Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand
Michelin-recognised Korat Thai at ฿฿ prices.
Baannok Bangkok holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025 and a 4.8 Google rating across 600+ reviews, making it one of Bangkok's most credentialled mid-range Thai options. The kitchen specialises in Korat-style cooking from Thailand's northeast, with the Pad Mhee Korat with giant river prawn as the signature dish. Advance reservation is required. At ฿฿, the value case is hard to argue with.
At ฿฿ per head, Baannok Bangkok sits in a category of its own among Bangkok's Michelin Plate holders. Most restaurants carrying that credential sit at ฿฿฿ or above. Here, you are eating regionally specific, technically considered Thai food, Korat-style, without the price premium that usually accompanies that level of kitchen discipline. If you have been once and ordered safely, this is the page that tells you what to try next and whether it is worth building into a regular rotation.
Baannok occupies the second floor of the Vive building on Lang Suan Road in Lumphini, Pathum Wan. The address puts it in one of Bangkok's more polished commercial corridors, and the room reflects that context: tidy, composed, and without the noise or chaos that characterises many mid-range Thai dining rooms. For a ฿฿ venue, the physical setting is noticeably considered. It is not intimate in the way a twelve-seat counter is, but it is calm enough to hold a conversation across the table, which matters if you are deciding between this and a louder street-adjacent option.
The focus is Korat-style cooking, which means the kitchen is working with a regional palette that deliberately moderates the sweetness more typical of the northeast. That restraint is the point. If you find mainstream Isan food too cloying, Baannok's calibration will suit you better.
The dishes flagged in the venue record give a clear read on the kitchen's range. The sweet and sour Korat sausage salad is a palate-opening move, sharp and savoury in a way that sets up the rest of the meal well. The Pad Mhee Korat with giant river prawn, wok-fried with duck egg and finished with a smooth sweet sauce, is the signature for a reason: it shows the kitchen's control over heat and texture simultaneously. For a second visit, the Kaeng Liang Kam Thale So, a spicy vegetable soup fragrant with Isan herbs, is the most regionally grounded option on the menu and the one most likely to clarify what makes Korat cooking distinct from the Thai food available at most Bangkok restaurants.
Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms the kitchen's consistency, not just a one-year performance. A Google rating of 4.8 across 602 reviews adds a second, independent signal that this is not a venue coasting on a single credential.
At ฿฿, the service expectations are different from a ฿฿฿฿ destination like Sorn or Baan Tepa. What matters here is whether the service undermines or supports the food. By the evidence of 602 reviewers sustaining a 4.8 average, the answer is clearly the former. You are not paying for tableside ceremony, but the experience does not feel neglected either. For a ฿฿ price point, that balance is exactly what earns repeat visits.
Advance reservation is required. The venue itself flags this, and given the combination of a small room on the second floor of a mid-rise building and consistent word-of-mouth momentum, walk-in attempts are likely to fail on any evening. Book ahead.
For Bangkok Thai dining at the Michelin-recognised level, Baannok is the lowest price-point entry among its credentialled peers. Saneh Jaan and Chim by Siam Wisdom occupy adjacent territory in terms of Thai regional focus, but both sit higher on the price scale. Nahm and Aksorn offer different registers of Thai cooking, and Samrub Samrub Thai takes a more conceptual approach to heritage ingredients. None of them replicate the Korat-specific focus Baannok brings at this price.
If you are building a Bangkok restaurant itinerary and want to cover regional Thai cooking without spending ฿฿฿฿ at every meal, Baannok is the most efficient single booking for that purpose. See our full Bangkok restaurants guide for the wider picture, and check our Bangkok hotels guide if you are planning around a stay in the Lumphini area.
For Thai cooking elsewhere in Thailand, PRU in Phuket and AKKEE in Pak Kret are worth knowing. Aquila in Chiang Mai, Anuwat in Phang Nga, Ayutthayarom in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Suan Thip in Pak Kret, and The Spa in Lamai Beach round out the regional picture. If Thai cuisine abroad is relevant, L'Orchidée in Altkirch is worth a look. Use our Bangkok bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide to plan around the meal.
| Detail | Baannok Bangkok | Saneh Jaan | Sorn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | ฿฿ | ฿฿฿ | ฿฿฿฿ |
| Cuisine focus | Korat-style Thai | Central Thai | Southern Thai |
| Michelin recognition | Plate 2024, 2025 | Star | Two Stars |
| Booking difficulty | Easy (book ahead) | Moderate | Hard |
| Google rating | 4.8 (602) | — | — |
Baannok serves Korat-style Thai food, a northeastern regional tradition that dials back the sweetness typical of Isan cooking. It holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, sits at a ฿฿ price point, and is on the second floor of the Vive building on Lang Suan Road in Lumphini. Advance reservation is required. The kitchen's control over regional flavour is the main reason to come, and the Pad Mhee Korat with giant river prawn is the dish that demonstrates it most clearly.
No tasting menu is confirmed in the available data for Baannok. The venue record references individual dishes rather than a set format. At ฿฿, the value case for whatever ordering format the kitchen offers is strong: Michelin Plate recognition over two consecutive years at this price tier is rare in Bangkok. If a tasting menu exists, the kitchen's track record suggests it would justify the spend, but confirm the format when booking.
It works for a low-key special occasion where the food is the focus and a modest bill matters. The room on Lang Suan Road is composed and quiet by Bangkok standards. However, if the occasion calls for ceremony or tableside theatre, a ฿฿฿฿ option like Sorn or Baan Tepa will deliver a more formal register. Baannok is the right call when the priority is eating something regionally specific and technically strong without the full fine-dining price.
The Pad Mhee Korat with giant river prawn is the signature and the clearest expression of the kitchen's technique: wok-fried with duck egg and a smooth sweet sauce. Start with the Korat sausage salad for a sharp, savoury opener. If you want to understand what makes Korat cooking regionally distinct, add the Kaeng Liang Kam Thale So, a spicy vegetable soup built around Isan herbs. That combination covers the kitchen's range across one meal.
For regional Thai at a similar or slightly higher price, Chim by Siam Wisdom and Saneh Jaan are the closest comparisons. For a more conceptual approach to Thai heritage cooking, Samrub Samrub Thai is the most distinctive alternative. If budget is not the constraint and you want the highest-credential Thai experience in the city, Sorn at ฿฿฿฿ is the benchmark for Southern Thai. Nahm and Aksorn cover different registers of Thai cooking and are worth considering depending on what you are looking for.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baannok Bangkok | Baannok serves authentic Korat-style Thai food, in which the sweetness that is typical to the region is toned down for broader tastes. To awaken the palate, try the sweet and sour Korat sausage salad. The signature Pad Mhee Korat with a giant river prawn is expertly wok-fried with duck egg and accompanied by a smooth sweet sauce. For something comforting, take the Kaeng Liang Kam Thale So, a spicy vegetable soup, fragrant with herbs and spices commonly used in Isan cooking. Advance reservation is a must.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | ฿฿ | — |
| Sorn | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Baan Tepa | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Gaa | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Côte by Mauro Colagreco | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Sühring | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
A quick look at how Baannok Bangkok measures up.
Book in advance — the venue itself flags reservations as essential, and at ฿฿ with a Michelin Plate (2025), demand outpaces walk-in availability. Baannok focuses on Korat-style cooking, a regional Thai tradition from the northeast that moderates the sweetness typical of central Thai food, so expect a different flavour profile from the pad thai and green curry circuit. The restaurant is on the second floor of the Vive building on Lang Suan Road in Lumphini, which is a straightforward location for anyone staying in central Bangkok.
The venue data does not confirm a tasting menu format, so this is not a tasting-menu destination in the way that Sorn or Baan Tepa are. At ฿฿, Baannok is better understood as an à la carte or set-meal proposition where the value case is strong — a Michelin Plate credential at a price point that most Michelin-recognised Bangkok restaurants do not offer. If you want a structured multi-course format, look at Sorn or Baan Tepa instead; if you want credentialled regional Thai cooking without the ฿฿฿฿ commitment, Baannok is the practical choice.
It works for a low-key celebration where the priority is quality food over theatrical service or private dining rooms. The Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) gives it enough credibility to hold up as a considered choice, and the ฿฿ price point means you are not overcommitting. For a genuinely occasion-driven meal with the full setting to match, Baan Tepa or Sorn would be more appropriate; Baannok suits the occasion where the food is the point rather than the event.
The Michelin guide highlights three dishes directly: the sweet and sour Korat sausage salad to open, the Pad Mhee Korat with giant river prawn (wok-fried with duck egg and a sweet sauce) as the centrepiece, and the Kaeng Liang Kam Thale So — a spicy, herb-forward vegetable soup in the Isan tradition — for something comforting. Start with the sausage salad and build around the Pad Mhee Korat; that combination gives you the clearest read on what the kitchen does best.
It depends on what you are optimising for. For a higher-budget, prestige version of regional Thai cooking, Sorn (southern Thai, multiple accolades) and Baan Tepa are the obvious steps up. Saneh Jaan and Chim by Siam Wisdom occupy a similar Michelin-recognised space at a mid-range price. If the draw is specifically Korat or northeastern Thai cooking at this price point, Baannok has few direct credentialled competitors in Bangkok, which is part of its case for booking.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
