the 2nd floor should you need a ride home, and one floor up a True Urban Park ‘lifestyle centre’ featuring a cafe, internet access and a shop selling books, music and camera equipment. Bookworms will fancy Kinokuniya (3rd floor), the largest bookstore in Thailand, as well as an expansive branch of Asia Books (2nd…
reviewed
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Central World Plaza
Bangkok's hippest mall suffered greatly during the unrest of April 2010, but the vast majority of shops are open again and Zen department store was being rebuilt at research time. There's an extrahuge branch of bookstore B2S, and you could spend an hour sniffing around the fragrances at Karmakamet.
reviewed
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Or Tor Kor Market
Or Tor Kor is Bangkok’s highest-quality fruit and agricultural market, and sights such as toddler-sized mangoes and dozens of pots full of curries are reason enough to visit. The vast majority of vendors’ goods are takeaway only, but a small food court and a few informal restaurants exist, including Rot Det, which does excellent stir-fries and curries, and Sut Jai Kai Yaang, just south of the market, which does sublime Isan. To get here, take the MRT to Kampheng Phet station and exit on the side opposite Chatuchak (the exit says ‘Marketing Organization for Farmers’).
reviewed
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Wat Pho Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School
Offers basic and advanced courses in traditional Thai massage; basic courses offer 30 hours spread out over five days and cover either general massage or foot massage. The advanced level spans 60 hours, requires the basic course as a prerequisite, and covers therapeutic and healing massage. Other advanced courses include oil massage and aromatherapy, and infant and child massage. The school is outside the temple compound in a restored Bangkok shophouse on unmarked Soi Phen Phat – look for Coconut Palm restaurant.
reviewed
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Ruen Mallika
Thai restaurateurs have tourists figured out: convert an old teak house into a restaurant and they will come, regardless of the food. Ruen Mallika ups the ante by offering exquisite dishes, like dizzyingly spicy nám prík (a thick dipping sauce with vegetables and herbs) and soulful chicken wrapped in banana leaves. The surrounding garden supplies the ingredients for the deep-fried flower dish, a house speciality. The restaurant is a little tricky to find; approach from Soi 22 off Th Ratchadapisek.
reviewed
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Baan Krua
Baan Krua literally means ‘Muslim Family Village’ and is one of Bangkok’s oldest communities. It dates to the turbulent years at the end of the 18th century, when Cham Muslims from Cambodia and Vietnam fought on the side of the new Thai king and were rewarded with this plot of land east of the new capital. The immigrants brought their silk-weaving traditions with them, and the community grew when the residents built Khlong Saen Saeb to better connect them to the Chao Phraya river.
reviewed
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Hemlock
Taking full advantage of its cosy shophouse setting, this white-tablecloth local is an excellent intro to Thai food. The vast menu has the usual suspects, but also includes some dishes you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere, as well as a strong vegie section.
reviewed
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Patravadi Theatre
Patravadi is Bangkok’s sole modern-dance venue. A stylish open-air theatre that also includes a gallery and restaurant, it is the brainchild of Patravadi Mejudhon, a famous Thai actor and playwright. The dance-troupe performance is a blend of traditional Thai dance and modern choreography, music and costume. The theatre is also the primary venue for the Bangkok International Fringe Festival, held in January and February.
reviewed
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Thai Home Industries
A visit to this temple-like building, a former monks' quarters, is like discovering an abandoned attic of Asian booty. Despite the odd assortment of items (our last visit revealed items ranging from elegant handmade flatware to wooden model ships) and lack of order, it's heaps more fun than the typically faceless Bangkok handicraft shop.
reviewed
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Food Loft
Food Loft at Central Chidlom pioneered the concept of the upscale food court, and mock-ups of the various Indian, Italian, Singaporean and other international dishes aid in the decision making process. Upon entering, you’ll be given a temporary credit card and will be led to a table. You have to get up again to order, but the dishes will be brought to you. Paying is done on your way out.
reviewed
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Face
This handsome dining complex is essentially three very good restaurants in one: Lan Na Thai does solid upscale Thai, Misaki focuses on the Japanese end of things, while Hazara dabbles in exotic-sounding 'North Indian frontier cuisine'.
reviewed
