Banthat Thong used to sell football boots.
Banthat Thong used to sell football boots. Now this stretch beside Chulalongkorn University and near the National Stadium runs on jasmine-rice congee at Jok Sam Yan, Jeh O Chula’s tom yum Mama noodles and braised duck at Tang Sui Heng. Save room for toast at Nueng Nom Nua and the sugar-crusted Melting Sundaes at Ice Cream Samosorn.
Sports shops and car-parts garages once defined this part of Banthat Thong Road, with repairs spilling onto the pavement. Chulalongkorn University’s redevelopment reshaped the area during the 2010s, including the sports-focused Stadium One complex, which opened in 2018. The restaurant boom gathered pace after the pandemic, though the neighbourhood’s older kitchens were feeding people long before the food crowds arrived.
The street changes shift in the late afternoon. Shutters go up and neon comes on. Plastic stools multiply along the kerb, and garlic hitting a hot wok does the advertising. Students drift through in lanyards. Strangers with phones queue for instant-noodle tom yum. Dessert shops with their own fan clubs stay open past midnight.
There’s an argument going on here, too. In 2025, the university’s property management arm honoured 42 businesses that had been part of the Banthat Thong-Sam Yan area for more than 50 years. That same year, reporting documented falling visitor numbers and pressure from rents. Amarin’s Spotlight spoke to the owner of Jeh Bow chicken rice, who was leaving after 25 years in the community because the costs no longer added up. Old-school and algorithm-bait sit side by side, sometimes on the same stretch of pavement, and neither is going quietly.
This guide follows the day rather than the map: congee at dawn, braised duck while the sun’s up, then wok-fried noodles and omelettes before a long, sweet finish. Most stops are on Banthat Thong Road itself; the side-soi detours are marked below.
