Bangkok’s 10 best Italian restaurants

What is it?: Possibly Bangkok’s most daring Italian restaurant, with elegant set menus featuring dishes that redefine Italian food, situated in a cosy mid-century home in Yen Akat.

Why we love it: Clara ticks so many boxes for what makes a great restaurant, irrespective of nationality – a welcoming, impeccably decorated setting, warm and attentive service provided by maitre d’ Clara Del Corso-Martena (figured out where the name came from yet?), and a menu by her husband, Chef Christian Martena, that is innovative, thoughtful, and most importantly delicious. Diners have the option to choose between a six-course (starting at B3880) and eight-course (starting at B4880) set, with dishes that lean towards the avant-garde, asking diners to reimagine pasta, fresh produce, Mediterranean seafood, and all the other building blocks of great Italian cuisine.

Time Out tip: If it is the sort of extra-special occasion that merits a chef’s table experience, Clara’s private room is one of the prettiest spaces in town to do so, with chairs hand-tattooed by Thai tattoo master Tantai, each featuring some of the chef’s favourite ingredients to work with.

What is it?: The Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons, Riva del Fiume makes the most of its riverside setting, with elegant terraces that are as much Lago di Como as they are Thailand.

Why we love it: It is far too easy for hotel restaurants to phone it in, and for Italian restaurants in particular – boil up some pasta and bang out some pizzas for the tourists, overcharge for a bottle of wine, and let the profits roll in. Riva del Fiume does nothing of the sort. Rather, they provide a menu that is in many ways familiar – Neapolitan-style pizzas, seafood risotto, vitello tonnato, and every other Italian dish you thought you knew – but elevated, twisted just enough to make things interesting, and made with thoughtfully sourced ingredients. The crudo in particular is worth noting. You will wonder why you spent all those years putting up with mediocre tuna tartare.

Time Out tip: Riva del Fiume is Thailand’s only venue selling beef from Mayura Station, a storied Australian ranching station that pioneered the raising of wagyu outside Japan. Very much worth considering for your secondo.

What is it?: The new kid in town (only open since 2023), this is the Soi Phrom Si outpost of Ruam Ruedi mainstay Lenzi Tuscan Kitchen, which just barely missed this list.

Why we love it: Chef Stefane Merlo places wood and fire at the front and centre of his cuisine, with a strong focus on grilled meats and seafoods. The menu is definitely on the traditionalist side of the spectrum, with familiar favourites presented with grace, using premium Italian ingredients with an eye towards the roots of Italian cuisine and a desire to revitalize the sorts of dishes that have been diminished over the decades in the name of convenience. As you might expect from part of the Lenzi empire, the cold cuts and cured meats are impeccable, with sausages, hams, guanciale, and the rest coming straight from the Lenzi family farm back in Tuscany. The Parmigiano Reggiano is also some of Italy’s most awarded. Nonna would approve.

Time Out tip: Even your least sweet-toothed friends will be impressed by the dolce selection. We are especially taken with the bomboloni, little donuts filled with pistachios, cream, and other yummies that pair beautifully with an espresso and a grappa.

What is it?: Another relatively new restaurant, having taken over the former Aesop’s space in a Sala Daeng back alley, which has quickly become one of Bangkok’s most beloved neighbourhood Italian joints.

Why we love it: Cento is one of those restaurants that shows us just how nice no frills can be. The space is comfortable, low-lit, and relaxed, making it a date night and birthday party staple – no need to worry about stiffness or formality here. The cuisine from Chef Mutaro Balde is likewise simple and made with real heart, and the label they use – ‘mostly Italian’ – should be an indicator that they don’t take the Italian food culture wars very seriously. The food is delicious, the vibe is chill, so take another bite, and let the wine and the conversation flow.

Time Out tip: A type example of a perfect Cento dish, and one of our favourites, is a deceptively simple antipasto of grilled cabbage with guanciale and anchovy butter. Does it make you think of Thai cabbage stir-fried with fish sauce and pork belly? We thought so too, and that made us love it all the more.

What is it?: Led by Chef Federico Orrù, a veteran of Restaurant Paul Bocuse (RIP to the GOAT) in Lyon, Enoteca in the Asok/Phrom Phong area has consistently been one of the city’s standout Italian restaurants for over a decade.

Why we love it: A cosy space in a tropical garden just a stone’s throw away from the chaos of Sukhumvit Road, Enoteca is the sort of place you wish was in your neighbourhood just to have an excuse to go. Degustation menus are very much part of the experience, but we were just impressed by the a la carte options. Regardless, the menu has decidedly French touches (the beef shank and mash, gratin potatoes, and sauce champenoise over the tagliolini… Monsieur Bocuse is smiling down from heaven), and the wine list is as good as you would expect from a restaurant whose name means ‘wine library’.

Time Out tip: Feeling adventurous? Try the omakase option (B1990 to B3600 per person depending on the number of courses), which is not only a great way to see what is good on that day, but also one of Bangkok’s most reasonably priced omakase menus.

What is it?: A 10-plus year veteran of the ultra-competitive dining scene in Middle Sukhumvit, Soi 31’s Appia is Bangkok’s flagship Roman restaurant, bringing the delights of one decadent, traffic-choked, yet immensely compelling capital city to another.

Why we love it: Chef-owner Paolo Vitaletti grew up as a butcher’s son right next to the Appian Way, the legendary ancient Roman road that reached from Rome to the Italian bootheel, and his commitment is to the fine traditions of the Roman trattoria. These are the sorts of simple, rustic, meaty recipes that countless visitors to the Eternal City fall in love with, from a fat-bomb guanciale pastas and porchetta to delightfully tender veal tongue to trippa alla romana that will make you ever wonder why you were afraid to eat tripe.

Time Out tip: Like all great trattorias, the standards are high at all levels, from the humblest pastas to the most artisanal secondi. Need a simple wallet-friendly plate of spaghetti? The amatriciana and the carbonara are some of the best in town. Ready to splash out? Order the lamb ribs and live that real Roman dolce vita.

What is it?: A friendly haven for pizzas and pastas in a comfy old house just off Sathorn, with a decidedly Northern Italian bent to the menu and a crowd of groups of young Italian guys in tight black t-shirts as well as big Italian families telling their bambini to calm down.

Why we love it: You may well have seen the pictures of the big red bench at the entrance all over your social media feed for years, and for good reason. Il Bolognese is very much a tradition-driven Italian spot that plays the standards and plays them well, particularly with regard to the regional dishes of Emilia-Romagna (where Bologna is, shocker). Their pizzas are some of the best in town, and if you are with a group, they are very much a must-try, but we are particularly smitten by some of the regional dishes, like passatelli, a classic soup in which parmigiano cheese is worked into the dough of delicate little dumplings that float on the surface Branzino is a simple and excellent piece of Mediterranean seabass and the caramelle croccanti are an indulgent pile of pasta, blue cheese, truffle, and speck that will challenge even the heftiest diner.

Time Out tip: When you are paralytically full at the end of the meal (as you should be), the grappa list should sort you right out. We are particularly taken with the barrique-aged options.

What is it?: A relative newcomer, only a few years old, but one which has become a fixture in the foodie haven of Sathorn Sois 10 and 12, with a focus on the litany of traditional Tuscan cuisine.

Why we love it: It is easy to roll our eyes when we hear things described as “Tuscan.” It has become a lazy byword for a romanticized Mediterranean lifestyle living in countless moms’ minds, which is a shame, because Tuscany has a unique culture and history that comes from its historic position as the crossroads of Italy. Giglio Trattoria Fiorentina very much focuses on that unique culture, with representative dishes of the region. The pici with sausage and porcini ragu are beautifully chewy, the ribollita proves how much you can do with just bread and veggies, and as is to be expected from any good Tuscan, the steak game is on point.

Time Out tip: Despite the carnivorous reputation of Tuscan food, many of the region’s best dishes are decidedly plant-based. Order the ribollita, the panzanella, and the kale and farro salad, and the vegans at the table will be eating well.

What is it?: In Thong Lo’s chic Terrace 49, La Bottega is as stylish as many of the restaurants here are homey, a glass and wood haven serving food that spans Italy with a Venetian bent.

Why we love it: It is hard not to be smitten with the space – while Bangkok has no shortage of ‘designer’ restaurants, a few too many feel like they gild the lily. Thankfully that is not the case at La Bottega. Here, the mood is contemporary and elegant, but at the same time welcoming and familiar, with plenty of greenery. Chef Marco Avesani’s dishes match the setting, contemporary, flavourful, and beautifully fresh. The cicchetti make a perfect appetizer along with an Aperol spritz, just as in La Serenissima, the Mediterranean shellfish are utilised to a high standard, and the truffle risotto – something we thought we were sick of – made us realise it still has something to show us.

Time Out tip: La Bottega has one of the strongest gelato games in town, and they deliver – just in case you get an inopportune pistachio craving.

What is it?: A warm, well-appointed space at the Grand Hyatt Erawan which highlights fascinating regional Italian dishes, particularly those from the oft-forgotten island of Sardinia.

Why we love it: Salvia means ‘sage,’ and you could swear you smell a bit when you come in. The comforting aroma of smoking meats permeates the venue, and with the warm, intimate space full of beautifully preserved salume and wine bottles – thoughtfully partitioned with fabric dividers to increase the snugness – you can almost feel like you are sat down on a perfect Italian autumn day. Expect plenty of dishes from Chef Gabriele Olivieri that make heavy use of carasau, the iconic Sardinian flatbread, including a lasagna that will make you rethink this ultimate classic comfort food. And that wood smoke aroma should be your guide too – we are quite smitten with the grapevine-smoked steaks.

Time Out tip: Salvia’s by-the-glass wine menu impresses, criss-crossing Italy. We are particularly smitten with the Sardinian wines, their best-known white being Vermentino, their best-known red being Cannonau. Forgive yourself if you don’t know either – then go order a glass of each.