Fashion-designer-turned-restaurateur, Khanitha Akaranitikul, has been spicing up the city’s fine-dining scene with her family’s classic Thai recipes. With four branches across Bangkok, Baan Khanitha has become famous among foreign tourists for its delicious home-cooked fare and sophisticated ambience (surprisingly, the restaurant’s subdued flavors appeal to Thais as well). Each location, though slightly different in theme, evokes similar feels set in multi-story colonial-style structures and decorated with wood-paneled furniture, delicate wood carvings and colorful orchids. To avoid the crowds, head to the quiet Sukhumvit 53 branch, which also boasts a family-owned bistro and a dessert cafe.
The menu offers a great selection of classic Thai delicacies with a heavy spotlight on Ayutthaya giant river prawns cooked in different styles, including a bold and flavor-packed green curry (B990). Other signature dishes look to a spicy pomelo salad with shrimps, chicken in coconut milk and galangal soup, and a delicious mango sticky rice. The restaurant grows their produce at their own organic farm in Khao Yai so you are promised fresh, pesticide-free greens and veggies in every meal.
