A city that gathers flavours from across Thailand
If you are choosing a first meal in Bangkok, start with pad Thai. For the next meal, try a curry with rice, or share a tom yum kung. Finish with mango sticky rice for something sweet. In Bangkok you can eat central Thai food, and dishes from many other regions too.
Choosing a meal in Bangkok
If you are eating alone, choose a plate of pad Thai or a curry with rice. With friends or family, share a tom yum kung and finish with a plate of mango sticky rice for pudding.
Bangkok is a city where the food of many Thai regions comes together. The choice runs from central rice and curries to dishes brought from other parts of the country. Here we introduce signature dishes that are easy to choose even if Bangkok is your first taste of Thai food.
The dishes below are not local specialities that you can only eat in Bangkok. They can be found in many Thai cities.
Pick a dish you fancy. Each guide explains the flavour and what to eat it with.
Sour tamarind meets sweet and salty notes. Soft noodles, then the crunch of beansprouts and the richness of peanuts as you chew. Where dried chilli flakes are served on the side, you can add as much as you like.
Pad Thai: flavour and how to eat it →
The broth carries the flavour of prawns, with sourness and heat on top. Lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves give tom yum its distinctive aroma. It can be made with a clear broth or a rich one, so dishes with the same name can taste a little different.
Tom Yum Kung: flavour and how to eat it →
Behind the rich, smooth coconut milk you can feel the heat of the curry paste. The herb aroma is clear too, so it tastes quite different from a typical curry-house curry. Spoon a little curry and its pieces over your rice at a time.
Green Curry: flavour and how to eat it →
The aroma of spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves runs through the curry. Eating it beside a green curry, where herbs stand out, makes the difference between the two easy to taste. Have the rich sauce with your rice a little at a time.
Massaman Curry: flavour and how to eat it →
The sweetness of mango is joined by the richness of coconut. The sticky rice is chewy, so the texture is different from eating the fruit alone. Taste the mango and the rice separately, then bring them together on one spoon.
Mango Sticky Rice: flavour and how to eat it →The place a fruit is famous for may not be the city where you buy it today. Check the season and flavour, then choose what you would like to try.
Ripe mango is soft and sweet. Some varieties of green mango are eaten for a texture different from ripe mango, so you do not need to assume that every green one is unripe.
Mango: season, flavour and how to eat it →
It is sweet and rich, with creamy flesh. The firmness and aroma of the flesh vary with the variety, such as monthong or chanee, and how ripe it is.
Durian: season, flavour and how to eat it →
It is a crunchy, juicy fruit. The fresh fruit and nam taeng mo pan, blended with ice, are enjoyed for their different textures.
Watermelon: season, flavour and how to eat it →
With a young coconut you enjoy the water and the soft white flesh together. Nam hom is presented as a variety whose scent is its feature.
Young Coconut: season, flavour and how to eat it →Bangkok retail prices · 14 October 2026
These are prices by variety and grade, surveyed by Thailand’s Department of Internal Trade. They do not apply to every stall on the street.
| Fruit and variety | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Mangosteen · smooth-skin grade | 40–60 baht | 1 kg |
| Rambutan · Rong Rian (โรงเรียน) | 50–60 baht | 1 kg |
| Longan · E-daw (อีดอ) | 50–60 baht | 1 kg |
| Longkong | 40–50 baht | 1 kg |
| Pineapple · Sriracha (ศรีราชา), grade 2 | 30–32 baht | 1 kg |
| Watermelon · Kinnaree (กินรี) | 25–30 baht | 1 kg |
| Papaya · Holland (ฮอลแลนด์) | 40–60 baht | 1 kg |
| Banana · Nam Wa (น้ำว้า) | 40–50 baht | 1 bunch |
| Mandarin · Sai Nam Phueng (สายน้ำผึ้ง), grade 5 | 60–65 baht | 1 kg |
Keep the price of a bag or tub of cut fruit separate from the per-kilo price of whole fruit. Bananas are priced per bunch in this survey.
The dishes below are not local specialities that you can only eat in Bangkok. They can be found in many Thai cities.
If you are eating alone, choose a plate of pad Thai or a curry with rice. With friends or family, share a tom yum kung and finish with a plate of mango sticky rice for pudding.
If you would like to read more about the food and the regions behind it, these sources are worth a look. Ingredients and cooking methods can vary from one cook to the next.
