Bangrak

Eat and meet

Silom

The Silom area, serviced by the BTS stops at Sala Daeng and Chong Nonsi and the Silom subway stop, is both a busy financial district and a popular tourist destination. Probably as close to a CBD as Bangkok gets, many of the restaurants in the area cater to the office crowd, but there are plenty of excellent bars and restaurants, particularly along Silom's low-numbered sois: Sala Daeng, Convent, Soi 4, Patpong, and Soi Thaniya, which cumulatively contain a concentration of dining and nightlife options that rivals Sukhumvit.

Polo Fried Chicken

Really hits the spot

3 Soi Polo (also called Soi Sanam Khli), Wireless Rd
T: (02) 251 2772

Polo Fried Chicken has other stuff on their menu and we're sure that it's good as well, but the reason to walk right over those accident victims in the road or your own pleading grandmother, is the chicken. Marinated overnight in magic and then fried to a crisp, this chicken is the chicken to ... read more
Dean & Deluca Cafe

A lunch splurge

92 Narathiwasrachanakarin Rd
T: (02) 234 1434

This grand café is occupying a temporary building and will eventually move into the largest tower in Thailand, which is being assembled behind it. The dining room feels anything but temporary. It's laid out in an open, industrial-style, with huge front doors and a retail section off to one ... read more
Hai Som Tam Convent

Very popular and very spicy

2/4-5 Convent Rd
T: (02) 631 0216 ‎

Packed to the rafters with office workers during the lunch hour, this is the best place in Silom to fill up on Isaan (Northeastern) Thai favourites. The standards here are marinated and grilled chicken, skin crispy and smoky, a bevy of som tam choices (green papaya salad), and laap of every kind ... read more
Streetfood: Silom 205/207/209

Great food, bargain price

205/207/209 Silom Rd

While not the sexiest of restaurants, the trio occupying 205/207/209 Silom Rd offer a great meal and a bargain price. 205 specialises in noodle soup (yen ta foo), 207 does red roasted pork and 209 does chicken rice. This is a perfect place to load up before a night on the town — expect ... read more
Thanying

Refined Thai cuisine

10 Pramuan Rd, between Silom Soi 17 and 19
T: (02) 236 4361

Run by the son of a princess who served as the royal cook to her half-sister, this charming restaurant serves refined Thai cuisine. The nam prik gapi, an unexpectedly delicious mixture of grilled shrimp paste, fish sauce, chiles, sugar and lime is delicious, eaten with fresh vegetables dipped in, ... read more
Streetfood: Silom Soi 20

Yum yum

Silom Soi 20, Silom Rd

This lovely soi has a plethora of street food, including a covered wet market that is fantastic in the morning. For lunch and dinner, vendors set up all up and down this street, serving forth noodles, some excellent southern Thai Muslim food (there's a mosque down this soi as well), all manner of ... read more
SkyBar

Breathtaking views and prices

Lebua Hotel in the State Tower, intersection Silom Rd and Charoengrung Rd
T: (02) 624 9555

SkyBar is located in The Dome at Lebua at State Tower, a complicated name for a grouping of restaurants and bars on the 63rd floor of the State Tower Building. While most of the other options in The Dome are ho-hum, SkyBar is really quite dazzling. Designed so that you can sit around an ... read more
Balco

Fab views

5/F, River City Shopping Complex, Charoen Krung Rd.
T: (08) 4928 6161

Balco has the most non-descript decoration ever invented: it's like vanilla ice cream, but instead of cream they used water, and instead of vanilla they used nothing. But when the sun goes down and all the lights go on across the riverbanks, and a breeze is blowing down the Chao Phraya, and boats ... read more
Indigo Bar and Restaurant

Beautiful on a balmy tropical evening

Soi Convent, Silom Rd
T: (02) 235 3268

Indigo is a French brassiere housed in a converted wooden house down a small, unnamed soi off of Soi Convent. If it's not too hot, try to sit in the candle lit courtyard that opens off the bar on the main floor — it's beautiful on a balmy tropical evening. Indigo went through a rough patch in ... read more
Molly Malone's Irish Pub

Sport and pub grub

1/5-6 Soi Convent Silom Rd
T: (02) 266 7160 ‎

If you need a fix of your football or a proper Irish breakfast, Molly Malone's stands ready. Other than that, there's not much to distinguish Molly from the rest of the identikit Irish bars in town. They do have a tasty early bird breakfast (order before 12 noon) that provides a proper daily ... read more
Aubergine

Great setting, a bit pricey

71/1 Soi 1/1 Sala Daeng Rd
T: (02) 234 2226

Aubergine is housed in the former Russian ambassador's residence off of Sala Daeng Road. The building has high ceilings and teak paneling and looks like it would be the perfect set for a French film about discontented colonialists. However, if those same Indochine colonialists were alive today ... read more