I am not particularly keen on any of the restaurants mentioned in this post so far. My personal choice would be Patara in Thong Lor, I'm surprised it has not been mentioned yet, a very popular venue for Thai's.

http://www.patarathailand.com/

SomTum Nua and Baan Ying

If you look at the reviews on Trip Advisor but Nahm they pretty much all say the same thing "nice but nothing special".

Certainly not "high end" but one place I always get outstanding food in Bangkok is Som Tam Nua at Siam Soi 5. Great prices. Good staff. Relaxed environment. And best of all delicious food.

In my experience so far there is no point in going for high priced thai food. Every time I try a more upscale restaurant I am disappointed. But worse, they are the only places I ever have stomach problems later.

It is the cheap and cheerful and popular places which serve traditional thai food. Not the cheapest, but the places where you pay perhaps 80 to 100 baht per dish that I find the best. In fact, my best thai eating experiences usually cost just 100 to 200 baht. And I don't mean I would pay 150 baht for a fried rice...that's for dumb newbie tourists.

At higher prices it's the same stuff in a more poshly decorated environment, usually takes longer, served by snooty staff, I'm surrounded by obnoxious wannabe hiso types or idiot tourists, and often because they don't have enough turnover I think there are actually more quality problems. if I don't want too much sugar in my som tam etc I tell them no sugar. If I want no msg I tell them no msg. And all that stuff about how fantastic the chef is with his picture in newspapers etc, the spiel about his philosophy of food...screw all that, it usually adds up to a big pile of poo....just marketing crap.

Western food is different, you need to pay a bit more for good quality because the ingredients are more expensive and it takes longer to prepare but you still need to be highly selective because there is a lot of garbage out there. Even Chinese food is different, Japanese food is different. For those I expect to pay a bit more too if I want good quality.

Edited November 9, 201411 yr by paddyjenkins

I'm a fuss pot when it comes to Thai food.

In the main, expensive and high end does not equate to good thai food. All it means is bland servings of food which looks Thai but tastes nothing like it.

The one exception is naam. Took a client there once and was blown away.

Forget baan khanita. Designed it seems for expat house wife's making a 'daring' trip outside of their gated off moo Bahn.

Personal faces are jay ngor, baan Klang naam 1, soi polo chicken and the San yarn joke restuarant out back of chula!