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Chinatown is impressive in large part for its food. The neighborhood draws huge crowds of Thais who spend big bucks on specialties like shark's fin and bird's nest, which you'll see advertised on nearly every restaurant's storefront. Most of the food is Cantonese; many of these restaurants are indistinguishable from what you'd find in Hong Kong. In the middle of Chinatown, just off Yaowarat, there's a massive Indian cloth market known as Phahurat, and many Indian restaurants do business nearby. Don't overlook Chinatown's street food, the noodle and dumpling shops, and the fruit and spice markets.
Proudly displaying the freshest catches on ice out front, this enormous and popular seafood restaurant opens daily at 4 pm and serves until as late as 1:30 am. Make your way through the evening crowds and take a number to secure your table—either on the sidewalk or inside.
This unassuming restaurant next to Wat Plaplachai has a steady clientele thanks to fast service and consistently excellent Chinese-Thai dishes prepared according to the owner’s secret family recipes. The lighting and decor are lacking, but that can be forgiven when you taste the traditional tom yum goong (spicy, hot, and sour shrimp soup), which some deem to be the city's best.
