Bangkok, Thailand, December 9, 2021 / TRAVELINDEX / To build anticipation for the Michelin star awards and the release of the Michelin Guide Bangkok, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket & Phang-Nga 2022 (scheduled for December 16), Michelin today unveiled its 2022 Bib Gourmand selection. A total of 133 restaurants and street food stalls will be recognized. Of these, 71 are located in Bangkok, 23 in Chiang Mai, 29 in Phuket & Phang-Nga, and 10 in Ayutthaya – Thailand's historic city, which is featured for the first time in the fifth edition of the Michelin Guide Thailand.

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The 2022 Bib Gourmand selection includes a mix of restaurants, street food stalls, and open-air kitchens, recognizing 33 first-time entries (9 in Bangkok, 10 in Ayutthaya, 6 in Chiang Mai, and 8 in Phuket & Phang-Nga) as well as 6 promoted establishments (2 in Bangkok, 2 in Chiang Mai, and 2 in Phuket & Phang-Nga). Notably, the number of Bib Gourmand-awarded street food stalls exceeds the number of restaurants in Bangkok (39 street food stalls compared to 32 restaurants) and Ayutthaya (6 street food stalls compared to 4 restaurants).

The Bib Gourmand award, symbolized by the famous Bibendum or Michelin Man licking his lips, is given to restaurants that offer high-quality, carefully prepared and reasonably priced cuisine with a very good price-performance ratio of a maximum of 1,000 THB (a three-course meal: starter, main course and dessert – excluding drinks).

Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, stated: “This year’s selection of Bib Gourmand award winners is delighted to highlight Ayutthaya as an additional gastronomic metropolis, reflecting Thailand’s vibrant culinary scene. The charming city made a brilliant debut with ten Bib Gourmand award winners – four restaurants and six street food stalls. The higher number of Bib Gourmand awards in the street food category compared to restaurants in Ayutthaya, as well as in Bangkok, demonstrates that both cities – the former and current capitals of Thailand – are ideal destinations for affordable street food.”

Among the 33 new restaurants on the 2022 Bib Gourmand list are: Bangkok: Kaeng Pa (Loong Sa-Nga), a restaurant serving game dishes with generous use of forest herbs and spices – such as succulent roasted venison with cumin leaves and jungle curry soup with hand-chopped fish; Koa Chun Huad, a restaurant on the Thonburi side that has been operating for five decades, serving classic Thai-Chinese dishes – such as boiled pork slices with soy sauce and Chinese vegetable stew with an enticing blend of sweet and bitter natural flavors; Thien Duong, a Vietnamese restaurant serving authentic, artfully prepared Vietnamese dishes – such as prawn skewers with sugarcane and grilled pork sausage, which are a delight of succulent flavors and complex textures; and Ket O Cha, a street food stall specializing in aromatic noodle soup with a peppery scent and mild sweet and salty taste, as well as a fantastic selection of tender slow-cooked beef, juicy blanched beef slices and elastic homemade beef balls.

Ayutthaya: Baan Ta-Koh-Rai is a restaurant serving delicious dishes made with carefully selected ingredients, from locally grown produce to freshly caught fish from nearby rivers. Specialties include herb-flavored fish cakes and stir-fried Chinese kale with deep-fried, salted fish. Baan Ton Sai offers flavorful Thai-Chinese dishes made with fresh, high-quality ingredients and enhanced with herbs and spices. Here Kae Pork Satay is a street food stall featuring charcoal-grilled pork satay, aromatically marinated with nine spices and served with a rich peanut sauce. Roti Sai Mai Abeedeen-Pranom Sangaroon is a popular, family-owned eatery with 70 years of history, known for its impeccable pandan roti with fluffy cotton candy.

Chiang Mai: Krua Lawng Khao, a northern Thai restaurant offering fresh and flavorful dishes – including spicy northern Thai pork salad and spicy northern Thai fish and water spinach soup; Tune in Garden, a restaurant with a set menu for first-time visitors and specialties from the owner's cookbook – including highly recommended dishes such as roasted pork ribs with cabbage and fermented pork with fermented tofu relish; and Khao Soi Lung Prakit Kad Kom, a street food stall serving northern Thai-style curry noodle soup for over 40 years – including the famous beef Khao Soi.

Phuket & Phang-Nga: Krua Tonfon, a street restaurant serving authentic southern Thai dishes with local ingredients – including roast pork with shrimp paste and bitter beans, and curry with crab legs and betel leaves; Mook Manee, a restaurant known for its fresh seafood, offering highlights such as steamed blue swimming crab, Phuket lobster with spicy dip, and fried mantis shrimp with garlic and chili; Pathongko Mae Pranee, a street food stall that has been delighting customers for years with pathongko (fried dough sticks) and salapao tod (fried buns), as well as other delicacies.

The six restaurants included in the 2022 Bib Gourmand list are: Bangkok: Por. Pochaya, a street food stall offering consistent quality and rare dishes for over 30 years, with crab omelet and cumin leaf stir-fried beef among its bestsellers; and Sri Trat, a restaurant bringing the renowned cuisine of the coastal province of Trat to Bangkok through the owner's family recipes and masterfully prepared dishes; Chiang Mai: Baan Landai, a restaurant serving pan-Thai dishes such as flavorful pork ribs with red wine sauce, which can be paired with flower tea, non-alcoholic cocktails, or a cocktail of your choice; and Magnolia Café, a restaurant offering tasty, attractively presented dishes from across Thailand, characterized by their vibrant and bold flavors, with a complimentary pandan pudding instead of a dessert menu; Phuket & Phang-Nga: Krua Kao Kuk, a restaurant serving remarkable dishes among the authentic, down-to-earth specialties of Paranakan cuisine – such as lemongrass soup with sweet clams, dry-fried minced meat with holy basil, and stir-fried king mackerel with soy sauce; and Kha Mu Boran (Kathu), a 30-year-old street food stall serving an above-average version of rice with pork knuckles braised until the meat falls off the bone, accompanied by Thai kale and pickled mustard greens, and a broth with meaty bones and offal of your choice.

“In these challenging times for the restaurant industry, support and encouragement are especially important. We hope that the Bib Gourmand award will help to give courage to restaurant owners, food vendors, and all those working in the sector, and strengthen their resilience to overcome all challenges. Food lovers hope that the Bib Gourmand award will inspire them to (re)discover the pleasure of high-quality food at affordable prices, which in turn is a great encouragement for everyone in the restaurant industry,” Poullennec concluded.