Bangkok

 

Dinner cruises on the Chao Phraya River are a touristy but fun way of spotting floodlit temples while chowing down on seafood and watching Thai cultural performances. Most operate buffet-style and the quality of the food is so-so, but there's lots of it and it's not too spicy. While the river can give a romantic experience, it can also be dirty and smelly with lots of plants floating around.

Note that drinks and tips are usually not included in the listed prices below. Always make a reservation before heading out to the pier. There are many competing operators, most of them depart from the River City pier next to the Si Phraya Express Boat pier. Major operators include:

Loy Nava

This dinner cruise heads out with 70-seater rice barges. Departure from Si Phraya pier near River City, and there is a free pickup from most hotels.

Maeyanang

Catered and operated by the Oriental Hotel, the Maeyanang is a custom-built ornately carved teakwood boat seating only 32 people, small enough to venture off the river down the subsidiary klongs. Departure from Oriental pier.

Manohra

These restored Thai rice barges seat 40 people. Departure from Marriott Resort pier, with an optional pick-up from Saphan Taksin BTS station.

Bangkok boasts a stunning 50,000 places to eat; not only thousands of Thai restaurants, but a wide selection of world-class international cuisine too. Prices are generally high by Thai standards, but cheap by international standards; a good meal is unlikely to cost more than 300 baht, although there are a few restaurants primarily in hotels where you can easily spend 10 times this.

Sukhumvit by far has the best restaurants of Bangkok, though prices tend to be high. Practically every cuisine in the world is represented here, be it French, Lebanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, or fusion combining many of these together in a quirky, but delicious mix. Bangkok's Italian town is Soi Ton Son near Siam Square. Of course, for those on a budget, street stalls abound with simple Thai dishes at around 30 baht. There are especially plenty of budget restaurants in Khao San Road.

There are plenty of vegetarian restaurants in the more tourist-friendly parts of town especially in hippie district Khao San Road. Vegetarian dishes are also readily available on the menus of regular restaurants. On request, even typical street restaurants will easily cook a vegetarian equivalent of a popular Thai dish for you. Ask for "jay" food to leave the meat out of the dish. For example, "khao pad" is fried rice and "khao pad jay" is vegetarian fried rice. For vegans, the most common animal product used would be oyster sauce. To avoid it, say "mai ao naam man hoi". Be aware that all street noodle vendors use animal broth for noodle soup.

Don't miss out on a cold ice cream in hot Bangkok. Western chain stores Dairy Queen and Swensen's have booths in many malls and shopping centres. Or better yet, try an exotic fruit-flavoured ice cream at an Iberry shop. Their ice creams are tasty, cheap and safe to eat.

street food

While not particularly high class, street food is among the most delicious food and can be found all over Bangkok — wherever you're staying, you rarely have to walk more than 100 m for a cart of street restaurant. Many of street vendors sell satay สะเต๊ะ with hot sauce for 5-10 baht a piece.

One of Thailand's national dishes you can try is pad thai ผัดไทย, stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice and red chilli pepper. It can be prepared for you on one of the ubiquitous carts, or in a street restaurant for about 50 baht. You can order it with chicken gai or shrimps kung. Another one of Thailand's national dishes you should try is tom yam kung ต้มยำกุ้ง, a sour soup with prawns, lemongrass and galangal — beware, as it is very spicy! Khao man kai ข้าวมันไก่ is another popular street food. You can identify it at stalls displaying boiled chicken. Served with a bowl of fragrant chicken soup is a mound of rice topped with sliced chicken pieces and cucumber. Side sauces are spicy and go well with the bland chicken and rice. You can sometimes add optional liver and gizzard if that is your taste. If you like sweets, try to find a kanom roti โรตี street vendor. The crepe-like dessert is filled with sweetened condensed milk, lots of sugar, and can also have bananas inside. Also fun to watch them being made.

Khao San Road is known for its carts selling bugs — yes, insects. They are deep fried, nutritious and quite tasty with the soy sauce that is sprayed on them. Types available: scorpions, water beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, bamboo larvae, mealworms and some more seasonal specialties. Break off the legs from grasshoppers and crickets or they will get stuck in your throat.

Around the corner from Khao San Rd in front of the department store and supermarkets the street is lined with a myriad stalls selling all manner of tempting delicacies: sweets and crackers, coconut jellies, candied fruits, fish balls on skewers, tamarind sweets dipped in chilli and sugar and a host of other delights.

ethnic cuisine

Thai dishes can roughly be categorised into central, northern, northeastern and southern cuisine. What's so great about Bangkok is that all these cuisines are present. Isaan food from the northeast of Thailand is a backpacker favourite; generally street restaurants serve on plenty of small plates that can be shared. Som tam ส้มตำ is a salad made from shredded and pounded raw papaya — again, it is spicy, but oh so delicious. If you want to dine the Isaan way, also order some khao niew sticky rice, kai yang grilled chicken and moo yang grilled pork. Isaan food is very spicy; say mai pet or pet nit noy to tone it down. Southern Thai cuisine is also worth it; many of them have congregated around Wang Lang in Thonburi. At least try the massaman curry แกงมัสมั่น, it's delicious.

The place to go to for Chinese food is Yaowarat. It has a range of street stalls and cheap restaurants selling expensive delicacies at affordable prices. Soi Phadung Dao is the best street for huge seafood restaurants. Try 1 kg of huge barbecued prawns for about 300 baht. Phahurat, Bangkok's Little India, has some decent Indian restaurants.