Originally Posted by
frappant
Took a trip out to Siam Paragon mall. Had read some travel blogs touting the ones in all the big malls.
It looked like a food court you'd see at many malls in the US. There were places whose names I didn't recognize and there was a section where the signage was only in Thai. But otherwise a bunch of international fast food and fast casual chains as well as some sit down places where people were waiting.
Prices were high too, about Western prices. Should have been the case but I recall reading one account where a young woman said she had a meal for about $4 and it was better than any Thai food she'd ever had in the US or Europe.
I walked around the whole basement level, didn't really see anything that I wanted to spend on. I know that there were places around my hotel which were nice sit-down places, clean, well-decorated and a couple of courses would be a fraction of the prices listed at this food court.
So maybe these travel bloggers are hyping things or maybe I missed something?
As someone else has already pointed out, Siam Paragon is one of the more upscale malls in town, so you should not really expect anything to be cheap. The basement has generally two options for food: you still have more or less regular fast-casual restaurants—these are generally "cheaper" than the ones up on the fourth floor; on the other hand, in the actual food court you can definitely get a meal for less than $4 (especially with the current exchange rate). Recently Siam Paragon has made an effort to introduce "famous" hawkers into the food court—so these might be well-known chicken rice vendors, noodles, etc. This is an attempt to compete with Eatthai in the basement of Central Embassy, which IMO has unfortunately gotten much less interesting recently with many of the "famous" vendors having left—maybe Central increased the rent, who knows.
Also on a general point: Bangkok has not been "dirt cheap" for a while now if that is what you were expecting. On the streets you can still eat for relatively cheap, but we are no longer talking $0.50 noodles, but more $2 noodles. Those food carts are increasingly harder to come by and are close to becoming virtually nonexistent in the commercial district. Meanwhile indoors, the cost of living for the Bangkok mall lifestyle is getting closer and closer to Singapore or Hong Kong. This is a place with high wealth inequality and people are struggling with increasing cost of living with no meaningful increase in pay. A cup of coffee from Starbucks costs the same here as it does everywhere else. (Well, cheaper than at a Starbucks in Zürich—I'll concede that.)
Originally Posted by
frappant
Oh I would add that I didn't like the food halls in Singapore either. Those are raved about as well and I walked to one in Chinatown there and I saw few open tables and many were piled of uncleared bowls and dishes. I think it was a little too authentic for me. I guess I'm fine with the Americanized menus of Asian cuisines rather than the authentic stuff you see certain patrons get, using Chinese menus.
I hate to put it so bluntly, but i if you went to Maxwell and did not like that then I think the whole street food experience is just not for you. Not saying it is not a valid opinion to have, but probably good for your future travel plans now that you have figured this out.