Bangkok: Best of Thai at Taling Pling

What do journalists do when they have an evening at leisure in Bangkok? They ferret out the best, easily accessible Thai restaurant in the city.

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We had been invited for the Queen's Cup St. Regis Pink Polo charity and it was our last night in town. The very friendly concierge at the St. Regis took one look at our eager hungry faces, wrote down an address and called a cab. We ended up at Taling Pling, a restaurant chain run by a mother and daughter team, both Thai and both Swiss-trained. But the food is all local. The menu is mainly in Thai, but there are plenty of photos to guide the uninitiated.

Our party ordered all the tested favorites, a safe strategy in a strange town, but look at what we got - crispy rice crackers with minced pork dip, a lip-puckering pomelo and dried shrimp salad with nuke-grade bird's eye chili, classic tom yum goong, Thai red curry with roast duck, Pad Thai noodles, stir-fried morning glory shoots, deep-fried spring rolls and second helpings all around of the thick, rich red iced milk tea.

Portions are not big, but that allows for more variety on the table. Our meal for five cost 2,800 baht ($92) in all and we walked out incandescent with chili heat and happiness.

Taling Pling, Baan Silom Arcade, Silom Soi 19, Silom Road, Bangkok (Near the Patpong Night Market), Thailand. 662-236-4829.