Above Riva is the rooftop restaurant of Riva Arun, the latest shop-house boutique hotel in Tha Tien, the neighborhood opposite Wat Arun. Head up to its rooftop—stairs only—and you’ll find an alfresco terrace where practically every table gets prime river views. Dishes add a Thai touch to Western classics, from light bites like deep-fried calamari served with a salted egg yolk and shrimp roe sauce (B325), to a take on osso bucco (braised veal) in massaman curry (B720).

 

This rooftop restaurant-slash-bar sits on the 26th floor of the new riverside Avani hotel. It's all very sharing- and booze-friendly, which translates to artfully presented tapas plates with the odd nod to Asian flavors. Lamb shoulder arrives in the form of lollipops (B340) and smoked duck lacquered in fish sauce with a tea-flavored gel (B220). Also look out for the premium produce like tsarskaya oysters (B140/piece) and Australian wagyu tomahawk (B4,950). French mixologist Alexandre Hersent rolls out refreshing signature cocktails like the Bora Bora Paradise Island (Absolut pear vodka, curacao, Joseph Cartron banana liqueur, apple juice and coconut ice cream, B380).

 

The year’s most anticipated restaurant hides a few outdoor tables up on its top floor, where a brutalist raw concrete balcony overlooks Sathorn Soi 12. Fresh, simple, well-executed, original yet devoid of gimmicks, there's a reason Bunker’s food has people excited. Some of it verges on tapas portions, but the flavors are anything but small: wagyu tartar spiked with daikon radish (B400); cured foie gras paired with candied cashew and chili mango (B550); smoky wagyu short rib glistening with fat (B2,300 for 2-person). Cocktails from Diageo World Class 2015 finalist Natakorn Changrew complete the package.

 

Over at the grill at one of the latest rooftop bars in town, they cook up some amazing local beef from French butcher Arnaud Carre (of Arno's)—one of the most respected food names in town. Char takes up the top two stories of the recently opened Hotel Indigo, with a stylish dining room downstairs and the rooftop bar up above to benefit from those amazing views across Bangkok's "Embassy Row." Steaks start at B650 for 180g of 100-day grain-fed Black Angus.

 

 

 

Italian cuisine courtesy of one of Bangkok's most lauded chefs (Norbert Kostner), a riverside terrace and the Mandarin Oriental's iconic Author's Lounge in the background make this one of the river's easiest spots to recommend. It's more casual than the other restaurants at Bangkok's oldest hotel (though they'll still shoo you away if you turn up in shorts), dishing out Italian staples like wood-fired pizzas (starting B340) and beef stew with polenta cream and gorgonzola (B610).

 

 

 

A huge rotisserie oven imported from France dominates this warm, rusticated restaurant, telling you everything you need to know about Cocotte’s food: simple, on the bone, portioned for sharing and heavy on the meat (don’t miss the massive tomahawk, from B3,750/1.4kg). That’s not to say their vegetable dishes aren’t great too, especially the salad made from up to 15 Northern Thailand-grown vegetables (B360). Sit out on the terrace and you avoid the dining room’s weird red lighting.

 

 

 

Designer Alan Barr’s striking reinvention of a house at the quiet end of Sukhumvit Soi 47 puts the backyard to use with some lively and lounge-y garden furniture. The restaurant brings together freshly brewed coffee, modern Australian cuisine and well-paired cocktails. Try our favorite, the slow-roasted ocean trout with wakame butter, caviar and pennywort (B1,600 for a 900g fillet).