MBK FOOD CENTER

Overall Score: 4/5
Vibe: 3/5. Narrow and crowded as it sits in the middle of the building with no views on the outside world, the court’s use of bright colors and lights does little to save the day. There are flat wide-screen TVs at every corner to catch up with the news or some boring documentary, but the most annoying thing is the cash-back counters located a hundred yards away. Are they hoping we won’t bother?
Selection: 5/5. Mind-blowing. The food ranges from a la minute stir-fries to shark fin soup but most importantly, this is one of the rare food courts where the stalls have legendary reputations that rival those of street food.
Cleanliness: 4/5. The cleaners do a surprisingly quick job of clearing dishes and cleaning tables despite the crowds, with plates getting whisked away as soon as you finish them. Utensils and the counters in front of stalls are not always as clean though.
Cost: 3/5. It’s not street cheap, with dishes starting from B40 and climbing up to B70 even for simple Thai dishes. But it remains incredibly affordable.
Top Stalls: Where do we begin? The beef noodles, the Khamoo St.Louis, the somtam, phadthai, hoithod and Thai dessert stalls... Some of these are considered the best in town.
6/F, MBK Center, 444 Phayathai Rd. BTS National Stadium. Open 10am-9pm.
Takeaway Terrace

Paradise Park Seri Market
Food Court and Food Bazaar

Overall Score: 3.5/5
Vibe: 2/5. Recently overhauled, Paradise Park has two food court options on the ground floor. One is the original Seri Market and another is called Food Bazaar. Seri Market has an old market theme with wooden signs on the top of every stall and a seating section also resembles an old wood house. Gift shops that pop up along the food section are a bit of an annoying distraction, though, and we’re on the fence about the dim lighting. The Food Bazaar, on the other hand, is new and boasts a bright and colorful decor. The good thing here is you don’t have walk around looking for a coupon counter as all the shops take cash.
Selection: 4/5. Prices here start at B30, and there are several popular franchise stalls like Rod Dee Ded and Guayjab Bangrak at this section. The Food Bazaar too has famous downtown shops: Khamoo Roddee (B40) or our favorite Yentafo J.C. Silom, where prices are B50 and there are more options, like radna yentafo (B50), guaytiew lod (B45) and por pia sod (B45). Although it’s mostly a take-away sort of place, Food Bazaar also has a cute seating area called Food Bazaar Terrace.
Cleanliness: 3/5. Staff is quick about clearing tables, and they do have clean utensils and tables. But the black, wooden chairs and lack of light make this place look a little gloomy.
Cost: 4.5/5. Surprisingly affordable given the revamp.
Top Stalls: Somtam Ranraek, Guaytiew Tomyam and Roti Fahtima.
G/F, 61 Srinakarin Rd., 02-787-1000. Open daily 10am-10pm.

Interchange Tower
Food Court

Overall score: 2.5/5
Vibe: 2/5. Most people who dine here are office types working in the high rises close by. In the basement level of the Interchange Tower, it’s nice and cool, but obviously, there’s not much of a view. Given the narrow corridor with metal white chairs and white tables lit with fluorescent lights, it’s a desperate office worker that comes here to escape the office.
Selection: 2/5. There’s a bit of an eat-and-go attitude, and most of the food is stuff you can find anywhere, like the usual somtam Thai (B40) and pad krapow gai (B40). They have bountiful dishes of shrimp pad Thai with normal noodles or glass noodles (B50), and hoi thod (fried mussel omelets, B40). What they do have, though, is quite delicious.
Cleanliness: 4/5. An abundance of staff keeps this place spic and span for the most part.
Cost: 4/5. This place has the best bang for the buck if you’re not the adventurous type and don’t mind sacrificing selection for low cost, no-fuss food.
Top Stalls: There’s an Isaan joint that’s painted bright orange. They serve fantastic Isaan style pork (B40), spring rolls (B50) and about a dozen different types of spicy salads (B40-B50).
B/F, Interchange Tower. Corner of Sukhumvit Soi 21. BTS Asok. Open daily 10am-8pm.

Platinum Food Center

Overall Score: 3/5
Vibe: 3/5. The home of the ever-busy and bustling Platinum Fashion Center is packed with tourists and Thais looking for cheap fashion. Despite it being always extremely busy, there always seems to be a place to sit in its hectic food court. As for the atmosphere, it’s just your normal, run-of-the-mill food court lined with stalls: sit in their plastic orange chairs, chow down and go.
Selection: 4/5. There are many delicious east-Asian delicacies to choose from. B55 can get you some kanom krok, a variety of coconut-y treats with savory ingredients, or more dessert-style ones for B35. On top of a great variety of Thai food, there are also nice, ethnic dishes like Brazilian Chicken (B60) served with a salad and a side of fries.
Cleanliness: 3/5. Your average food court cleanliness. The stalls are OK but tables can get messy from all the traffic.
Cost: 3/5. B100 could get you a simple dish and a beverage, but if you want to upgrade, expect to put a little more on your card.
Top Stalls: One of the busiest stalls is the one dishing out rice with stewed pork (B40). It also has some intriguing high-end options, from B100 to B150 and even a B400 stewed pork dish. At that price, we’d rather go to a restaurant.
6/F, 222 Petchaburi Rd., 02-121-8000. Open Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat-Sun 8am-8pm.

The City Complex

Overall score: 2/5
Vibe: 1/5. This is like the ghost of food courts passed. What used to be a bustling and lively food court is now left half-lit (Are they trying to cut their electricity bill?) and almost empty. All of its customers must be at its neighbor, the Platinum Food Center.
Selection: 1/5. Not too much to choose from, seeing as half of the food court is closed. There are basics like noodle soop with beef (B40) and a variety of somtam (B40 each).
Cleanliness: 3/5. It’s pretty clean, seeing as no one is there to leave empty plates on the tables.
Cost: 3/5. B100 will fill you up on stuff you can get on your soi: somtam and fried rice with B5 to spare.
Top Stalls: The self-proclaimed Thai, Myanmar and Chinese style food kiosk, The Mother House, is keeping the lights on in this otherwise desolate place. The chef whistles in high spirits as he cooks up a pretty decent Myanmar-style fried rice (B45), a spicy rice dish with lots of seafood.
831 Petchburi Rd., www.citycomplexbangkok.com. Open daily 11am-9pm.

CENTRALWORLD FOODHALL

Overall score: 3/5
Vibe: 3/5. Very bright and white with touches of red. It’s not the most convenient food court, though, at the furthest end of the top floor of a mall with poor BTS access. Strangely though, it gets packed with a great variety of people: boisterous students from 3-5pm, lost Chinese tourists (half of them gay, it seems), families on Sundays, office workers for Central Offices on weekdays. It also offers nice views if you can grab a couch by the big windows.
Selection: 3/5. A lot of Western food, Asian cuisine (Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese) and typical Thai street food. In the middle there are two islands: one for drinks, one for desserts (the pumpkin in coconut milk is great, B30-40) and somtam (around B60-100 for special ones). Mostly the quality is good, but we don’t recommend the khao man gai.
Cleanliness: 4/5. When there’s an empty table, it’s always clean—except when the teens swoop in after school. If you’re facing the food hall, don’t go to the far left, because that’s like the Central Food Hall canteen—and you don’t want to interrupt a cook’s lunch.
Cost: 2/5. A little pricey for a food court.
Top Stalls: The Vietnamese is great and reasonable. The pasta station isn’t too bad, not too sweet, with a fairly standard Western taste.
7/F, CentralWorld, Ratchadamri Rd. BTS Chit Lom. Open 10am-10pm.

Siam Paragon Food Hall

Overall Score: 3/5
Selection: 3/5. Very international, including mainly Thai, Hong Kong, Chinese, Japanese and Halal cuisines. Most of the stalls appear to be original famous names like the Hualumpong’s duck noodle, Ros Dee Ded and Yaowarat’s Golden Noodle. Main dishes start from B45 for somtam and B55 for chicken and rice to B300 for a bowl of bamee with crab meat. Apart from the permanent stalls, you can check out special food stalls for their frequent food festivals. Too bad the quality doesn’t live up to the famous names.
Vibe: 2/5. Tasteful decoration with fashionable purple furniture, though the high number of seats gives the place an over-cluttered feeling. There are a few flat screen TVS, with some aquariums decorating the place. Ubiquitous tourists and Chula students working on their papers get a bit annoying, given that it’s really hard to grab a table at peak hours. Also, this may be on the “ground floor” but it’s so deep into the mall that it might as well be underground.
Cleanliness: 3/5. Clean utensils and tables, but we spotted some food on the floor. Staff is very quick about clearing dishes, though.
Cost: 2/5. Definitely one of the priciest food courts, which is not justified by the quality of the food.
Top Stalls: Chatuchak’s famous Somtam Foon Talob, Kuo Gai Peng Pochana and Ros Dee Ded beef noodles.
G/F, 999, Rama I Rd., 02-690-1000. BTS Siam. Open daily 10am-10pm.

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