As the temperature soars in Bangkok, it means two things: the arrival of Songkran, the Thai New year in April, and the much-anticipated season of a unique dish known as khao chae. If you’ve never heard of it, you are not alone, as this distinctive dish often flies under the foodie radar, overshadowed by favorites like green curry and pad Thai. Available only for a couple of months each year, khao chae is known for its cooling properties during the hot summer months. This adored tradition is a visually beautiful dish consisting of delicate grains of rice soaked in a fragrant jasmine ice bath accompanied by a selection of meticulously prepared components. While it may not be universally adored (many Thais seem to have mixed feelings about it), khao chae has experienced a revival in recent years thanks to a younger generation of locals who want to reconnect with their roots.

It’s said that the massive gold Buddha statue at Bangkok temple Wat Traimit was once hidden away – its value concealed from an approaching army under a thick layer of plaster. It was only when workers were relocating it in the 1950s that the statue fell and the plaster exterior cracked, revealing a core of solid gold. If Wat Traimit has another hidden treasure, we’d argue that it’s Khun-Yah Cuisine. Enter one of Bangkok’s most visited temples and wind through tour buses and rows of tourists, guides, and Buddhist monks to the eastern edge of the compound; keep your eyes peeled, and you’ll see an almost garage-like space and a sign. This is Khun-Yah Cuisine.

Walk down a narrow, unmarked lane in Ko Ratanakosin, the artificial island that’s the birthplace of Bangkok, and keep your eyes peeled for a wooden, gingerbread-style mansion not far from the Democracy Monument – there is no sign here. If the gate is open, Ban Wannakovit is in operation. Walk past a traditional Thai spirit house to the front porch, which is lined with a few tables, or continue inside the house, where dining tables mingle with family portraits, antique furniture, and other heirlooms. If there’s any homier dining experience in Bangkok, we haven’t found it.

Look at Bangkok through the lens of Instagram, a travel article, or a listings website, and these days the city’s restaurant scene can appear to be all about Michelin stars. The brand swept into the city in 2017, and in a short time, chefs and diners alike became obsessed with collecting its celestial accolades. At press time, 35 Bangkok restaurants can claim at least one Michelin star – in 2024, one restaurant earned three – and the company continues to have a massive impact on the city’s dining scene. Yet look at Bangkok from ground level, and you’ll see a very different picture. The curry shacks, noodle stalls, legacy restaurants, and street vendors that have shaped the city’s dining scene for decades continue to put out some of the best value, casual, unselfconscious, full-flavored, delicious food on earth, all while blissfully unaware of a French tire manufacturer’s rating system. Michelin may have grabbed peoples’ attention, but this has added to, rather than taken away from, Bangkok’s food scene.

One of the most ubiquitous foreign cuisines in the US and abroad, the scope of Thai food served outside the country is largely limited to dishes from Bangkok and central Thailand. But many diners consider these dishes wholly Thai without being aware of the various influences that created them. In fact, “Thai food” is a misnomer; the country’s food takes the form of regional cuisines from north to south. On our culinary walk of Bangkok, we explore Ko Ratanakosin, the artificial island that’s the birthplace of Thailand.

The food scene in Bangkok is constantly in flux, making it one of the most challenging cities in the world for a restaurateur to navigate. But it’s heaven for food lovers. And one of the things that is a constant when it comes to the Bangkok dining scene is its street food. In spite of government attempts to curtail vendor activity, a plethora of roadside offerings can still be found – provided you know where to go. Sidewalk stalls hawking noodles, fried chicken, and Thai-Muslim chicken biryani throng certain sections of Silom Road, while famous shophouse vendors that have been selling braised pork trotter on rice and duck noodles for generations can be found on quiet side streets like Soi St Louis, in the shadow of the central business district.

The vast majority of the food in Bangkok is, without a doubt, Thai. But peek under the hood and you’ll find ingredients, cooking techniques, and dishes that can be traced back to places far beyond Thailand. Influences brought by Chinese immigrants – namely Hokkien, Hakka, and Teochew people – have done the most to shape food in Bangkok. Immigration from the Muslim world has also had a massive impact on the city’s cuisine. And even contact with Europeans has come to shape Thai food. The result of all this is the fascinating, delicious jumble of ingredients, cooking techniques, dishes, and influences that today we recognize as Thai food.

To properly introduce Bangkok, CB’s newest location, we turned to Austin Bush, who helped design our Bangkok culinary walk. An American photographer and writer (who frequently writes about Lisbon, his current home base), Austin previously lived in Bangkok for more than 20 years, from where he contributed to just about every major food and travel publication, as well as to more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet. In 2018, he wrote and photographed the James Beard Award finalist, The Food of Northern Thailand. Its successor, The Food of Southern Thailand, was released in 2024. Here, Austin shares some of the ins and outs of dining in Bangkok, his visions for the new CB tour, and what makes the bustling Thai capital so great for exploring – and eating.