Bangkok Offers Many Options for Vegetarians

Bangkok offers a tremendous variety of food options, from street vendors to elegant restaurants perched well above the city. While it's easy enough to find vegetarian Thai food, here are a few restaurants that offer other choices for vegetarians.

Vanilla Brasserie in Siam Paragon has a good selection of pastas, crepes, salads and sandwiches. The food quality is good for the price. The mozzarella and tomato salad is a good bet as are the spinach ravioli.

Le Notre in Siam Paragon has good desserts, and they provide neat dry ice boxes for take-away. A mini cake is about $3. They also have gourmet sandwiches (of which few are vegetarian) and tarts (such as a spinach tart or sundried tomato tart). The tomato tart was a bit flavorless, but most tomatoes in Thailand are.

Often hailed as one of the best Italian restaurants in Thailand, Bel Guardo restaurant and wine bar in Siam Paragon has moderately priced ($10-20) dishes, including risotto, pastas, appetizers and salads. The black truffle gnocchi was bland, but the tomato Carpaccio was good, although monotonous by the end of the large serving. Before the meal, there is warm bread with good olive oil for dipping.

The restaurants at The Dome, on the 64th -67th floors of the State Tower offer striking views of the city, and sometimes good food to match. Sirocco is quite good but expensive: a 75 cl bottle of San Pelligrino is upward of $10, and a vegetarian main course is likely upward of $30. When they wash their two story-tall windows, you get a nice view of the outdoor bar and the city. A small string ensemble performs nightly. Mezzaluna is another restaurant in the collection with vegetarian food. Since the tower has become more popular, the service and food quality has decreased a fair amount, but it is still worth the trip.

Salathip at the Shangri La has moderately priced Thai food (about 300 baht), but the environment is lacking. At dusk the mosquitoes visit even the indoor tables. The dancers and Thai orchestra could be entertaining for some, but are somewhat tacky otherwise. Their wine doesn’t seem to be stored perfectly, leaving many of their reds with a watery taste. The wines also have a very high markup.

Crepes and Co serves a good array of crepes, although they are far better for dessert than for dinner as the savory crepes are a bit lacking in sustenance.

To Die For. This place serves many small dishes in a cool setting. And they have a separate vegetarian menu. http://www.todieforbangkok.com/menu.php