Smiling BKK

Lonely Planet review

Locals will kill us for including this indie hole-in-the-wall Thai gem, but it's too good not to share. The walls of the cheek-by-jowl space are covered with hipster mishmash (think Van Gogh paint-by-numbers, postcards, and a moustached Mona-Lisa), and scratchy rock-and-roll blares on the speakers (sit outside for quiet conversation). A Thai national cooks your dinner.

The food is good, sometimes very good, but what's great is the adventure of finding an underground bo-ho hangout hidden in this vast cultural wasteland. (It's just west of Jumeirah post office, behind the petrol station, off 2a Street, which runs perpendicular to the alley where the restaurant sits.)