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Sukhumvit is Bangkok's hippest area for dining and going out. Consequently, many of the restaurants here have more style than substance, but there's good food to be had, and the area of Thong Lor has evolved into a food-lover's paradise.
Mumbai native Garima Arora's high-level journey through the flavors, textures, and ingredients of Indian cuisine has earned this restaurant two Michelin stars. It's housed in a 60-year-old traditional Thai residence that has been attractively transformed with an interior rendered in a single shade of taupe, so that the wood joinery and curved ceilings stand out. The separate Gaa Lounge in the same building is easier to reserve and makes a great spot for sundowners and a quick bite from the à la carte menu.
This branch of the Michelin-starred Sri Lankan restaurant, Ministry of Crab specializes in fresh meaty crab flown in daily from that country. Crabs are prepared with your choice of sauce—garlic chili, baked, black pepper, or curry—and range in size from 500-gram "small" crabs to 5-pound "crabzillas." Also on the menu are a variety of other crab dishes, including a creamy crab liver pâté, fresh king prawns, clams, and oysters.
The seafood at this 1,500-seat, garishly fluorescent-lit establishment is way overpriced (plus you pay a charge for the cooking), and the atmosphere is extremely touristy, but the place is always packed and it makes for a fun night out. As in a supermarket, you take a small cart and choose from an array of seafood—crabs, prawns, lobsters, clams, oysters, and fish—which chefs then cook how you prefer.
