Khao San Road

Eat and meet

Khao San Road

Streetfood: Nang Loeng Market

Amazing Thai desserts

Soi Nang Loeng 1, Nakhon Sawan Rd

Nang Loeng Market starts early and ends early, pretty much clearing out by mid-afternoon each day. Come for breakfast or lunch to enjoy the busy bustle. Fruit and vegetables are stacked high on either side, and the meat and fish section runs down the middle. Prepared foods are sold on either edge ... read more
Streetfood: Western end of Rambutri Rd

Great food at very reasonable prices

Open for dinner until around midnight

This collection of sidewalk restaurants serves up some great food at very reasonable prices. This is a good chance to splurge and order something special, like a whole tub-tim fish deep fried and served with fried Thai basil leaves, or a wild boar jungle curry. Most of the places speak enough ... read more
Hemlock

An eclectic, perennial favourite

56 Phra Athit Rd
T: (02) 282 7507

This eclectic, perennial favourite on chilled-out Phra Athit Rd has interesting dishes that are often ignored on Thai menus, like khao hor bai bu (rice wrapped in lotus leaf). The menu is extensive and the staff is well trained. While the downstairs dining area is preferable to the upstairs, this ... read more
Greenhouse Restaurant

Seafood BBQ is good

84 Rambutri Rd
T: (02) 281 4293

It's not often that we recommend a restaurant attached to a guesthouse, but this one exceeds expectations and has a great alfresco sitting area. The menu is standard Khao San Road food — a mixture of western, middle-eastern, and Thai — but it is done well, the prices are reasonable, and the ... read more
Streetfood: Soi Rambutri

Hits the spot late at night

North of Chakrabongse Rd

While Soi Rambutri is mostly about drinking, when you are feeling peckish after those beers there are some good options available as the soi curls around the backside of the temple. Walk north from Chakrabongse and turn left when the soi does, and food stands spread out all the way around the ... read more
Streetfood: Eastern End of Rambutri Rd

Excellent offerings

Near traffic circle that connects Rambutri, Tani, and Tanao Rds

Bangkokians who work on Khao San Road have to eat somewhere, and they're not chowing down at the same expensive restaurants that also serve towers of beer and play Bob Marley 24/7. This collection of stands near the Swenson's Ice Cream Shop and 7-Eleven has some excellent offers — Thai sweets, ... read more
Brick Bar

More expensive, but good music

1/F, Buddy Lounge Bldg, 265 Khao San Rd
T: (02) 629 4702

This dark brick cave in the Buddy Complex on Khao San is a strange hole in the social fabric of Khao San Rd; it's a place more popular with Thais than with foreigners. No Heineken girls, no buckets, just three sets of ska per night. The drinks are more expensive than elsewhere on this heaving ... read more
Streetfood: Sam Yan Market and Today Steak

Cheap and delicious

Between Soi Chula 32 and Soi Chula 34 on Chula 9

While Sam Yan Market itself isn't any slouch, people come here for the upstairs open-air food hall that is anchored with Today Steak, a monument to the fact that students like cheap and delicious food. Today Steak serves all manner of grilled meat, fried meat and roasted meat, along with Thai and ... read more
Streetfood: Soi Samran Rat

A lively street food zone

Intersection of Soi Samran Rat and Maha Chai Rd

Near Wat Theothidaram, the venerable Jay Fai Restaurant anchors this lively street food zone. Jay Fai has quite a following both in Bangkok and abroad — it was featured in the NY Times a few years ago and still lives up to the glowing review it received. While not technically street food (the ... read more
Streetfood: Tha Phra Chan Nuea Pier Market

Central Thai specialties

Intersection of Phra Chan Rd and Maharat Rd

This warren of food stalls, snack vendors, small restaurants and coffee places spreads out from the ferry pier to the gates of Thammasat University, and continues south until it melds into the Amulet Market. Lining the river are a handful of small restaurants that serve fresh water fish, noodles, ... read more
The Fabulous

Swanky dessert cafe

32 Khao San Rd
T: (02) 629 1144

The Fabulous is a dessert bar and café with swank seating and an eye towards retro design. Their dessert list is tempting, with traditional desserts like tiramisu and crepes, but the sweet tooth really craves their Fabulous Toast. It's French toast taken up a notch, and it goes well with the ... read more
Phra Athit River Lounge

An easy going spot

Chana Songkhram, Phra Atit Rd
T: (02) 282 9202

This easy going place by the Chao Phraya is just off the main pier — if you walk down the access alley to the pier from the road, turn right on the walk way that goes along the river off to the left. A hundred metres, down there's an entrance to the lounge. Alternatively, if you follow Phra ... read more
Ricky's Coffee Shop

Relax with coffee

18-20 Phra Atit Rd (Opposite Phra Atit Pier)
T: (02) 629 0509

Ricky's is the kind of place that the Khao San/Banglumphu area needs more of: a relaxed place to enjoy an excellent cup of coffee, have a read of the paper, or during the hot hours of the day, to sip on a fruit shake. Their real draw is their food; many a weary traveler has been revived by melted ... read more
Roti Mataba

Best roti in town

136 Phra Athit Rd, Bangkok
T: (02) 282 2119

Roti is an unleavened bread popular throughout southern and Southeast Asia, and since 1943, Roti Mataba have been Bangkok's roti experts. This unassuming hole-in-the-wall restaurant was founded by a southern Indian Muslim family and gained a loyal following thanks to its distinct blend of Indian, ... read more
Santichai Prakan Park

Picnic spot

Corner of Phra Athit Rd and Phra Sumen Rd

Housing one of the two remaining octagonal fortifications to the city built in the late 1800s, this now peaceful park is an excellent place to stretch out and relax alongside the Chao Phraya River. There's a traditional Thai sala (which is a culturally enshrined structure built solely for relaxing ... read more
Khin Lom Chom Saphan

Great riverside deck

11/6 Sam San Soi 3, Sam Sen Rd
T: (02) 628 8382-3

This riverside restaurant has a great deck alongside the Chao Praya River, immediately downriver from the Rama 8 Bridge. Normally, claiming that a restaurant can see a bridge in Asia is not really a selling point, but the Rama 8 Bridge is pretty special when lit up at night. The food at this ... read more
Thom Hom Pak Chi

Central and southern Thai food

326-8 Sam Sen Rd
T: (02) 282 8353

Thom Hom Pak Chi specialises in central and southern Thai food: tom yum, geng som, curries with chicken, duck, and pork. The restaurant is eclectic in its approach to decoration, but it's a charming place for lunch or dinner. Free Wifi, good air-con and excellent coffee make it a nice place to get ... read more
Street food: Chakrabongse Road

The real deal

Chakrabongse Road

If you want something a little more authentic than the watered down and overpriced Westernised Thai food sold by so many Khao San eateries -- head here. Wander to Khao San's western end, take a right on Chakrabongse Road and walk past the T-shirt and trinket vendors that line the footpath near Soi ... read more
Bar Bali Bistro

Nothing Balinese, but still reasonable

58 Phra Athit Rd
T: (02) 629 0318

This swish shop front bar and restaurant has a very tenuous connection with Balinese food — basically the sign over the door. They have good breakfasts though (served all day), and with free Wifi, this makes a nice place for a slow morning of catching up. The menu is mostly Thai, and it's ... read more
Tom Yum Kung

Fresh and well-prepared Thai favourites

9 Khao San Rd
T: (02) 629 1818

Tucked off in a small side soi, along with a beer garden and The Fabulous Café is Tom Yum Kung Restaurant. In a street dominated by toned-down fried noodle dishes and sweet curries, Tom Yum Kung manages to serve up fresh and well-prepared Thai favourites. It's more expensive than other ... read more