Where to stay

Lebua at State Tower Best known for its sky-high alfresco bar and restaurant Sirocco, which featured in The Hangover Part II, this all-suite hotel also serves up beautiful views from its bedrooms and fine dining restaurant, Mezzaluna. BTS Saphan Taksin is nearby and the hotel has a large gym, spa and outdoor pool. Doubles from £122. 1055 Silom Road, 00 66 2 624 9999, http://www.lebua.com
Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square Just one minute’s walk from BTS Siam, the Novotel may not be the sexiest hotel in town but the location is great, its rooms are generously proportioned and there’s a large outdoor pool. Doubles from £88. 392/44 Siam Square Soi 6, 00 66 2 209 8888, http://www.novotel.com
Pathumwan Princess Hotel A great place to stay if you’re looking to work off some extra calories, this contemporary, luxury hotel not only has a gym and outdoor swimming pool but also rooftop tennis courts, squash courts and a running track. It’s located in the same block as the MBK shopping mall. Very handy. Doubles from £85. 444 MBK Center, Phayathai Road, 00 66 2216 3700, http://www.pprincess.com
Siam at Siam Design Hotel Mixing concrete walls with colourful upholstery to striking effect, this good-looking city-centre hotel is excellent value. MBK is close too. Doubles from £60. 865 Rama 1 Road, 00 66 2 217 3000, http://www.siamatsiam.com
Siam Kempinski The view from most of its generous, elegant rooms is of a leafy garden with a large, angular pool, so it’s easy to forget that the Siam Kempinski is not an island resort but a city-lover’s oasis. Slap bang in the centre of bustling Bangkok, it’s just a totter away from retail nirvana at Siam Paragon and CentralWorld. Doubles from £160. 991/9 Rama 1 Road, 00 66 2 162 9000, http://www.kempinski.com
VIE Hotel A modern five-star hotel with a rooftop pool, situated just metres away from BTS Ratchathewi for easy access to Ari on the Skytrain (four stops away). The rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with cityscape views. Doubles from £85. 117/39-40 Phaya Thai Road, 00 66 2 309 3939, http://www.viehotelbangkok.com

Travel Information

Ari is a district in northern Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. Currency is the baht, and time is seven hours ahead of the UK. In January, the average high temperature in the city is 31C and the average low temperature is 21C. Journey time from the UK is about 11.5 hours.

GETTING THERE
Thai Airways operates daily direct flights from London Heathrow to Bangkok. http://www.thaiairways.com
British Airways also flies direct from London Heathrow to Bangkok, seven days a week. http://www.ba.com

RESOURCES
Tourism Authority of Thailand If you’re looking into a trip to Bangkok, or further afield, be sure to consult the official visitors’ website, which includes useful information on the country’s history, culture, geography, food and drink. http://www.tourismthailand.org

FURTHER READING
Pok Pok by Andy Ricker (Ten Speed Press, £22). Written by an American restaurateur and authority on Thai cooking, this collection of recipes will give you a good grasp of the nation’s flavour profiles.

Thailand: The Cookbook by Jean-Pierre Gabriel (Phaidon, £20). There’s an encyclopedic quantity to this tome, which has simmered down just 500 recipes from countless more in the Thai canon. Recreate snacks, soups, salads, curries, stir-frys and more – all tested and adapted, retaining their authenticity, for the western kitchen.

CARBON COUNTING
Want to offset your carbon emissions when visiting Bangkok? Then make a donation at climatecare.org which uses contributions to support environmental projects around the world. Return flights from London produce 2.78 tonnes C02, meaning a cost to offset of £20.86.

Where to eat

Prices are per person based on a spread of sharing dishes, as well as a couple of beers or a glass of wine (where available)

Baan Pueng Chom Family-run garden restaurant, serving some of the best traditional Thai food to be found in Bangkok. Be sure to ask for a table by the window, then order a large spread of dishes to share. £20. 38/1 Soi 7, Phahonyothin Soi 7
Fatbird This shophouse-turned-restaurant, with retro furnishings, jam jar cocktails and cool staff, is hipster central. There’s definitely better food in these parts but the atmosphere’s great and, should you find yourself craving fish and chips or a Caesar salad, Fat’s your bird. £15. Near corner of Phahonyothin Soi 7 and Soi 3, 00 66 2 619 6609
Pladib On paper, Japanese-Thai-Italian fusion doesn’t sound like it should work but in reality it does, especially when you’re drinking lychee martinis in the garden at Pladib. Start with some spiced-up raw fish, then move on to fragrant pastas or wood-fired pizza to share. £25. 1/1 Soi Ari Samphan 7 Phraram 6, 00 66 2 279 8185
Mezzaluna The only non-Ari restaurant in this list, this fine diner on the 65th floor of the 68-storey State Tower is worth a trip from anywhere in town. French-trained Japanese chef Ryuki Kawasaki clearly has Michelin aspirations (there’s been much talk about a guide covering Bangkok) and his intricate tasting menus are served amid jaw-dropping views. £100. 1055 Silom Road, 00 66 2 624 9555, http://www.lebua.com/mezzaluna
Shambala Established for more than ten years, this Isan salad specialist is an Ari old-timer. There’s no English menu so make the most of the outdoor kitchen and point your way to fiery goodness. £10. 71/1 Phahonyothin Soi 7
Steve Café & Cuisine Unassuming local, run by a TV chef intent on teaching the next generation about great Thai food. Expect family recipes cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients that shine through every time. £15. 16 Soi Rajakru, Phahonyothin Road, 00 66 2 619 9822, http://www.stevecafeandcuisine...
Summer Street Bangkok’s coolest food truck serves grilled seafood to hipsters perched on metal stools. £15. Ari Soi 2
Tanyamama Modern design meets old-school French cooking at this neighbourhood bistro, set on the prettiest street in Ari. Go for brunch: the eggs benedict are excellent. Nice wine here too. £20. 10/27-28 Phahanyothin Soi 5, 00 66 2 001 6848, http://www.tanyamama.com

Food Glossary

Bia

The Thai word for beer isn’t hard to remember but did you know that the country’s most famous, Singha, is actually pronounced ‘sing’?

Gaafee yen

Traditional iced coffee is made with sweetened condensed milk and will give you a real sugar rush.

Gaeng

Thai curry comes in many forms. For interesting spice without too much heat, try a peanut-based gaeng panaeng.

Khanom bueang

Tiny taco-like rice flour cakes with toasted coconut. Great scoffed down as a mid-shopping trip snack.

Khao kha moo

Stewed pork, served with a bit of broth over rice, is a real comforting classic. Best eaten on the street or even at a supermarket or shopping mall food court.

Khao neow ma muang

Sticky rice with mango is available at street food stalls all over town and is the country’s best-known dessert.

Khao pad

Pronounced ‘cow pat’, the fried rice may not sound all that tasty to non-linguists but, in terms of bang for your buck, you can’t beat a dish that typically sells for less than £1 a plate.

Khao tom

The staple Thai breakfast is a light broth with rice, maybe a boiled egg, ginger and a choice of protein (eg ground pork or prawn).

Mai pet

What to say if you don’t like your food spicy.

Mama

This ubiquitous instant noodle brand is several notches above anything found in the UK. Try the sour and spicy tom yum (shrimp) flavour.

Pad kee mao

Literally ‘stir-fry for drunks’, this blow-your-head-off-spicy noodle dish will sort you out on the way home from a big night out.

Pad kra pao gai

Thailand’s favourite stir-fry, chicken with chilli and basil leaves, is served everywhere from street stalls to gourmet restaurants – there’s even a Mc Khao Krapao at McDonald’s.

Pad pak

Few dishes come with a vegetable side, so make like the Thais and order a side of stir-fried veg to share alongside your other dishes.

Food and Travel Review

‘Where to today?’ asks our guide, expectantly. ‘Wat Arun, the Grand Palace, how about the big Buddha?’ Lek is doing his best to sell a city he’s justly proud of. Bangkok, as we well know, is not short of sights – but today, just like the day before, I answer without hesitation: ‘Soi Ari, please.’

Our driver laughs. He doesn’t understand why a foreigner would want to spend time in an unknown neighbourhood in northern Bangkok. I don’t have the heart to tell him I plan to go back again tomorrow. And the day after that.

This time, I’m not visiting the Thai capital for its temples or the nightlife. I’m here to eat – and there’s plenty of that in Ari, an area that’s fast turning into the Brooklyn or Shoreditch of Bangkok. Hip cafés, bars and restaurants are popping up all around its main drag, Soi Ari, but we start by checking out the street food that first put this part of town on the map.

First stop: coffee. The hipster scene here is no different from the rest of the world and is fuelled by the black stuff – ‘Hot-drip, please, and a copy of Kinfolk’. Though today we start off by shunning the cool cafés in favour of traditional iced coffee, made with sweetened condensed milk, gaafee yen. We find some at several stalls by the stairs leading up to BTS Ari, the local Skytrain station. They come with ice and straws, in little plastic bags with handles, so you can dangle them from your wrist. It’s the typical way because it keeps your drink cool and your hands free for shopping. Practical and smart.

Breakfast gets going with artfully carved pineapple spirals from the fruit cart. Next, Lek spots his personal favourite, khanom bueang – the rice flour crepes that look like mini-tacos. Topped with rich coconut cream and smokey shards of toasted coconut, the crisp little pancakes we try here are as good as any we’ve had in Thailand. Given it’s one of the country’s best-loved sweets, that’s saying something. As we turn the corner onto Phahonyothin Soi 7, the road better known as Soi Ari, our attention turns to the savoury stalls. We try fishcakes from a lady who has cooked this single dish from the same recipe every day for ten years. Light, puffy and golden-brown, the bite-size balls are served hot, straight from the fryer, and have a doughnut-like consistency.

A few stalls down, we meet Noi, from Isan in north-eastern Thailand, who learnt all about that region’s trademark grills and spicy salads from her mother. We’re lucky to catch this busy lady early enough for a quick chat. At 10.30am, she’s already taking orders for her popular som tam (papaya salad) and she’ll keep pounding her shredded green papaya with peanuts, long beans and a sharp-sweet-spicy dressing (tamarind, fish sauce, garlic and chilli) well into the night, as the familiar ‘pok, pok, pok’ from her tall pestle and mortar draws passers-by to her stall.

The roving cuttlefish merchant uses a bell to attract attention. Wherever he goes, he lures media types from their swivel chairs and hipsters from their bar stools – even children beg their parents for change so they can buy some. This snack may be an acquired taste, but the Thais absolutely love it.

Once an order has been placed, the expectant customer waits patiently as the man goes about his ritual, heating dried cuttlefish over hot coals before pulling them through a mangle to make long, dippable strips, which he then quickly grills again, while dishing out the accompanying sweet chilli sauce. It’s quite the spectacle, if not the tastiest thing we eat today.

Back at the top of Soi Ari, just by the steps of the elevated walkway crossing Phahonyothin Road, a major artery, we spot two smiley girls prepping noodles, seemingly oblivious to all the tuk tuks, Toyotas and motorbike taxis around them. The pair are the sister and daughter of Nan, who has recently taken over the famous Seng Kua Kai stand from her father. They know this corner well.

Every Friday for the past 30 years, the Seng family has been stir-frying chicken with oyster sauce and wide ribbons of rice flour noodles in this exact spot and, with fans now travelling across Bangkok for their 90p-a-plate fix, it’s no wonder the extended family has been called in to help. Soon there will be queues lining up along the pavement.

‘We usually sell out before dinner,’ says Nan. I can see why. The sweet, almost caramelised flavour of these silky, flash-fried noodles is like none you’d find back home. The Sengs have had time to perfect their recipe but, what makes Ari such a thrilling area to visit at the moment is that, tucked in among all these age-old businesses is a whole new breed of shops, cafés and restaurants, all intent on keeping the area’s reputation for good food alive.

On Ari Soi 1, a busy alley running off Soi Ari, we bump into Kul, who is checking out the street life from the doorway of Witty Ville, a tiny shop she’s just opened today, selling Japanese gifts and English scones. Her story is typical of the new wave of Ari food traders. Having worked in advertising for ten years, Kul needed a change and enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in London, where she fitted sightseeing in around her cooking classes. On a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, she came across scones and a business idea was born. Back in Bangkok, she experimented with ingredients, settling on French flour and Asian flavourings. We try her green tea scones; they’re delicious.

The trailblazer in Ari’s burgeoning restaurant scene is Pladib, which has now served Japanese-Thai sushi and wood-fired pizzas to Bangkok’s hip young things for over ten years, kick-starting the local trend for industrial interiors, fusion food and cocktails. Prew, who owns the place, grew up in this area and is proud of what he started. ‘It used to be difficult to eat out around here, so I just wanted to create the kind of neighbourhood restaurant I’d like to hang out in myself. Now, there’s lots of choice.’

Aside from enjoying the various new restaurants himself, Prew says local competition keeps him on his toes and Pladib moving forward. Two years ago, his team redeveloped the rubbish-strewn wasteland behind the restaurant, creating an urban farm that grows fruit, herbs and vegetables for the kitchen.

Eggs from a brood of home-reared chickens have inspired a new brunch menu and, as the garden matures, Prew is able to trade some of his crops for food from his favourite street food stalls. If this all sounds like a bit of a step back in time, it’s probably because it is. Educated young folk from across Bangkok move to Ari for a quieter life. Sure, they’re a trend-conscious lot. Local hotspots Fatbird and Porcupine Café, with their antler chandeliers, bare filament light bulbs and succulents in Mason jars look straight off a hipster’s Pinterest board. But, unlike those of the equally cool Thong Lor area in eastern Bangkok, new developments in these parts tend to be conversions rather than new-builds and strict restrictions have kept the area leafy and low-rise.

‘It feels like Williamsburg in the early Nineties,’ says local resident Chuta, who recently returned to Bangkok after 13 years in New York and now co-owns the Bangkok branch of Tokyobike. ‘NYC didn’t excite me anymore. Ari does,’ he insists.

Looking around his achingly cool bike shop-cum-café, I can’t help but wonder if Chuta has really left New York. I certainly feel like I’ve just stepped out of Bangkok and into Brooklyn. To my left, an arty Indian lady with an American accent is agonising over which Klean Kanteen water bottle to buy; to my right, a bespectacled girl in high-waisted jeans is making hot-drip coffee for a guy wearing a Fjällräven backpack. The only thing conspicuous by its absence is questionable facial hair.

Outside on the lawn stands a colourful line-up of Tokyobikes and Chuta tells me his team hosts local cycle tours. Express an interest in food and they may just show you their favourite street food haunts. Chuta himself is such a fan of the meatball stall by BTS Ari that he hired them to cater for the Tokyobike launch party.

He also loves the new Zin Kid hotdog stand next to Fatbird. ‘The best in Bangkok for sure. I’m willing to put my head on that.’ Ten minutes and a delicious bratwurst with fried onions later (who are we to argue with such a strong recommendation?), we concede that he’s probably right.

Since arriving in this area, local tips have done us proud. We ask everyone we meet to name their favourite neighbourhood restaurant and the one that crops up the most is not one I’ve come across in my research. It’s not one we would have stumbled upon either.

Tucked away at the end of a side street, obscured almost entirely by the lush green foliage of its own garden, Baan Pueng Chom may be hard to find but it’s certainly worth seeking out. I, for one, have not found a better traditional Thai restaurant in over ten very food-obsessed trips to Bangkok.

The man in charge of talking us through the photo album that doubles as menu is 15-year-old Mee, who tells us most of the dishes are based on his grandmother’s recipes. Pueng Chom was once a royal cook and has passed both her skills and her treasured recipe collection to her daughter, Mee’s mum, who now runs this restaurant. We can only hope that she keeps them safe for the next generation manning the stoves.

The family favourite, a dish of rare rump steak with spicy dipping sauce that’s named after Mee, is seriously good. As is the glass noodle salad with prawns and ‘three smelly vegetables’ (yes, they do stink – but they taste really good too), the crisp-fried fermented pork and the papaya salad with mackerel. Despite snacking all day, we also manage to polish off a peanut-based curry with beef and morning glory and a spicy Lao salad full of fragrant mountain herbs. It’s all truly amazing stuff.

Towards the end of our meal, the Indian lady we met at Tokyobike comes over to our table with a plate of noodles. ‘They’re just too good not to share,’ she insists. She’s right, of course, but she’s also helped us point out where the Shoreditch/Brooklyn comparison ends. Could you imagine a Hoxton or Williamsburg local offering you a slice of their sourdough pizza?

Ari locals are a hospitable bunch and none more so than the eponymous Thai TV chef behind local restaurant Steve Café & Cuisine, whose ambition is to get the next generation excited about traditional food. ‘Many young people don’t hang out in Thai restaurants. They eat so much European food that they forget about the fresh, clean flavours of good Thai food,’ he explains. And he has just the food to help us learn.

There are no shortcuts in Steve’s kitchen. Pre-made sauce mixes are banned and the cooks get through two crates of fresh limes each day. His food isn’t fancy – ‘I want it to taste like your mum made it’ – but the vibrancy of flavour really shines through, particularly in the salads and curries.

One thing Ari doesn’t have (yet) is a hotel. The closest we get to finding a local place to stay is a promise of new rooms ‘coming soon’ to local French restaurant Tanyamama, which – handy for overnight stays, this – serves some of the best eggs benedict in town. If the modern good looks of its dining room are anything to go by, these will be fab. There’s just no opening date yet.

In the meantime, you can easily explore Ari from the hotel district around Siam, just five BTS stops away. We went a little further and checked into the all-suite Lebua at State Tower, where rooms come with beautiful views of the Chao Phraya river. Even from there, Ari is just half an hour away, using the blissfully cool Skytrain in the day and grabbing taxis back after dark, once the infamous Bangkok traffic has cleared.

I have to admit, being so close to the capital’s main sights does make me feel a little bit guilty about not going to see any of them. But I soon get over that. For what we’ve experienced here is something quite special: the start of a whole new side of Bangkok. As the van pulls up to collect us for our last day out, Lek doesn’t even try to tempt us with temples. ‘Yes, yes – I know: Soi Ari.’