Restaurant in Nonthaburi, Thailand
Michelin-noted Thai comfort food, consistently local.
Banya earns two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024–2025) for a reason: culinary teacher Rachadapa Amatayakul's menu of rare Thai home-cooking recipes — anchored by the signature Khao Chae and homemade spotted knifefish green curry — delivers serious value at the ฿฿ tier. It is consistently full, walk-in friendly, and the best case for Thai cooking in Nonthaburi.
If you have been to Banya once, you already know why people return. The food does not change in ways that surprise you — it deepens. The Khao Chae is still the signature, the homemade spotted knifefish with green curry is still drawing regulars, and the room is still full. What shifts on a second visit is your confidence in ordering: you skip the familiar and go for the rarer recipes that culinary teacher Rachadapa Amatayakul has kept on the menu precisely because most restaurants have stopped making them. At the ฿฿ price point, Banya delivers one of the more considered Thai menus in Nonthaburi, and two consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions (2024 and 2025) confirm it is not a local secret that has stayed quiet — it is simply a neighbourhood restaurant that has earned its standing.
The name translates as grandma's house in Thai, and that framing carries real practical weight. This is not a restaurant selling nostalgia as an aesthetic. The menu, built around Rachadapa Amatayakul's expertise as a culinary teacher, leans into recipes that require skill and time , dishes that home cooks rarely attempt anymore and that most mid-range restaurants have dropped from their menus entirely. That combination of technical grounding and domestic warmth is what makes Banya worth the trip out to Thanon Tiwanon.
The centrepiece of any visit is Khao Chae, a dish of jasmine rice soaked in flower-scented iced water, served with an array of side preparations. It is a hot-season dish with roots in royal Thai cuisine, and executing it well demands both precision and patience. At Banya, it functions as the clearest signal of what the kitchen is trying to do: honour a tradition that requires effort rather than take the shorter route. If you are unfamiliar with Khao Chae, a visit to Banya is a sound introduction. If you already know it, you are likely here to compare.
Equally recommended is the homemade spotted knifefish with green curry. The fish, known for its delicate texture, is prepared in-house and arrives in a green curry built from a dense, herb-forward base. The result is intense rather than light , this is not a gentle curry for cautious palates. Alongside Khao Chae, it establishes the kitchen's range: one dish refined and cooling, the other direct and herb-heavy. Between those two poles, the rarer recipes on the menu are worth asking about when you arrive, as availability shifts.
Banya sits at 317 Thanon Tiwanon in Mueang Nonthaburi, within reach of central Nonthaburi city but positioned to serve the neighbourhood rather than passing tourists. The Google rating of 4.3 across 372 reviews reflects a diner base that skews local , foreigners do visit, as noted in the Michelin recognition, but the majority of the room on any given day is Thai. That is a meaningful indicator of value and consistency: a restaurant that fills with locals at the ฿฿ tier is not coasting on novelty.
Booking is direct. The restaurant draws a crowd , the Michelin documentation notes it is always crowded , so arriving early or visiting on a weekday reduces your wait. There is no published booking method in the available data, which suggests walk-in is the likely approach, but given the volume, going at off-peak hours on a weekday is the pragmatic move. For a special occasion or celebration meal, a lunchtime visit gives you more room to pace through the menu without the pressure of a full evening service around you.
For context on where Banya sits in the broader Thai dining picture: it occupies a different register from Bangkok destination restaurants like Sorn in Bangkok, Nahm in Bangkok, or Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok. Those venues are making arguments about Thai cuisine at a conceptual level. Banya is making an argument through execution: that a specific set of dishes, made well and served consistently, is reason enough to return. That argument holds. Pearl readers travelling further afield in Thailand for food context might also look at PRU in Phuket, Aquila in Chiang Mai, or Ayutthayarom in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya for regional comparison points.
For special occasions specifically, Banya works leading for small groups or two people who want to eat through a substantial portion of the menu. The homely format and local-restaurant atmosphere make it a better fit for an intimate celebration centred on food than for a formal corporate dinner. The price tier keeps the bill accessible, which means you can order freely without managing costs. That is a genuine advantage at this level of cooking.
See our full Nonthaburi restaurants guide for more options in the area, or explore hotels, bars, experiences, and wineries in Nonthaburi to plan your visit fully.
Banya is at 317 Thanon Tiwanon, Mueang Nonthaburi District, Nonthaburi 11000. The ฿฿ price range means you can eat well here without a large budget. No phone or website is listed in the available data, so plan to walk in. Given consistent reports of a full room, a weekday lunch is the lowest-friction way to visit. For anyone travelling from Bangkok, Nonthaburi is accessible by MRT (Tao Poon interchange and onward) or by river express boat to Nonthaburi Pier, making the journey manageable as a standalone lunch destination.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banya | Banya, or ‘Grandma’s house’ in Thai, embodies this maternal spirit. The menu, conceived by acclaimed culinary teacher Rachadapa Amatayakul, comprises typical Thai fare, some rarer recipes and their famous homely signature – Khao Chae. Also popular is the homemade spotted knifefish with green curry; the tender fish is an umami pleasure in an intense mix of herbs broiled in rich Thai curry. No wonder this place is always crowded with locals and foreigners.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | ฿฿ | — |
| Dhabkwan | ฿฿ | — | |
| AKKEE Thai delicacies & Tasting Counter | — | ||
| Kaeng Pa Loong Sa-Nga | ฿฿ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Banya and alternatives.
Banya is reported to be consistently crowded, which suggests table availability for larger groups requires advance planning. The home-cooking format and Thai family-style dishes translate well to group dining — ordering a range of dishes across the menu is how the food is best experienced. For groups of four or more, arriving early or booking ahead is advisable given the venue's popularity with both locals and visitors.
Dhabkwan and Kaeng Pa Loong Sa-Nga are the closest local comparisons for Thai cooking in the area. AKKEE Thai delicacies and Tasting Counter offers a more structured tasting format if you want a counter-service experience rather than Banya's home-cooking style. Banya holds the edge for traditional recipes and the Khao Chae specifically — Rachadapa Amatayakul's menu includes rarer Thai dishes that the alternatives do not replicate.
Yes. At ฿฿ pricing, solo dining here is low-commitment and the format suits ordering two or three dishes to cover the highlights. The crowd skews local — Banya is consistently busy with both Nonthaburi residents and visitors — so the room has energy even if you are dining alone. The Khao Chae is a reasonable single-dish anchor for a solo visit.
Start with the Khao Chae — it is the signature dish and the clearest expression of what Banya does. The homemade spotted knifefish with green curry is also widely ordered and has drawn repeat visitors. Both are rooted in the menu conceived by culinary teacher Rachadapa Amatayakul, so you are eating dishes with genuine authorship behind them, not a generic Thai spread.
Banya operates at a ฿฿ price point, so the financial risk is low regardless of how you order. There is no tasting menu format documented for this venue — the draw is the à la carte home-cooking menu, particularly the Khao Chae and spotted knifefish. If a structured multi-course format is what you want, Banya is probably not the right fit; if you want well-executed Thai classics at an accessible price, it earns its two consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions (2024, 2025).
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
