How much is food in Bangkok? It depends far more on where you eat than on what you order. Street stalls and market food courts are the cheapest way to eat in the city; a casual sit-down Thai restaurant charges a few hundred baht a dish; and Bangkok's MICHELIN-starred tasting menus run to several thousand baht per person before tax and service. The same dish can cost many times more in a hotel dining room than at a shophouse down the road.
Below is what each level costs, with every figure taken from a restaurant's own menu or booking page and checked in September 2026.
How much is street food in Bangkok?
Street food is the cheapest way to eat well in Bangkok, and it is where most visitors should expect their meals to cost least. A plate of noodles, rice with a curry or stir-fry, grilled skewers or a bag of cut fruit from a stall generally costs a small fraction of the same dish in a sit-down restaurant, let alone a hotel. We have not found a current, dated official survey of street food prices, so we are not quoting a baht figure Prices also vary from stall to stall and street to street.
A few pointers keep street food both cheap and easy:
- Carry small notes and coins. Stalls are cash businesses and may struggle to change a 1,000-baht note.
- Look for a price board. Many stalls post prices; if not, ask before you order.
- Eat where it is busy. High turnover means fresh food.
- Go to the source. Chinatown's Yaowarat Road is Bangkok's best-known street food strip after dark, and fresh markets such as Or Tor Kor, opposite Chatuchak Weekend Market, have prepared food and fruit stalls.
Street food can also be the most expensive meal of your trip. Raan Jay Fai, a street-food shop in the Old City, holds one MICHELIN Star in the 2026 guide, which places it in its higher price band; it is walk-in only and cash only, and the queue is part of the price.
Casual Thai restaurants
At a sit-down Thai restaurant with air conditioning and a printed menu, expect most dishes to cost a few hundred baht. Two examples from current online menus:
| Restaurant | Dish | Menu price |
|---|---|---|
| Cabbages & Condoms, Sukhumvit Soi 12 | Tom kha gai (chicken coconut soup) | 170 baht |
| Cabbages & Condoms | Spring rolls, satay and other appetizers | 180 to 260 baht |
| Err, Sukhumvit Soi 32 | Moo ping pork skewers (three) | 150 baht |
| Err | Sticky rice | 45 baht |
| Err | Sai krok Isan sausage | 265 baht |
At those prices, a shared meal of three or four dishes with rice for two people lands in the high hundreds to around a thousand baht before drinks. Cabbages & Condoms, whose income supports a Thai development charity, and Err, from the team behind Bo.lan, are both good examples of this middle ground.
MICHELIN value picks: the Bib Gourmand list
The MICHELIN Guide's Bib Gourmand award marks good-quality, good-value cooking. The current Bangkok list has 38 Bib Gourmand places, and the guide flags 13 of them as "on a budget" and 25 as "a moderate spend," using its baht-symbol price bands rather than exact figures. Many are noodle shops, street food stalls and Thai-Chinese restaurants, which makes the list a useful map of affordable places that are also worth the trip. Krua Apsorn on Samsen Road, known for its crab omelette, is one of them.
Fine dining and tasting menus
Bangkok's top restaurants charge set prices for tasting menus. Two current examples:
- Le Du in Silom lists a four-course Le Du Journey at 4,500 baht and a six-course Le Du Experience at 5,500 baht per person.
- Potong in Chinatown lists its chef's tasting menu at 6,700 baht per person.
Both show prices with "++", meaning a 10% service charge and 7% VAT are added to the bill. Le Du states this on its reservation page. Allow for these when you compare prices; the "++" convention is also common at hotel restaurants and bars.
What a day of eating in Bangkok costs
Rather than a single figure, think in tiers:
- Budget: every meal from stalls, markets and food courts, with water and fruit from shops. This is the cheapest way to travel in Bangkok.
- Mid-range: street food for breakfast and lunch, then a sit-down Thai dinner at the prices above, a few hundred baht a dish.
- Splurge: a tasting menu at a MICHELIN-starred restaurant, from 4,500 baht per person plus service and VAT, before drinks.
Drinks are extra at every level, and wine or cocktails can add substantially to a restaurant bill. For more places to eat at every budget, see our Bangkok restaurant guide.
Sources: Cabbages & Condoms menu, Err menu, MICHELIN Guide: Jay Fai, MICHELIN Guide: Bangkok Bib Gourmand, Le Du, Potong, Wikipedia: Or Tor Kor Market. Checked September 26, 2026.
It ranges widely. Eating only at stalls and markets is the cheapest way to travel; mixing street food with a sit-down Thai dinner, where dishes cost a few hundred baht, is a comfortable middle; a tasting menu at a top restaurant starts at about 4,500 baht per person plus 10% service and 7% VAT.
Street food is the cheapest way to eat in Bangkok, usually a fraction of restaurant prices. We have not found a current official price survey, so check the price board or ask before ordering.
At casual sit-down restaurants, most dishes cost a few hundred baht. For example, Cabbages & Condoms lists tom kha gai at 170 baht and appetizers at 180 to 260 baht, and Err lists moo ping skewers at 150 baht, on their current menus.
It means a 10% service charge and 7% VAT will be added to the listed price. Le Du, for example, states that its prices are subject to both.
Le Du lists tasting menus at 4,500 and 5,500 baht per person, and Potong at 6,700 baht, both before service charge and VAT. Street-food star Raan Jay Fai is cheaper but still in the guide's higher price band.
Places the MICHELIN Guide picks for good-quality, good-value cooking. Bangkok currently has 38, of which 13 are marked as on a budget.
For street stalls and markets, yes; carry small notes. Restaurants and malls usually take cards, but Raan Jay Fai, for one, is listed by the MICHELIN Guide as cash only.
