Eat and meet

Chinatown and Pahurat

It's nearly impossible to walk around Chinatown without noticing all the food. It's everywhere, roasting chestnuts, barbecued pork skin, fresh fruit, and whole fish. What you don't see on every other street corner you certainly will smell. To many it's a turnoff, to others it's far too fascinating to turn away. Certainly Chinatown is one of the most interesting places to eat in all of Bangkok and the best places to eat in Chinatown are the fabulous street stalls lining Yaowarat Road. The other alternatives are small establishments found here and there on Yaowarat or on it's off-shoot sois.

One highly recommended hole-in-the-wall/streetside style restaurant common in Chinatown is T & K Seafood. This outstanding seafood BBQ stall is the one place you should try to eat at while in Chinatown. The succulent seafood is reasonably priced and the atmosphere great. It gets very crowded, but don't wimp out and go for air-con -- sit on the pavement for the full experience. Recommended along with it's neighbour, Lek & Rut's, who do the same kind of food at the same prices and with the same atmosphere. While there is little to differentiate the two -- down to the Mercedes pulling up for takeaway -- T & K is the original. Both are recommended.

Hua Seng Hong Restaurant is a bustling and very popular restaurant in the heart of Bangkok's Chinatown district that has the ambience of a bus shelter and the acoustics of a bathroom. Nevertheless, the food is very good and slapped out on the tables very fast. Watch out for the low ceilings and sometimes very slippery floors. The air-con is a big asset and English menus are available.

If you're having difficulty deciding where to sit down and eat King of Seing-Hai Noodles on Charoen Krung is a modest hole in the wall has a simple selection of tasty noodle dishes for about 20B. Grab a quick lunch here or have a cup of hot chai and watch the people stroll by.

No name place, off Bamrungrat Road, is a large open-air restaurant that is a great place to rest your aching feet while sipping a few cold drinks and devouring huge plates of fried rice. Friendly staff put together very good and cheap food in this traditional Chinese place harking back to yesteryear (some items don't look as if they've been cleaned since then). An English menu is available but no English is spoken. Just down the street is Laem Thong Restaurant, a small Thai restaurant that does reasonable standard Thai and Chinese dishes. Downstairs is open-air, upstairs air-con.

 

If you are hanging around Hua Lumphong train station waiting for your bus, or simply getting off the MRT before heading into Chinatown there are a number of options in and around the station. Within the station there is a branch of Roti Boy, the trendiest sticky-bun snack shop to hit Thailand in a decade. Their inexpensive treats are ideal for long train rides. Alternatively you could go with the more traditional Dunkin Donuts or even KFC. But why bother with KFC when directly across the street from the station, out the door from KFC is Hong Kong Noodle, one of the three branches of this delectable noodle and dim sum establishments in the city -- look for the sign "Noodles and More". Not for the faint-hearted, the menu includes Chinese delicacies such as bird's nest and gingko nut in syrup and noodle with five-spiced pork leg. Noodles and More has a genuine Chinese atmosphere and if it wasn't for all the tuk-tuks whizzing by you might be downtown Hong Kong. If dining with a group consider sharing some of the small 30B dim sum dishes, including shrimp dumplings, deep-friend taro and crispy wantons. If all of these put you off, the safest bet, and one of the tastiest on the menu, is ba mee mix, noodles, with pork, duck, crab and won-ton.

Meanwhile, over in Pahurat, the top choices are the Indian restaurants along and off Chakraphet Road. There are a number of authentic Indian eateries, but one we ejoyed is Chacha Restaurant, an unpretentious little joint has excellent North Indian food and sits within sight of the Sikh temple. Vegetarians will delight in the menu with non-meaty meals including allimatter -- a spicy mix of chickpea, potato and rice -- and common Indian curries. Vegetarian dishes from 25B to 35B, other meals are 60B to 65B.

Finally, the riverside is always a good way to wrap up a long day of sightseeing. The rooftop bar and restaurant at the Riverside View Hotel has reasonable prices, standard dishes, and an excellent view. However, for a real treat head across the river to Three Sixty at the Millenium Hilton. This ultra-modern jazz lounge is on the 32nd floor of one of the newest hotels in Bangkok. Every seat has a spectacular view as the room is circular with windows all around. To get to the hotel there is a free shuttle boat runs from Saphan Taksin and River City to the hotel every 20 minutes.

Chacha Restaurant: 458 Chakraphet Rd, Pahurat. T: (02) 222 5712.
Hong Kong Noodle: Next to MRT exit 3, Chinatown. T: (02) 613 8977. Open daily 11:00 - 23:00.
Hua Seng Hong Restaurant: 371-373 Yaowarat Rd, Chinatown. T: (02) 222 0635; (02) 222 7053.
King of Seing-Hai Noodles: 313 Charoen Krung Road, Chinatown.
Laem Thong Restaurant: 38 Bamrungrat Road.
Lek & Rut Seafood: Corner of Phadung Dao and Yaowarat Roads. Open daily: 16:30 - 02:00.
No name place: Off Bamrungrat Road, Chinatown.
Roti Boy: Hua Lamphong Station, Bangkok. Open daily 06:30 - 19:30.
T & K Sea Food: 49-51 Phadung Dao Rd, Bangkok. T: (02) 223 4519. Open daily: 16:30 - 02:00.
Three Sixty: 123 Charoennakorn Road, Bangkok: T: (02) 422 2000. Open daily: 17:00 - 01:00.