I live on soi 33. Right across from my building, is Trat, the best Thai seafood restaurant I have ever eaten in. A few doors down, is a no name really excellent Thai restaurant with the typical 40 page menu of every regional specialty.. Both places are always full.
In between them, is an izakaya and a bento box place. Neither of these places ever fills up. I dispute that Japanese restaurants are putting Thai restaurants out of business
All of these restaurants are within two dollars of each other for a meal. I almost never see a Thai person eating in a Japanese restaurant. My building is about 70% Chinese and Japanese tenants. They eat a lot of Thai food, particularly from the carts on the street.
Around the corner on Soi 33/1, is a twisty street full of Japanese restaurants and English pubs. They too are priced roughly the same. 500–700 ฿ is what people want to spend for dinner in this part of Bangkok.
coming from New York, the ability to eat these kinds of cuisines next to each other for a $20 bill astounds me.
May as well give a Japanese Recco: at the end 33/1 is a grilled unagi (rich eel) place. It’s astounding to be filled up to the brim with this classic and very hard to find made freshly dish for $20.