Cheap Eats! There is nothing better than food stalls along Bangkok's streets. Imagine... BBQ pork and meat balls on skewers, deep fried chicken, pancake, roti, fried noodle, noodle, Papaya Salad, and many more. The best places to find a good variety of food stalls include Vachira - Dusit (near St Gabriel College), Khao San Road, Chatuchak Market, Tong Lo, Suan Lum Night Bazaar, Soi Rang Nam, Siam Square, Pratunaam and Chinatown.

If you don't like street food or are health- and cleanliness-conscious or don't want to pay restaurant prices, try any branch of the Central department store chain. At the supermarket level there is a food court with many varieties of food just like the stalls on the street but prepared under more hygienic conditions. You may spend a little more than at the stalls, but it's clean and the food is just as good if not better. Shopping centres like Siam Paragon, MBK amd Siam Centre also have food courts.

Roti-Mataba in Banglamphu is the kind of place that earns Bangkok its reputation for excellent food. Roti (an unleavened, whole-wheat flatbread), filled with your choice of vegetables, chicken, beef, fish, seafood, or just sweetened with thick condensed milk, are cooked near the door of the restaurant; all versions are recommended. The curry chicken is another standout. Roti-Mataba is in a century-old building across from Santichaiprakarn Park on the Chao Phraya; the downstairs is narrow, hot, and usually crowded, but there's a more comfortable air-conditioned dining room upstairs.  The price of dining here is very cheap.

Polo Fried Chicken in Pratunam off of Wireless Road is home to world-class fried chicken, flavored with black pepper and plenty of golden-brown garlic; the best way to sample it is with sticky rice and a plate of som tam. The place is a bit hard to find -- as you enter Soi Polo, it's about 50 yards in on your left. At lunchtime, you need to get here before noon to snag a table before the office workers descend. The restaurant will deliver to your hotel (if you're reasonably close to Lumphini Park) for B30.

Took Lae Dee, inside the Foodland Supermarket, Sukhumvit Soi 5 (Nana BTS Station) is a Bangkok institution: imagine a long bar counter, only with chefs and food instead of bartenders and drinks, and a colorful cast of characters thanks to Nana Plaza across the street. The name literally means Cheap and Good and indeed basic fried rice starts at 40 baht, but the cheap Western dishes, many less than 100 baht, are what makes this place popular. The American breakfast (two eggs, ham, bacon or sausage, juice, toast, coffee) in particular is a steal at 39 baht between 06:00-09:00, or 55 baht at any other time.

Suda Restaurant, located on Sukhumvit Soi 14 (Asoke BTS Station) is another restaurant worth a visit if you are in the vacinity. It's located across the road from the Westin and mere minutes from the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. This place is frequented by locals and tourists during lunch & dinner so it gets pretty crowded and HOT! This place is a throwback to the time before airconditioning was discovered so be prepared to sweat over your green curry. Must tries are the Thai fishcake, fish fillets fried in garlic & bean sauce and their curries. Dinner for 10 can come in under 800bht without drinks!