January

Left: The Commons, Right: Maison Chatenet

The Commons kicks off the year with a bang

The folks from Thonglor mainstay Roast introduce Bangkok to a whole new style of sharing-friendly, communal dining with a project that basically rewrites the Thonglor food map.

Maison Chatenet arrives with award-winning croissants

The Laos-born baker’s pastry is so good it won over Paris’s Chambre professionnelle des Artisans Boulangers-Pâtissiers. We fail to recognize it in a blind taste test.

Gaggan goes casual

The man behind the no. 1 restaurant in Asia launches Meatlicious, his beef-heavy follow-up to Gaggan where charcoal and wood take over from molecular wizardry.

February

Sushi Masato

Omakase becomes the foodie word of the year

Two months into the year and we still haven’t got a seat at Masato, the wildly in-demand sushi den of a former NYC Michelin-starred chef. Buzz of places like Umi and Tama show that it’ll be a big year for fishy fine dining.

March

Left: Brekkie, Right: 72 Courtyard

Health food goes into overdrive

Bangkok clocks up at least six new spots where clean-eating freaks can have their fill (or at least their carefully controlled portion size): Farmfactory, Brekkie, Patisserie Potager, Organika, Absolute Fit Food and Veganerie Concept.

72 Courtyard reinvents the community mall

Picking up where Raintree and K Village left off comes 72 Courtyard. What it lacks in fake grass, Wine Connections and despair, it more than makes up for in bare concrete, bao buns and expensive cocktails.

Top Tables is announced

And once again the man with the most Michelin-star-studded restaurant portfolio in the world, Joel Robuchon, takes Bangkok’s top spot.

April

CODE

Salted egg yolk lava croissants arrive

Cafe-hoppers no longer need to look at Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpurand Singapore in envy thanks to a place called CODE, which offers egg yolk croissants in all their gooey glory.

Bunker opens

The project had already been the talk of the town for a year. Opposite’s Jess Barnes and Eat Me’s Tim Butler refurbishing a huge shop-house in Sathorn and doing dishes from local ingredients in a space designed by Kelly Wheatley. As it transpires, Jess Barnes jumps the shark and Tim Butler is just a backer with no hand in the kitchen. But the food is still fantastic.

Asia’s Best Bars are announced. Bangkok cleans up

The inaugural edition of the list sees six entries from Bangkok: Vesper, Q&A, Teens of Thailand, Bamboo Bar, Maggie Choo’s and Hyde & Seek. We get in trouble with one of them.

May

Whipping up pasta in giant wheels of Parmesan becomes a thing

Sorrento, the old-school Italian on Sathorn Soi 10, launches with a big makeover to keep up with the craft cocktail and tapas board competition. Its pasta served from a massive cheese wheel outrages actual Italians but tastes amazing.

June

Left: Gaggan, Right: Negronis at Bunker

Two Bangkok restaurants make World’s 50 Best Restaurants list

Bangkok’s Gaggan restaurant, earlier named the best in Asia, slipped from No.10 to No.23. David Thompson’s Nahm (No. 8 in Asia’s 50 Best list) fell to No.37 from No. 22 in 2015.

We drink way too many negronis

From Jun 6-12, it’s about all we drink when someone decides to dedicate a whole week to the bitter-sweet hangover in a glass. We don’t remember else about Bangkok’s food scene this month.

July

We get rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches. Finally!

After wowing the Instagram users of Singapore and Hong Kong, rainbow food hits Bangkok thanks to a multicolored sandwich at All Six to Twelve. Bangkokians Instagram as one.

August

Left: Little Bao, Right: Morimoto

Hong Kong teaches us how to do bao properly

On our first night at Hong Kong’s Little Bao, the power goes out for 20 minutes and we don’t get a free drink. None of it matters thanks to the amazing Chinese buns of chef Mae Chow, who goes on to be crowned S. Pel’s Asian Female Chef of the Year 2017.

Morimoto arrives

The dude who turned America on to Japanese food opens in Bangkok as part of MahaNakhon Cube.

September

Left: Freebird, Right: Crying Thaiger

Freebird opens and introduces us to the concept of booking ‘bots

The much-anticipated modern-Aussie venture opens its beautiful doors. We try to make reservations, get freaked out by the first-world style reservation system, and book on the wrong day.

Daniel Thaiger moves indoors

Taking over the wedge of space that formerly housed Opposite Mess Hall, Bangkok’s favorite burger flipper starts grilling up tomahawk steaks and dishing out heavy cocktails.

October

Cheese tarts become the new lava croissants

After slowly hitting the city all year long, cheese tart mania reaches its peak with the opening of Osaka’s Pablo. Bangkokians everywhere embrace their inner Hong Kong uncle.

November

White truffle hits overload

It’s been there every fall-winter, lurking on the menus of fancy restaurants ready to hit you in the wallet, but for some reason the whole world went white truffle crazy in 2016. Instagram turns into a flakey mess of ungodly expensive fungus topping everything from steaks to sandwiches.

The street food disappears from Sukhumvit Soi 11

Including the honest-to-god chicken noodles that made nights out on the street worthwhile :(

We discover Bangkok has poke

Thanks to Shari Shari, Bangkok gets the authentically inauthentic Californian-style Hawaiian fresh fish dish—which is the type you’re supposed to be eating right now.

December

Some dudes from Noma drop by Banyan Tree

Young, posh and equipped with ingredients rifled from all across Thailand, they whip up a week of dinners in Bangkok as part of a global culinary tour of the world.

Jamie’s Italian finally opens

Gaining a universal, “meh, not bad,” from everyone who eats there, the Italian restaurant franchise of Britain’s no. 1 celeb chef finally opens in Bangkok. Bring on 2017!