Le Normandie
Le Normandie first opened at The Oriental Bangkok – now the Mandarin Oriental – in 1958. Crowning the Tower Wing (recently reopened as the Garden Wing), one of Thailand’s tallest buildings at the time, the grill restaurant welcomed celebrities and royalty alike. A relaunch in 1969 saw it become the city’s first fine-dining restaurant, welcoming the likes of Michelin-starred chefs Paul Bocus and Michel Roux to Thailand for the first time. The beautifully revitalised restaurant has just re-emerged from an extensive renovation project, with sophisticated interiors, handcrafted chandeliers and stunning Chao Phraya River views complementing a French menu created by chef Arnaud Dunand Sauthier and laced with ingredients from the Royal Projects farms in the north of the country. Expect classic dishes like marbled foie gras with prune and toasted brioche; chateaubriand from Salers with truffle sauce; and parmentier of beef cheek with winter truffle.
Nahm
A byword for culinary innovation in Bangkok and the only Thai restaurant to be included in Restaurant Magazine’s Top 50 Restaurants in the World list, David Thompson’s Nahm, at Hotel Metropolitan by COMO, helped elevate Thai cuisine to new heights. With a menu of rustic yet refined palate-pleasing dishes, served in plush surroundings, Nahm is the fruits of Thompson’s laborious love affair with Thailand, and features a menu that showcases the full spectrum of Thai cuisine, from royal creations to street favourites. Nothing is toned down for the tourists at Nahm; it’s authenticity at its best. Highlights include kanom jeen rice noodles served with a choice of often-fiery curries; delicate blue swimmer crab with pickled garlic served on a bed of rice cakes; and spicy stir-fried frog’s legs with basil and cumin leaves.
Gaggan
Top of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2015, Gaggan is the canvas on which Kolkata-native Gaggan Anand, who interned with Michelin-maestro Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, presents his take on modern fine dining. Anand aims to “reinvigorate” Indian cuisine by adopting contemporary techniques and a touch of molecular magic, served in imaginative and enticing ways; there’s the chicken tikka topped with an aromatic chutney foam; a chargrilled Indian cottage-cheese sandwich with chutney “bubbles”; and an unforgettable 24-hour mutton bhuna ghosh, all served in the intimate confines of a colonial-era home.
Le Du
Combining bold Asian flavours with classic European techniques, Le Du showcases the gastronomic innovations of Thai chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. A rising star on the Bangkok dining scene, Le Du takes its name not from the French language but from the Thai; meaning “seasons” in the local tongue, the eatery serves up an eclectic if not tantalising menu in a hidden dining room between Silom and Sathorn roads. Head there for dinner for the true fine-dining feel, and order highlights like conpoy (dried scallop) congee with ginger emulsion, mushroom chips and Yunnan ham; rare wagyu beef with pickled Nappa cabbage; and octopus with crab mayo and spicy chorizo.
Water Library Chamchuri
Epitomising some of the best, yet most unpretentious fine dining available in the Thai capital, Water Library Chamchuri serves up modern European cuisine in an inviting main dining room centred around its own namesake water library, with artisanal aqua available from the four corners of the globe. An institution of the Bangkok dining scene for the past six years, the Water Library has managed to evolve into a clutch of eateries across the city without taking on the stigma of a chain restaurant, though the Silom venue remains the flagship. German chef Mirco Keller has worked in some of Germany’s top Michelin-starred kitchens, including Adlon Collection’s Ma Restaurant and Swissôtel Berlin’s Restaurant 44. His menu boasts strong seasonal leanings combined with French haute principles, with highlights including miso-caramelised Périgord foie gras with mango and balsamic caviar; cold capellini with wakame and Tasmanian abalone; and Chilean sea bass with a mushroom and bacon ragoût and ponzu truffle butter.