Chang Live Park presents Time Out Love Bangkok Awards 2016: Thai restaurants (fine dining)

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).  The menu offers a great selection of classic Thai delicacies with a heavy spotlight on 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.

A balancing act between traditional recipes and molecular techniques makes Benjarong one of our favorite places for gourmet Thai grub. Don’t let its location in Dusit Thani and old-fashioned interiors fool you, the menu at this renowned restaurant has been given a modern twist by Danish chef, Morten Boejstrup Nielsen, the Dusit Group’s head chef who was previously at Nahm in London and Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin in Bangkok. And the result is a list of decadent signatures that still display the authentic charm of Thai flavors.

Nooror Somany Steppe is gifted. She used her cooking talent to put up the first Blue Elephant restaurant in Brussels with her husband over 30 years ago. Ironically, the restaurant in Bangkok is the 10th branch of the global brand—it was first launched in London, Paris and Dubai before finding a place back home. Nestled charmingly in the monumental Thai-Chine building right by the Surasak BTS station, the Bangkok branch is probably the brand’s most famous and has long been a prestigious spot for hosting members of the Thai royal family, foreign official guests and VIPs.

Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava and Dylan Jones, embarked on a culinary journey far beyond everyday Thai fare, traveling back in time to rediscover what Thai food was before everything was altered by modern conveniences. At Bo.lan, the finest ingredients, taken from different sources around the kingdom, deserve more praise than imported produce, and hands are valued more than cooking machines. And this is the reason we pay more: We pay for Bo and Dylan’s passion. Bo.lan has zero tolerance for course menus and serves the dishes all-together family-style—exactly how Thai food is supposed to be enjoyed.

An avant-garde dining experience from one of Thailand’s most respected chefs—that’s pretty much enough said for Issaya Siamese Club. Ian Chalermkittichai leads you through a journey of modern Thai flavors and state-of-the-art, innovative twists while still paying respect to old recipes. Making your way to Issaya is part of the appeal. You’d need to navigate your way through Sathorn’s small maze-like alleys before arriving at this charming, centuries-old house. Set in a lush garden setting, the cozy dining room retains a vintage Siamese charm with vibrant decor and colorful murals, while the club lounge upstairs brings back old-school luxury.

The name may sound like a fancy French restaurant but the food at Le Du is stylishly inspired by local Thai fare. Armed with an education from The Culinary Institute of America and working experience in the some of the world’s best kitchens, Thitid Tassanakajohn or Chef Ton opened Le Du in Bangkok in 2013 with a mission to revolutionize Thai food. As the name “Le Du” suggests, the menu is created around the best local seasonal produce and elevates them with modern touches, inventive cooking and refined presentations.

Sydney-born culinary mastermind David Thompson ensures dining at Nahm, the luxurious Thai restaurant he transported from London, remains one of the most sought-after experiences in Bangkok. In the international battlefield of fine dining, this hallowed ground for authentic Thai fare makes Thailand proud by garnering prestigious accolades—it topped the list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2014 and is consistently on the list of World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Steered by the husband-and-wife duo of Jason Bailey and Bongkoch "Bee" Satongun, this modern dining room offers fine Thai dishes crafted with respect to traditional Sanitwonge recipes, yet also brimming with innovative confidence. Drawing its name from “curry paste,” the centerpiece of Thai cooking, Paste pays particularly attention to the very source of their ingredients. The menu carries a long list of intriguing Thai dishes with an interesting mash-up of produces.

Made famous by one of the city’s best Thai chefs, Wichit Mukura, Sala Rim Naam remains Bangkok’s premier choice for a fancy Thai meal. The dining room is housed in a traditional northern-style teak wood pavilion that evokes the feeling of a mini-palace throughs charming giant wooden gates, ornate wood carving and sturdy wooden furniture. In the evening, traditional stage performances are offered along with set menu courses and old-school à la carte plates. The outdoor terrace affords the best seats in the house along with majestic views of the Chao Phraya River.

Tucked away behind a discreet façade and heavy wooden doors, Saneh Jaan revels in the most authentic elements of Thai food culture. The interior design features a reinterpretation of a Thai pavilion during the reign of King Rama V, when Western culture began to reach Thailand. Saneh Jaan’s executives are real foodies who, for decades, have traveled around the kingdom to sample its greatest dishes. The menu reads like a credits list of time-honored classic Thai dishes.

Inspired by recipes the owner inherited from his grandmother, Supanniga Eating Room combines dishes from Isan, and the northern and central provinces in one extensive menu. The three-floor eating room is patterned after a wooden stilt house: the first floor is the basement under the stilts, the second floor accommodates the kitchen, drink tables and a small textile exhibition, and the top floor offers an attic-style dining room. Dining at Suppaniga feels like you never left home.