Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Thai and Chinese-Thai dishes. As the name implies, the cooks will attempt to prepare
any dish you can name - a potentially difficult operation if you can't speak Thai.
The most common type of restaurant in Bangkok - and arguably the most delicious - is
the shophouse restaurant. The cooks at these places have most likely been serving the
same dish, or a limited repertoire of dishes, for several decades, and really know what
they're doing. The food may cost slightly more than on the street, but the setting is usually
more comfortable and hygienic, not to mention the fact that you're eating a piece of his-
tory. While such restaurants rarely have English-language menus, you can usually point to
a picture or dish. If that fails, turn to the language chapter and practise your Thai.
Bangkok is of course also home to dozens of upscale restaurants, many of which are at-
tached to hotels. For the most part, those serving Thai cuisine have adjusted their recipes
to suit foreign palates - for more authentic food you're much better off eating at the
cheaper shophouse-style restaurants. On the other hand, upscale and hotel restaurants are
probably the best places in Bangkok for authentic Western-style food. If this is outside
your price range, you'll be happy to know that there's also a huge spread of midrange for-
eign restaurants in today's Bangkok, many of them quite good.
