This buzzing neighbourhood along Sukhumvit Road offers a wide range of culinary options, from upscale restaurants to trendy cafes. Top of your list should be Sorn, a Michelin-starred restaurant housed in a restored two-storey mansion. While most of us are familiar with dishes such as pad thai (stir-fried rice noodles) and green curry – central Thai cuisine, in other words – Sorn’s head chef, Supaksorn “Ice” Jongsiri, prefers to spotlight southern Thai fare, which is characterised by big, bold flavours.
Here, chef Ice and his team reinterpret traditional recipes using modern techniques, using sustainable ingredients sourced from across southern Thailand. Standout dishes on the 22-course menu include the decadent Gems on Crab Stick, which features blue swimmer crab legs coated with crab roe.
Photo credit: Booking.com Explorers
For dessert, head to ICI.BKK for Instagram-worthy creations such as the Chilli Crab, a cake that looks impressively like the real deal. Here, a “crab claw” is fashioned out of a tomato sponge cake, served alongside calamansi mousse, chilli sauce and coffee caramel, and then garnished with salted egg crumb. Other noteworthy desserts include the Poodle Doodle, a dog-shaped cake with a butter cheese frosting, and the Starfish, a bright yellow creation made with a coffee-vanilla mascarpone mousse and filled with pineapple compote and praline.
Ekkamai: Wattana Panich
Ekkamai is often overshadowed by neighbouring Thong Lor, but it certainly holds its own when it comes to food options. For starters, this is where you’ll find Wattana Panich, one of the most famous eateries in Bangkok. “I’ve heard so much about this family-run restaurant, which goes back generations,” Eric says. “I’m not just talking about how long it has been around for – it also serves a soup that has been cooking for more than 50 years!”
The soup in question is a beef broth that has been simmering non-stop in an enormous vat for half a century. Each morning, the owners use some of the leftover broth from the previous day as a stock base, adding water and fresh ingredients – including nearly 10 different Chinese herbs and spices – to the mix. The result is a rich, flavourful broth used to make the eatery’s signature kuay teaw nua (beef noodles), which comes topped with meatballs and innards. Eric’s verdict? “This has been 50 years very well spent, and I’m glad the family has kept the recipe unchanged,” he declares.
Where to stay: Traditional Thai dishes won’t be the only gem you’ll find, as Ekkamai’s dynamic blend of culture, entertainment, and convenience has earned this neighbourhood the title of hipster central. Here, you’ll find The Salil Hotel Sukhumvit 57, tucked away in an artful concrete jungle.
Silom: Le Du
Bangkok’s gleaming business district is home to several fine-dining hotspots including Le Du, which recently topped Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 list. True to its name, which is derived from the Thai word for “season”, the restaurant combines the best seasonal produce with age-old culinary techniques and a dash of modern flair. The four- and six-course tasting menus change regularly, but diners can expect inventive dishes such as crab with mushroom and homemade sriracha, aged duck with kale and green curry, and golden snapper with sticky rice.
