Than Ying 11:30 AM
What is it? Few restaurants in Bangkok can claim a lineage quite like Thanying's. The name means ‘noblewoman’ in Thai, and it isn't decorative – the restaurant was founded by Khunchai Jack, a member of the royal family, with the explicit purpose of bringing palace-kitchen traditions to a table that anyone could book. That mandate has held for decades. The khao chae here is one of the most frequently cited by those who really know the dish, including New York-based Thai chef Hong Thaimee, who calls it ‘one of a kind’ and singles out the royal-court recipe as a rare find.
Why we love it: The kitchen works with authentic recipes inherited from Sukhothai Palace, and the prik yuak sod sai – sweet pepper stuffed with minced pork and prawn, wrapped in its gossamer egg-lace casing – is the undisputed star. The rice is jasmine-scented and chilled to the original palace standard: cool enough to refresh without numbing the flavour of what you eat alongside it. The room carries a faint old-world charm that no amount of money and recent fit-out can manufacture. It feels, appropriately, like somewhere a dish with royal origins belongs.
Time Out tip: The restaurant sits between Silom Soi 17 and 19 and is a three-minute walk from BTS Surasak – easier to reach than the address makes it sound.
Thanying Restaurant. 10 Thanon Pramuan, off Silom Rd. 11.30am-10pm daily.
