Soul-searching

One of the best restaurants of Bangkok is surprisingly run by an American. Soul Food Mahanakorn is located in the trendy Thong Lor area. Flickering lighting and floor-to-ceiling wood paneling has the feel of a traditional Thai house. The downstairs bar serves excellent cocktails but it is upstairs in the dining room where the real magic happens. Food critics were skeptical of an expat attempting to serve up traditional Thai food, but the proof is in the pudding, and now they have to admit that their delicate taste buds were more than satisfied convinced!

So yes, the Soul Food definitely is soulful! It specializes in the kind of rich, deep flavors of Thai food that can send the uninitiated into a speechless rapture. Go for the Shan Burmese curry of pork belly, soured with tamarind and braised in ginger and garlic. We recommend washing the soul food down with a Jai Yen Yen (‘cool heart’ in Thai) a cocktail made of gin, ginger ale, passion fruit, pineapple, lime and cucumber.