Ayutthaya Food & Beverage and Restaurant/Cafe Scene

We bet most people will agree that the quality of food (or F&B scene) during our travels can make or break our travel experience. When we were planning our trip to Ayutthaya, we were wondering what the Ayutthaya food scene is like. Previously we covered how to get to Ayutthaya and what to see there, now we will share more about the Ayutthaya food and restaurant scene.

Ayutthaya riverside restaurant

Ayutthaya city is surrounded by water, that’s why there are many riverside restaurants in Ayutthaya. Most restaurants will serve local Thai food and as expected from a place with a lot of water, there are a lot of dishes with fresh ingredients from the river. The most famous ingredient that you will find in Ayutthaya is fresh river prawn, they come in various sizes but they can get pretty big (and also expensive).

Ayutthaya boat noodle

Boat noodle draws its name from a traditional practice where noodle vendors used to travel along canals and rivers to sell noodles to households in Ayutthaya and Bangkok. Hence, Ayutthaya is among the origin of boat noodles.

The dish has a few striking characteristics:

Boat noodle is often served in small portions (almost like a bite size bowl) so you often see locals ordering multiple bowls in one go then stack the bowl up
The soup is dark in color which is a result of herbal ingredient as well as cooked pig blood
A boat noodle meal is often accompanied with fresh vegetables (bean sprout and basil leaf) and crispy pork skin

Other food in Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya is well known for one other dessert called “Roti Sai Mai” or silk roti. The dish has two components:
1) The wrap: A thin layer of wrap adapted from roti
2) The silk: Sugar threads that taste very similar to cotton candy. The dessert is very simple, the sugar threads are placed in the middle of roti and made into a roll.

The silk which is made from sugar taste very sweet but the taste get balanced by the roti wrap which have almost no flavour.

Ayutthaya food: Cafe & Restaurants

There are many many formats of cafés and restaurants that you can find in Ayutthaya. We will be going through a few of our favorites here:

Traditional

We visited a traditional cafe/restaurant located in a hotel called Ayutthaya Retreat. The place has a traditional Thai building vibe, mostly wooden furniture. There is a pond in the middle of the place and the sound of the water was really relaxing for the guests. A massage place is also available in the area where guests can have foot or whole-body massage in a covered area. This place had a very good coconut cake that you must try!

By the river

We had dinner at a place called Baan Pomphet. It is truly an Instagram-worthy place because of its pretty architecture and also its location, by the river. It offers indoor and outdoor seating. The food in this place is good, and they serve very fresh river prawns as well. There are other great seafood options in this place as well.

Into the nature

We visited an eating establishment that has quite an impressive array of installations in the middle of a paddy field. The food was frankly so-so but if you want to create good photos with your family, this might be a good place to head to. Go check out Rak Na when you visit Ayutthaya if this kind of place is right up your alley.

Chic and modern

Another cafe that we visited was Tewa Cafe. It’s located near the river. The coffee menu was great. If you can go there early or during non-peak hours, it’s highly recommended to do so. The building is a bit small (despite having 2 floors) so it can get crowded quickly.

Cooking class

Cooking class is a popular activity among tourists, especially for foreign tourists. There are a lot of day trip tour packages offering cruise, temple visits and also cooking classes.

You can visit Ayutthaya, learn about the Thai culture through Thai history and further learn about it through its cuisine.

Some highly recommended cooking class centers with excellent reviews are:

How exciting is Ayutthaya food and beverage scene?

There are a lot of options for food and beverages as well as restaurant/cafe formats in Ayutthaya. So you will not run out of options there. However, typically visitors will eat river prawns and a lot of other seafood, as well as boat noodles while in Ayutthaya. If you enjoy a chill vibe by the river, you will enjoy going to riverside cafes in Ayutthaya as well. There are many that offer both good coffee and an amazingly chill atmosphere by the water.

Learn more about Thailand here

Table of Contents