The Bangkok Michelin Guide covers all of the very finest restaurants in the city – including both Thai and international cuisine. Ever since it was announced that the Michelin dining guide will cover Bangkok, the whole industry has been on high alert to come up with menus that will ensure them a spot in the world’s most famous restaurant guide. This is the 6th in Asia and is justly deserved for the recent explosion in Bangkok’s fine-dining food culture.

This list of our favourite Michelin-starred restaurants in Bangkok are venues that tick all the right boxes to enter the esteemed red book. Fancy French fine-diners picked up most of the awards, although a continuing trend noticed in other Asian Michelin guides is the inclusion of outstanding local joints – street food included. This guide to fine dining in Bangkok is a testament to the remarkable food culture found in the city.

  • 1

    Sorn

    Fine southern Thai cuisine in Bangkok

    Sorn
    • Couples
    • Food
    • Luxury

    Sorn is one of Bangkok's finest restaurants, with a world-class reputation for innovative cuisine. It’s also one of the hardest restaurants in the Thai capital to get a reservation. If you secure a table, you’ll be taken on a unique gastronomic journey through the diverse southern Thai cultures. Sorn’s culinary team uses old recipes and ingredients sourced from local farmers and fisher-people in the south of Thailand.

    The menu includes 22 different dishes – all of them are temperature sensitive. Dishes include sand mole crabs on a powder of chilli and seaweed, raw Phuket lobster, and yellow curry with young mangosteen and gu fish. Sorn's location in an elegantly renovated 2-storey wooden mansion adds to the restaurant's charm and appeal.

    Location: 56, Sukhumvit 26 Soi Ari, Klongton Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

    Open: Tuesday–Sunday from 6 pm to 10 pm (closed on Mondays)

    Phone: +66 (0)99 081 1119

    Map
  • 2

    Mezzaluna

    Mezzaluna
    • Food

    Mezzaluna Bangkok is an exceptional fine-dining restaurant on the 65th floor of Tower Club at Lebua. Famed for its set menus that come in 5 or 7 courses only, Mezzaluna impresses with a daily menu of world-class haute cuisine prepared by a visionary chef.

    Chef Ryuki Kawasaki has worked his way around the world in a game of ‘who’s who’ with culinary giants, including Pierre Gagnaire and Joël Robuchon. This is an expensive restaurant (about 12,500 baht for a special 5-course experience). But if you’re looking to dazzle someone on a special occasion, Mezzaluna is a top choice.

    Location: Tower Club at Lebua Hotel, 65th Floor, 1055 Silom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

    Open: Tuesday–Sunday from 6pm to 1am (closed on Mondays)

    Phone: +66 (0)2 624 9555

    Map
  • 3

    Le Normandie

    Le Normandie
    • Food

    Le Normandie is often referred to as ‘The Grand Old Dame’ of fine dining in Bangkok. It offers a quintessential fine dining experience: resplendent dining room, classic French cuisine, diligent service (with a detailed explanation of each course) and the gentle tinkling of the grand piano to complement the occasion. 

    The restaurant is in the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, and dining here is always an occasion to travel for and, for that reason, deserves inclusion on its own. Even so, Chef Arnaud Dunand Sauthier has really revived people’s attention to return once more to try such dishes as marinated beef cheek, foie gras with a plum and port reduction, and their Grand Marnier soufflé.

    Location: Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, 48 Oriental Ave, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

    Open: Monday–Saturday from midday to 2.30pm and from 7pm to 10pm (closed on Sundays)

    Phone: +66 (0)2 659 9000

    Map
  • 4

    Nusara

    Speakeasy-style fine dining

    Nusara
    • Couples
    • Food
    • Luxury

    Nusara is a fine-dining speakeasy in Bangkok, set in an intimate dining room with seats for just 10 guests. The restaurant's 12-course menu takes diners through a range of innovative modern Thai cuisine. You can find dishes such as a spicy squid salad, traditional pad krapao with wagyu beef, and the signature crab curry dish served on betel leaf and topped with horseshoe crab roe.

    While each dish is more creative than the previous, one thing they all have in common is authentic, Thai-level spiciness. So be sure you can handle the heat! Nusara's location above Mayrai Pad Thai and Wine Bar can be tricky to find – so look for a bar with red lights, walk to the back, and up the spiral staircase.

    Location: 22 Maha Rat Rd, Phra Borom Maha Ratchawang, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200, Thailand

    Open: Wednesday–Monday from 6 pm to 11 pm (closed on Tuesdays)

    Phone: +66 (0)97 293 5549

    Map
  • 5

    Bo.Lan

    Bo.Lan
    • Food

    Famed for initiating the concept of fine Thai cuisine in the city, Bo.Lan is unwavering in its dedication to authentic Thai recipes. Here, you can sample age-old dishes made from the absolute best ingredients, but presented with the flair of European haute cuisine. 

    When explaining one of the courses, Chef Dylan apologised because a certain game bird he would have liked to use (according to the origins of the recipe) has gone extinct in Thailand for generations. This proves the lengths this husband-and-wife team will go to for authenticity. The dining room is full of Thai touches and there’s a herb garden outside so you know why the mint and basil has so much freshness.

    Location: 24 Sukhumvit Soi 53, Khlong Tan, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

    Open: lunch: Thursday–Sunday from midday to 2.30pm, dinner: Wednesday – Saturday from 6pm to 10.30pm (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays)

    Phone: +66 (0)2 260 2962

    Map
  • 6

    Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin

    Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin
    • Food

    Sra Bua is a fine-dining restaurant that serves cutting-edge Thai cuisine, located on the ground floor of the ultra-luxe Siam Kempinski Hotel. Well-known Thai favourites have been turned inside out and every dish is a treat for the eyes – as well as for the taste buds. 

    The consulted chef is Henrik Yde-Andersen, the man behind Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen, the renowned Michelin-starred Thai restaurant. Chef Henrik flies in to create seasonal menus that push boundaries in terms of inventiveness. The menu changes every quarter, but signature dishes and favourites remain.

    Location: 991/9 Rama I Rd, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

    Open: Daily from midday to 3pm and from 6pm to midnight

    Phone: +66 (0)2 162 9000

    Map
  • 7

    Sühring

    Sühring
    • Food

    Sühring is a Michelin-starred restaurant that serves something previously unknown to Bangkok’s fine dining lovers – seasonal, high-end German cuisine. Serving a set menu of 9 or 12 courses only and which changes according to seasonal produce, dinner at Sühring is a full evening of exploratory dining. 

    The evening’s menu is updated daily but typically runs through a series of appetisers, a salad, a bread course, and onto mains and desserts… plural! The wine list is dominated by German and Austrian wines, with a smattering of new world labels too. There’s no stuffiness, few formalities and loads of positive energy. The Sühring twins' take on light, creative German food is, in our humble opinion, a huge success.

    Location: 10 Soi Yen Akat 3, Chong Nonsi, Yan Nawa, Bangkok 10120, Thailand

    Open: Mondays–Fridays from 5.30pm to 9pm, Saturday–Sunday from 11.30pm to 12.30pm and from 5.30pm to 9pm

    Phone: +66 (0)2 287 1799

    Map
  • 8

    Elements

    Elements
    • Food

    Dinner at Elements is a truly memorable experience. This chic restaurant serves exceptional cuisine sourced from all over the world, in a relaxed atmosphere featuring an open kitchen and a stunning terrace. The result is a world-class restaurant that welcomes guests without the pretentions of typical fine-dining establishments. In a city that sometimes values style over substance, Elements is executed perfectly. 

    Located on the 25th floor of Okura Prestige Hotel, Elements Restaurant in Bangkok is easy to reach thanks to a direct walkway from Ploenchit BTS Station.

    Location: 57 Wireless Rd, Lumphini, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

    Open: Tuesday–Saturday from 6pm to 10.30pm

    Phone: +66 (0)2 687 9000

    Map
  • 9

    J’aime by Jean-Michel Lorain

    J’aime by Jean-Michel Lorain
    • Food

    J’aime Restaurant at U Sathorn Hotel offers a top French fine-dining experience in Bangkok. There’s a dedication to classic cuisine here and the contemporary flourishes (of which there are many) are there to reinvigorate age-old recipes rather than reimagine them completely. Although the food at J’aime Bangkok is classic French in preparation and flavour, there’s an Asian twist added in the delivery which is unique. 

    For example, appetisers come as 3 small tapas portioned to be shared and it’s also surprising to find chopsticks and a lazy Susan on the table. Executive Chef at J’aime, Jean-Michel Lorain, has achieved worldwide acclaim as the owner of 3-Michelin starred Côte Saint Jacques in Burgundy, a restaurant that was opened in 1945 by his grandmother. J’aime Bangkok continues this family affair with several of the grandparents’ dishes still on the menu and his daughter, Marine, running the front of the house.

    Location: U Sathorn Bangkok, 105/1 Soi Ngam Duphli, Thung Maha Mek, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120, Thailand

    Open: Wednesday–Monday from midday to 2.30pm and from 6pm to 10pm (closed on Tuesdays)

    Phone: +66 (0)2 119 4899

    Map
  • 10

    Saneh Jaan

    • Food

    Saneh Jaan is a stylish restaurant that presents an elegant take on heritage Thai cuisine. The style of the room evokes an early 20th-century European design and the historic photos of old-world Thailand add to the ambience. 

    The menu features traditional Thai dishes made with only the finest local ingredients, including black bean curd, hand-pounded curry paste, dried rice noodles, glass noodles and vegetables that are grown organically nearby. The dishes are a hand-chosen selection of Thai recipes from a number of different locations around the country.

    Location: 130 Wireless Rd, Lumphini, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

    Open: Daily from 11.30am to 2pm and from 6pm to 10pm

    Phone: +66 (0)2 650 9880

    Map
Paul Smith | Compulsive Traveller