There’s no thoroughfare in the world’s most visited city™ quite as intoxicating as Yaowarat Road. Nope, you’re not high off exhaust fumes, of which admittedly there are many. It’s not spliff smoke that’s got you giddy either, billowing out from a side soi’s so-called dispensary. There’s something more intangible in the air here – a sense of possibility, a kinetic energy and, above all else, the allure of a damn good meal.
But just as the promise of something special can so often evaporate before it’s had time to crystallise, so the experience of eating on Bangkok’s Yaowarat Road and the wider Chinatown area can be fraught with missed opportunities, closed shophouses, underseasoned plates and overwrought metaphors.
Underneath a neon sky thick and hazy – incense, woks and petrol all accounted for – you do have to work (or, at least, walk) for a truly brilliant meal in Yaorawat. Strangely for a district with so many famed options for your supper, there are an equal number of duds ready to trip you up. That’s if a stray stool, extended selfie stick, or the fact that it’s a Monday don’t get there first.
Time, then, to take your eyes up off your phone and look where you’re going – it’s busy out there.
Anyway, enough breaking of the fourth wall and, instead, let’s make a proper impact on our appetites. Here are the best places to eat in Bangkok’s Chinatown (Yaowarat).
Chop Chop Cook Shop
It might feel like we’re raising the white flag before we’ve even got going by beginning indoors, in a proper restaurant, but there’s a good reason our list starts here. It’s because Chop Chop Cook Shop opens from midday right on through ’till late, making it one of the few places in the neighbourhood you can kick back with a beer and a bite during that strange Bangkok barren spell between around 2 and 5pm.
The striking space was designed in collaboration with designer Apirak Leenharattanarak. It could easily have gone full theme-park with its nods to the building’s goldsmith showroom history, but instead, it’s tastefully done, a marriage of mid-century American diner aesthetics – terrazzo floors and pastel-hued booths – with red neon Chinese characters and decorative dragon motifs that reference its position at the symbolic dragon’s back of Yaowarat Road.
It’s a stylish space that doesn’t swerve jarringly into pastiche, with the constant clatter of woks and the sweet, heady hum of smoked meat grounding you firmly in Bangkok rather than on some designer’s mood board.
So, slip inside and settle into one of those window booths, allowing you to gaze out over the Yaorawat Road traffic without being too immersed in it. The perfect setting, we think, for chef David Thompson’s homage to Thailand’s historic and much-misunderstood ‘cookshop’ cuisine – a culinary time capsule from the 1920s to 1970s that had nearly vanished into the mists of time that tees up Teochew, Chinese, Thai, and Western influences. It all feels decidedly old school, a little kitsch, but delivered with the requisite sleight of hand that lightens and lifts the load.
Of course you’ll want to order rounds of the roast meat – the barbecued pork and the roast duck both available over noodles or as standalone items – but don’t let a myopic vision on the main event distract you from the excellent starters; the drunken clams and spring rolls are particularly good, the bak kwa (a kind of sweet, sticky pork jerky) even better.
For dessert, the deceptively simple ginger milk curd is a refreshing conclusion, making you question how something so basic can taste so complex. Wash it all down with a Singha or two, and launch back into Chinatown refreshed and replenished.
Website: chopchopbkk.com
Address: Ground Floor, 328 Yaowarat Rd, Chakkrawat, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Lim Lao Ngow
Buried deep down one of Yaowarat’s alleyways where you may well lose GPS signal but certainly not your sense of place, Lim Lao Ngow has turned fishball-making into something far greater than the sum of its parts.
The crowds here aren’t gathered in pursuit of mediocrity – these springy, perfectly seasoned spheres of fish bob around in a broth so clear you could check your reflection in it. The textural contrast between the tacky fishballs (the factory bounce is spot on) and noodles with just the right amount of chew is as good as it gets in the city. And that’s saying something.
If your reflection doesn’t need checking, order this one ‘haeng’ (dry) for a different eating experience – more salad-y and, arguably, even more satisfying. Whether wet or dry, do remember to season judiciously to your taste using the tabletop condiments – the baseline here is fairly bland (intentionally so), letting the quality of the fish balls do all the talking.
Their chicken satay skewers – gnarly and burnished – aren’t an afterthought. Though they don’t quite feel at place alongside a fishball soup, these supporting actors could easily star in their own show.
Website: limlaongow.com
Address: 299, 301 Song Sawat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Guay Jub Ouan Pochana
When a place has been ladling the same soup (not actually the same soup, but you know what we mean) for half a century and been bestowed a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand in the process, you know they’ve cracked the code.
Now in the hands of the founder’s son (no pressure there, mate), Guay Jub Ouan Pochana’s rolled noodle soup is just so cleansing, its backbone of pork stock light and silky, its pepperiness assertive but well-judged.
There’s perfect chewy resistance to the noodles here; noodles that are, admittedly, damn hard to lift with your chopsticks without sending soup splashing up all over the place. Still, it’s worth the work. And , indeed, the wash.
The slivers of pork offal are handled with such care you’ll forget you’re eating parts that usually make tourists squirm. Not feeling adventurous? The basic pork version still delivers.
No wonder Guay Jub Ouan Pochana is considered one of Chinatown’s best places to eat.
Address: 408 Yaowarat Rd, Chakkrawat, Chakkaphat, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
T&K Seafood
In the gladiatorial arena of Yaowarat’s eye-catching seafood joints – where tanks of live creatures put on their most seductive swimwear display for passing tourists – T&K Seafood reigns supreme.
The sidewalk seating drops you centre-stage in Chinatown’s nightly theatre, with front-row seats to flames leaping from woks and the symphony of motorbike exhaust at cutlery level, seasoning your plate of clams stir-fried in chilli jam with a miasma distinctly Bangkoian.
Order a couple of outsized Singhas, get a pitcher of ice, and suddenly that plastic stool feels like the best seat in Bangkok – especially when you inevitably strike up a conversation with a neighbouring table and everything afterwards gets a little hazy.
You can read more of our thoughts on T&K seafood here, by the way.
Instagram:@tkseafood
Address: 49, 51 Phadung Dao Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Tai Heng
Hidden deep in Chinatown’s labyrinthine backstreets, where even Google Maps throws up its hands in surrender, Tai Heng operates from what is essentially someone’s converted garage – a space where two randomly placed marble tables anchor this family-run joint.
Tai Heng has somehow mastered two completely different dishes that rarely share menu space: khao man gai and Thai sukiyaki – a dual specialisation that we still don’t quite understand. What we do know is that both dishes are gold-standard versions, and certainly rub along nicely on the same table.
Their khao man gai features chicken poached to that slightly pink tenderness that’s just so good over rice that’s been properly pampered with chicken fat. The sukiyaki is where the magic happens, though – order it ‘haeng’ (dry) and witness a homogenous tangle of glass noodles with just enough char to flirt with burning but never commit, seafood and egg forming a sticky, unified whole that sings with wok hei.
The distinctive shocking-pink dipping sauce – sharp, rich and weirdly energetic – provides the perfect counterpoint. The peaceful backstreet location offers something nearly extinct in Yaowarat – actual serenity – making it the ideal refueling stop before plunging back into Chinatown’s beautiful chaos.
Interestingly, in the three or four times we’ve been to Tai Heng, we’ve been the only ones dining here. Which makes us wonder if it is, in fact, just a family home, and they’re simply too polite to turn us away.
Address: 67/4 Yaowarat 8, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Khao Gaeng Jek Pui
Affectionately dubbed the ‘musical chairs curry shop’ for its constant rotation of diners on red plastic stools, at Jek Pui the entire culinary orchestra plays out streetside, with massive pots of curry lined up invitingly, their surfaces hypnotically dappled with beads of separated coconut cream, just as it should be.
Everything’s served at that perfect Bangkok room temperature – not hot enough to burn when you inevitably spill some on your lap, but warm enough to show the curry’s nuance and depth to its full potential. Their yellow curry with pork is the undisputed headliner and the must-order here – rich, salty and sweet, it’s fabulous.
The pro move? Add some crispy fried Chinese sausage on top for textural contrast and a good whack of MSG. Yes, you’re perched on a plastic stool that’s threatening to buckle under the weight of your enthusiasm, and also yes, you’ll need to surrender your seat while still chewing on your last bite, but with curry this transcendent, comfort comes in the bowl, not on the bottom.
Address: 25 Mangkon Rd, Pom Prap, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Read: The best street food in Bangkok
Pa Tong Go Savoey
This proud street-side operation – with its prominently displayed Michelin badges from 2018 and 2019 (they are still listed in 2025’s addition, by the way) – has turned the humble act of frying dough into something of a public performance.
The stall’s centrepiece, a giant bronze wok of bubbling oil that could confidently double as a satellite dish, sits boldly on the pavement itself, forcing pedestrians to navigate a careful path behind the operation as if participating in some delicious, highly dangerous obstacle course.
Under the watchful eye of dexterous cooks in branded aprons, the pa tong go emerges with a crisp shell that shatters at suggestion of a first bite, revealing an interior so fluffy it defies the laws of dough physics, which is a subject we’d go back to university for, come to think of it.
Somehow these deep-fried delights emerge suspiciously grease-free, as if they’ve negotiated some deal with the oil. The accompanying pandan custard elevates what would already be an exceptional snack into something truly magnificent; so moreish that you’ll be burning your mouth right off as you dive back in for seconds too soon.
Join the inevitable cluster of waiting customers who’ve been drawn in by both the Michelin recognition and the hypnotic sight of perfectly executed frying tekkers happening right on Bangkok’s bustling streets.
Address: 56 Yaowarat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Facebook: @PatonggoSavoeyYaowarat
Nai Ekk Roll Noodles
In the cutthroat battlefield of rolled noodle vendors (we’re wondering if they roll up their defeated competitors in a big sheet of rice noodle, a la a thousand gangster film tropes), Nai Ekk holds its own against Ouan Pochana from a few yards west and a few paragraphs previous with a broth so peppery it should come with a warning label. Or, at least, a few tissues to deal with the resultant sneezing.
Their not-so-secret weapon? Perfectly prepared pig’s offal that lands on just the right side of firm and bitter (you won’t find blushing pink offal much in Thailand – which, come to think of it, is the right way to be).
The crispy pork belly brings much needed textural contrast to the slippery, sticky noodles and offal-y bits. Whilst we’d hesitate to ever suggest crackling and fat brought relief, it kind of does here.
The dining room (yep, this one is to be enjoyed with a roof overhead) is pure shophouse chic – all tiles and stainless steel that haven’t changed since your grandparents’ first date (those are some cool grandparents) – but nobody’s here for the interior design awards. It’s that soup, swimming with rasping complexity, that keeps the regulars waiting for their turn on those wobbly metal stools.
You’ll also find roast pork and braise goose over rice here, if you’re looking to eat beyond the restaurant’s eponymous dish.
Address: 442 ซอย 9, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Ba Hao
Part of a gorgeously restored shophouse on Chinatown’s increasingly groovy Soi Nana (the good Nana, not the hellscape one), Ba Hao has perfected the art of making boozing feel culturally enriching.
The ground floor opens out into studied vintage Chinese aesthetics – red neon that bathes everyone in flattering light, antique tiles that have seen things, and wooden furniture that creaks with stories.
But let’s cut to the chase – while the Chinese-inspired cocktails might lure you in, the food makes Ba Hao worthy of a place on our roundup of Yaorawat’s best restaurants. Seeing as this is drinking food, it’s in the ‘small bites’ section of the menu that you’ll be most rewarded. Freshly fried spring onion pancakes, sesame shrimp toast with a pleasing recoil, and deep fried spinach and prawn wantons all hit the spot with a cold one.
Whatever you do, don’t sleep on the Sichuan nuts – they’re totally addictive with one of the bar’s signature baijiu-based concoctions that make this notoriously brutal spirit feel nuanced and complex. Cheers!
Address: 8 ซ. นานา Pom Prap, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Website: ba-hao.com
Potong
Standing proudly in the heart of Chinatown, Potong is Chef Pichaya ‘Pam’ Soontornyanakij’s love letter to her family heritage. Set within a beautifully renovated 120-year-old Sino-Portuguese shophouse that once housed her family’s Chinese medicine business, the restaurant blends history with culinary innovation. The five-story building has been meticulously restored over two and a half years, with each floor offering a distinct experience – from the ground-floor Potong Sino Bar to the atmospheric Opium Bar on the upper levels.
Chef Pam’s progressive Thai-Chinese tasting menu showcases her exceptional talent, earning her accolades including a Michelin star, a spot on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and the title of Asia’s Best Female Chef 2024. The 20-course culinary journey balances tradition with modernity, with highlights including the extraordinary 14-day aged duck (complete with brain served in its skull), innovative Pad Thai interpretation, and dishes that honour the five elements of cooking: salt, acid, spice, texture, and Maillard reaction. Each plate tells a story, drawing on Pam’s family recipes while incorporating modern techniques learned during her time at Jean-Georges in New York.
While the tasting menu (priced around ฿6300 – around £145 – per person) places it firmly in special occasion territory, the unique combination of heritage, innovation, and Chef Pam’s personal connection to the space makes Potong one of Bangkok’s most compelling dining destinations and certainly one of the best restaurants in Yaorawat. Reservations are essential and should be made months in advance.
You can check out our full review of Potong here, by the way.
Website: restaurantpotong.com
Address: 422 Vanich Road, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
Tang Jai Yoo
Just off Yaowarat Road, this century-old institution has made Teochew-style suckling pig its speciality. The preparation is quite the sight — whole piglets on spits are brought from kitchen to street, where a chef rotates them over charcoal drums, continuously basting with an oil-soaked cloth. Even if you’re ‘just browsing’, the show will stop you in your tracks. And, the aroma of caramelising pig fat will have you following the scent into the restaurant like a cartoon character smelling a freshly-baked apple pie on a windowsill.
When the pig achieves that perfect golden crackling, it’s carried back inside to appreciative nods from the dining room. A skilled chef then carefully removes the crisp skin, portions it into bite-sized pieces, and arranges it back atop the pig. The dish is then delivered to your table with suitable ceremony.
The pig is served in two distinct stages — first the crackling skin with pancakes, cucumber, spring onions and hoisin sauce (rather like Peking duck), then the meat returns transformed into a garlicky stir-fry. You’ll need a group of about six to properly enjoy a whole pig, which makes it ideal for a communal dinner. The fluorescent lighting might not create the most intimate atmosphere, but it emphasises that this is faithful culinary tradition rather than something designed purely for social media.
Website: 85 Thanon Yaowaphanit, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Nai Mong Hoi Thod
Nai Mong Hoi Thod has spent the last three decades perfecting a single dish with such devotion that it’s garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand and the title of “best oyster omelette in the universe” (according to legendary chef David Thompson, who’s not one for casual hyperbole).
This unassuming shophouse is non-descript from the outside—the universal sign that something brilliant awaits inside. The cooking station is a spectacle of controlled chaos—a hulking charcoal-fired battlestation with a makeshift fan system that sends sparks dancing around the unfazed chef like fireflies at dusk.
You face two delicious dilemmas: crispy (‘awlua’) or soft (‘awsuan’) style, and mussels or oysters. The crispy version shatters gloriously under your fork, while the soft version stretches with a gooey, cheese-like elasticity from the sticky rice flour batter. Both sit atop a bed of crunchy bean sprouts, making a futile attempt to soak up the magnificent oils. While the oyster version features plump specimens lounging like royalty on their golden thrones, the mussels bed down more directly into the mixture. Decisions, decisions.
Regardless of how you play it, accompanying chili-vinegar sauce cuts through the richness with electric sharpness, creating a perfect marriage of flavours. Yes, it’s perhaps pricier than your average street food joint (blame the shiny Michelin recognition), but you’re still paying less for a fully formed meal here than you are for a single oyster at one of Sukhumvit’s wine bars.
Facebook: @hoithod539
Address: 539 Phlap Phla Chai Rd, Pom Prap, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Krua Porn Lamai
Planted defiantly in the heart of Yaowarat’s rushing river of humanity, Krua Porn Lamai’s take on rad na is one of the best in town. What began as a humble two-table operation 25 years ago has blossomed into a street-side empire that now commands around 20 tables sprawling across most of Plaeng Nam Road – a testament to Bangkok’s meritocratic food scene where quality trumps all else, and where customers vote defiantly with their feet.
Wide rice noodles get stir-fried with Chinese broccoli and your protein of choice before being dramatically doused in a rich ‘lava gravy’ that creates enough steam to mist up the glasses of onlookers. Their signature addition of a crispy fried egg on top might make traditionalists clutch their pearls, but when that perfect runny yolk breaks and mingles with the gooey gravy, creating a creamy coating that transforms each mouthful, you’ll wonder why everyone doesn’t do it.
The sizzling hot skillets ensure your last bite is as hot as your first – a rare achievement in thw world of outdoor dining. Yes, eating here means sharing pavement space with Bangkok’s notorious traffic, but the vehicles navigate carefully around the tables in an unspoken agreement that food this good deserves respect and right of way.
For the best experience, arrive early or prepare to wait – locals pack this place nightly until its 2 AM closing time, making it perfect for a late-night feast after exploring Chinatown.
Address: 590 592 ถ. เจริญกรุง Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Hua Seng Hong
Walking into Hua Seng Hong is like stepping into the Chinatown dining experience that exists in collective nostalgia — complete with chattering aunties who won’t hesitate to tell you you’re ordering wrong or that you’ve put on weight even though it’s the first time you’ve met.
You can’t miss the place — just look for the massive red storefront with its cartoonish chef logo proudly hoisting a steaming dish, flanked by glass cases displaying an array of plumply appointed dim sum baskets and seafood, and a row of woks powered by jet burner. Those woks flame skywards with theatrical abandon and singe off eyebrows all over the shop, and dim sum trolleys navigate between tables with the confidence of a Bangkok TukTuk driver sashaying through the Asoke intersection.
The menu divides neatly into two specialties: daytime dim sum and evening seafood. For lunch, their extensive dim sum selection draws crowds, sure, but it’s the evening seafood menu that truly establishes Hua Seng Hong as a Chinatown institution.
The steamed sea bass in soy sauce is a standout — the fish arrives glistening, fragrant with sesame oil and topped with perfectly julienned ginger and spring onions. Crab features prominently on the menu in various preparations: try the crab meat in yellow curry for something rich and aromatic, or the crab fried rice where each grain is individually coated in egg and studded with sweet crabmeat.
Don’t miss their sour seafood soup (potak talay) — a sophisticated relative of tom yum that arrives bubbling dramatically over a flame. The broth balances sour, spicy and umami notes as only Thailand can do with quite such precise dexterity, all without overpowering the essence of the seafood.
The dining room — round tables with lazy Susans for family-style dining, lighting that errs on the side of clinical rather than ambient, and red and gold decorations that haven’t changed in decades – all remind you exactly where you are. For dessert, explore their Hong Kong-influenced sweet menu, from delicate crepe cakes to traditional Chinese dessert soups, the latter wonderfully refreshing in the choking heat of the city.
Website: huasenghong.com
Address: 371, 373 Yaowarat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Pae Sia Dimsum
Just 20 metres from Wat Mangkon MRT outside Wat Mongkol Samakhom, where tourists are busy photographing the temple’s golden splendour, a humble stall represents three generations’ dedication to dumpling perfection.
The proprietor crafts what might be Bangkok’s tiniest, most perfect shumai – each no larger than a coin but packed with more flavour than items triple their size. A shower of crispy fried garlic and house-made chilli sauce finishes these bite-sized marvels that prove once and for all that size really doesn’t matter.
Each dumpling represents a century-old recipe preserved with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious artefacts (appropriate location, then), making this not just a meal but an experience rooted in history.
The makeshift kitchen – essentially just a steaming vessel under the ornate entrance of a Chinese temple – is so vividly evocative it has you questioning if you’re dreaming. There are a couple of randomly placed schoolchairs, but these are always occupied by a patriarch or two, sipping tea and discussing serious matters we wish we understood. For us, leaning against the wall is just fine because inside our polystyrene tray we have our shumai. A toothpick is all you need to ferry these home.
Address: Plaeng Nam Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Yaowarat Toasted Buns
Follow the bright yellow banner, the inevitable queue of people (and accordant line of luminous tuk tuks ready to scoop them up), and the stacks of distinctive bright yellow boxes with the owners’ portraits prominently displayed, to find Yaowarat’s famous stuffed buns.
Inside a bustling street-side stall, workers in red uniforms with white aprons and protective gloves meticulously prepare each cloudlike creation, toasting them to order on large metal griddles and filling them with your choice of custard, from old-school traditional egg to more modern Thai milk tea or sweet chilli.
The take-away yellow boxes have become almost as iconic as the buns themselves – a symbol of tradition that signals to those in the know that you’ve found the real deal among Chinatown’s many pretenders. Worth every minute of the wait, which, let’s be honest, gives you time to decide which flavour combinations you’ll try on your inevitable return visit tomorrow.
Address: 452 Yaowarat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Lhong Tou Cafe
With a distinctive two-tier seating arrangement that’s catnip for Tik Tokers, randomly dispersed fake cherry blossom trees, and occasionally lurid dim sum sets, there’s a worry that, superficially, Lhong Tou Cafe is going to be all style, no substance. You’ll find those fears unfounded; Lhong Tou Cafe bridges old and new Chinatown both architecturally and culinarily to beautiful ends.
Their modern interpretations of dim sum classics deserve equal billing with the photogenic interior – egg lava buns that deliver on their slightly dusty molten promises (and destroy the inner lining of your mouth if you’re too hasty) and some seemingly sun-seeking prawn spring rolls that showcase how traditional techniques can be made Insta-pretty without losing their soul.
This is the rare place where the food lives up to the aesthetics, proving you can indeed judge a book by its cover sometimes.
Instagram: @lhongtoucafe_official
Address: 538 Yaowarat Rd, Khwaeng Samphanthawong, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Yuan Yuan Man Man
In the midst of a neighbourhood famous for its dedication to the old school, not-to-be-fucked-with recipes, Yuan Yuan Man Man does things a little differently. This innovative spot serves vegan-friendly tofu ice cream so creamy it should be scientifically impossible – enough to convert even the most dedicated dairy disciples.
Their black sesame bua loy dumplings provide that perfect chewy resistance that makes you work just enough for your dessert, while crushed ginger cookies add warmth and spice that cuts through the subtle tofu base.
It’s the rare vegan dessert that doesn’t announce its plant-based credentials like it’s expecting a round of applause from numb hands – it simply delivers flavour and refreshment.
Facebook: @yuanyuanicecream
Address: Phadung Dao Rd, สัมพันธวงศ์ Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Plaeng Nam Chicken Rice
Next up we’re heading to bustling Plaeng Nam Road, where motorbikes part pedestrians like Moses with the Red Sea. Here, an unassuming shophouse has perfected the deceptively simple art of chicken rice, with meat poached to that precarious point of tenderness, where flavour reaches its zenith.
The rice – the true test of any khao man gai joint – is generously infused with chicken fat and aromatics, creating grains that demand to be eaten individually rather than shovelled in desperately. Sure, it might take you a whole afternoon to actually do that, but what an afternoon you’ll have.
Their house-made chilli sauce, sharp with ginger and garlic and humming with umami from fermented soy bean paste, ties everything together. It’s a dish that proves simplicity, when executed with religious precision, can outshine complexity every time.
Address: เขตสั มพันธวงศ์ 32 Plaeng Nam Rd, Samphanthawong, Khet Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Ba Hao Tian Mi
In the confusingly named Soi Texas, Chinatown’s emerging food frontier where young chefs come to make their mark, Ba Hao Tian Mi represents the neighbourhood’s evolution in dessert form.
A sister of the aforementioned cocktail connoisseurs over on Soi Nana, their black sesame soy pudding with boba offers a modern interpretation of bubble tea that’s somehow even more satisfying than the original.
It’s tradition with just enough contemporary flair to avoid the museum-piece feeling of some older establishments, maintaining the comforting essence of Chinese dessert soups while acknowledging that taste evolves. The minimalist, design-forward space might seem at odds with Chinatown’s usual aesthetic chaos, but it represents the new wave of Yaowarat entrepreneurs – respectful of tradition while refusing to be handcuffed by it.
Instagram: @bahaotianmi
Address: 8 Phadung Dao Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Sweettime
With our sweet tooth only growing with age, we’re off to another dessert shop next; Sweetime, which specialises in traditional Chinese desserts with subtle Thai twists. Their black sesame dumplings in ginger tea are the signature here – warming, nutty, and achieving that perfect balance of sweetness and simplicity that refreshes rather than overwhelms.
It’s the ideal pit stop between the neighbourhood’s more substantial offerings, a palate reset that somehow manages to feel both indulgent and restorative simultaneously. The no-frills setting with its handful of tables means you might end up sharing space with locals who’ve been coming here for decades – the ultimate endorsement in an area (and city) where loyalty is earned through consistency, not trends.
Address: 436 Yaowarat Rd, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Instagram: @sweettimechinatown
Jay Eng
A Yaorawat institution serves satay so expertly grilled you’d think the chefs had thermometers built into their fingertips, at Jay Eng each skewer emerges with perfectly imperfect char marks, the meat still impossibly juicy inside – that mythical balance that home barbecuers spend lifetimes pursuing without success.
The peanut sauce is a revelation that makes every other version seem like watered-down pretenders, thick enough to cling to the meat but not so heavy it overwhelms. Their subtle location, practically hidden behind a lamppost and a couple of parked motorbikes, means many walk past without noticing – all the better for those in the know who don’t want to share this treasure with the masses. That said, there are a collection of colourfully-tiled tables inside if you’re keen to take a load off a while.
Come hungry, leave smelling like smoke, and don’t wear white unless you enjoy living dangerously.
Address: 563 ถ. เจริญกรุง Pom Prap, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
A word of warning! Be aware that many of the restaurants on this list close intermittently for holidays, both personal and national. The majority also don’t start serving immediately after opening. Many also sell out well in advance of their listed closing time. Always have a back up (or two). Monday is ‘cleaning day’ in Bangkok’s Chinatown, and many of the street food places are closed.
