By Simon Ostheimer Sukhumvit 23 is one of those Bangkok streets that make no sense. With at least a handful of roads sharing exactly the same number, tracking down an address becomes nigh on impossible – even with good directions. That’s how, as the sun was setting on a weekday, we found ourselves walking up… [more]

By Simon Ostheimer The pinnacle of traditional Indian fine dining in Thailand, and recipient of multiple awards, Rang Mahal occupies the 26th floor of Rembrandt Hotel & Towers. Upon stepping out of the lift, a side passage leads to a large outdoor deck with west-facing views of Lake Ratchada, and the office towers of Silom… [more]

Concepts such as “interior design”, “branding” or “a creative name” have yet to find a foothold at Muslim Restaurant, one of Bangkok’s oldest. However good food and an authentic old-world atmosphere are available in heaps. This staple has been serving up Indian-influenced specialties for more than 50 years, and both the recipes and the restaurant… [more]

By Max Crosbie-Jones There may be progressive new curryhouses stealing the limelight, but Sukhumvit’s Mrs Balbir’s still has a loyal following among the city’s vindaloo-scoffers, especially those in the traditional camp. Inside, the fresh creamwhite dining room, with its marble floors, tall-back patterned velvet chairs, and furniture and finishes redolent of a Maharajas neo-classical palace,… [more]

Indians make up a big portion of the expats in Bangkok, thus the scarcity of good Indian restaurants in the city may come as a surprise. Thankfully, we’ve had Indus for more than two years. It’s quite a cosmopolitan place with rich sub-continental adornments though we favour the sloping outside seating in the large sloping… [more]

You think you’re so urbane, you globe-trotting gourmet, you know your tom kha from your tom yum; you’ve even tried a slice of durians…You don’t know Jack. Who are we to tell you? That is debatable. But we’ve seen them, the groups of Thai diners scrutinizing the dishes on their table, discussing ingredients, tasting cautiously… [more]

Modern Thailand assimilates grab-bag bits of culture from all over the world, but many of its formative influences are Indian. When it comes to food, this is best tasted in the curries – especially the mildly nutty, “Muslimstyle” southern dish, Massaman curry. A number of decent Indian restaurants dotted round town, however, offer the real… [more]

While Indian food has grown in popularity here there’s still a certain reticence among most Thais, for whom it’s rich, creamy, often unctuous curries don’t go down well.  Coo Curry, found tucked down a no-name soi just off Narithiwat Road, aims to educate the unenlightened by serving them a greatest hits package in a setting… [more]

This white tablecloth, glass-encased restaurant offers fine North Indian cuisine, which features milder flavours and less spice than other regional parts of the sub-continental nation. While their mixed tandoori platter and aromatic Chicken biriyani were undeniably delicious, it’s their less recognizable offerings that will truly heat up your tastebuds, like the mouth-watering “Mutton Authority”, featuring… [more]

Featuring modernist black looks, varnished mahogany tables, decent plonk and a painterly menu that refers to starters as “soft hues” (and gets away with it), this newcomer may just be the city’s ritziest curryhouse. Still, even with its mini-mall spot in oh-so-trendy Thonglor, Masala Art is no triumph of style over substance: there’s lots of… [more]

Indian restaurants in Bangkok are typically traditional establishments, catering to a predominantly Indian clientele. Luckily, Gagan Anand is out to change perceptions of Indian food as a “local” cuisine. The 29-year-old chef at Red is immensely ambitious, and has the talent and experience to back it up. Red features dishes from all over India –… [more]

Although he was enchanted by the culinary magic dished out at home, Senthil Kumar had to learn how to cook on the sly. Growing up in a traditional South Indian family, he wasn’t supposed to lift a fi nger, much less a pot, in the kitchen. A stealthy kid-chef until he moved out for a… [more]

Ask any Bangkokian to point you to the city’s best Indian restaurant and you’ll end up here. Occupying the hotel’s top floor, Rang Mahal offers up haute Northern Indian cuisine in heavy carpeted surroundings that somehow lose out to the panoramic wall of glass offering sweeping views over Bangkok’s skyline. A team of four top… [more]

Chef Gaggan Anand recently spent time at El Bulli in Spain learning his way around the modern cooking techniques that propelled that restaurant to the top of the world dining charts. Now he’s using them at Gaggan, a Bangkok newcomer billed as ‘progressive Indian’, though not all dishes are overtly sub-continental. A ten-course tasting menu… [more]