This article helps you find the best restaurants in Ayutthaya, a popular tourist destination as it has over a thousand temples and is famous for its ruins. What most of the tourists don’t know that Ayutthaya is also known for its king river prawns, the boat noodles and a candy called Roti Saimai. When you are visiting Ayutthaya, make sure to visit at least one of the following restaurants to experience and taste the local cuisine.

The best restaurants in Ayutthaya are:

1. Grand Chaophraya

Grand Chaophraya is located around five kilometres from the Historical Park. It serves amazing seafood and has such a nice atmosphere that it’s one of the restaurants that you must visit if you are looking for a special dinner. It’s not cheap to eat here, but if you are looking for an amazing seafood meal while listening to Thai live music, I would recommend you to visit Grand Chaophraya (in the evening).

Highlights of the menu are the Sheatfishes in Yellow Chili Sauce (420 THB), Grilled River Prawns (480 per piece) and Steamed Curry Mixed Seafood in Coconut (320 THB) but with a twelve-page menu, there is a tasty seafood option for everyone. Grand Chaophraya is pricey compared to other restaurants listed in this article, but you get an amazing ambience, good service and high-quality seafood in return. 

2. Baan Kao Nhom

Baan Kao Nhom is one of the most popular restaurants in Ayutthaya as it serves delicious traditional Thai desserts. Inside this modern cafe, you can find a large desk where are all the desserts are presented. You pick whatever you want and place it in a wooden basket and check-out. You can either eat it at the restaurant or take it home. Baan Kao Nhom also has a menu that has a few modern Thai desserts with ice cream. I believe it’s better to buy the traditional ones for later and get the modern Thai desserts at the restaurant.

The Butterfly Pea Ice Cream with Thong-Muan (95 THB) is one of the delicious desserts we tried here. It’s presented with edible flowers and is served with a crumble. One of the bestsellers is the Bolan Ice Cream (135 THB), which is coconut ice cream on a sweet bun covered in syrup and peanuts. The Honey Passion Fruit (95 THB) was my personal favourite ice cream, as it was refreshing, not too sweet and served with passion fruit. 

3. Somtum Sukunya

Somtum Sukunya is located close to Wat Mahathat, the most visited temple in Ayutthaya. The restaurant is tidy, the service is prompt and the food is amazing. It’s a great place to have lunch during your temple run. The friendly owner recommended us their specialities. As the name of the restaurant already suggests, they make amazing som tum (papaya salad). You can choose between nine different papaya salads and we tried the version with Crispy Catfish (100 THB). The combination of crunchy deep-fried fish and the sourness and freshness of the som tum is really good. Another amazing dish as the Stir-Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts (120 THB). What made this version so special, was the fact that the chicken is coated in a thin crispy layer.

We also tried the Tom Yum Koong (120 THB), a spicy and herby soup with prawns in it. Keep in mind that this item is listed two times on the menu, with different price tags. The difference is the size of the prawns. The absolute highlight of the menu was the Grilled Beef (150 THB). The quality of the beef is amazing, but what’s even better is the charcoal smokiness of the beef. 

4. Krua Nai Pun

Krua Nai Pun is a lovely well-decorated and clean restaurant with air conditioning, that offers delicious seafood meals. It was here that I tried for the very first time the so-called Kanom Chin Sao Nam (120 THB). It’s a plate with a cup of coconut milk and ingredients such as garlic, mango, onion, rice noodle, coconut flakes and prawns. The idea is to mix everything and get all these flavours in your mouth at once. It was surprisingly fresh thanks to the coconut milk. It’s such an interesting dish which I would recommend to everyone to try out. 

Another flavorful dish we tried was the Yum Tua Poo (150 THB), a wing bean salad with shrimp and fried onions, covered in sweet and sour dressing. It’s these herby and exciting dishes that make the Thai cuisine so unique. My favourite dish was what came next, the Som Tum Pla Tum-Tim Grob (300 THB). This is deep-fried fish filets covered in a papaya salad. The sweet and sour dressing of the som tum gets soaked in the deep-fried fish filets, which is so incredibly delicious! The portion is large enough to eat with at least two persons from it. 

The last dish we tried was a Japanese/Thai fusion dish: Ph-Pla Salmon (350 THB), which is sliced raw salmon covered in Thai herbs and served with wasabi. The salmon together with the red onion, mint leaves, chilis and many other Thai herbs will give it so many exciting flavours.

5. Ayutthaya Retreat

Ayutthaya Retreat is by far the most beautiful decorated restaurant in Ayutthaya. For that reason alone it’s worth the visit. The restaurant is built around a pond and has such a relaxing atmosphere. The menu offers a limited amount of Thai dishes and a small selection of pies and cakes. It does have a large list of different teas, coffees and refreshing drinks. It’s a perfect place to relax, enjoy a cup of coffee with a piece of pie. 

The Blueberry Cheese Pie (100 THB) is a delicious fresh pie with coconut filling and is one of their bestselling pies. Another tasty option is the Coconut Fresh Cake (100 THB). This airy coconut cake is very light and topped with coconut flesh. In case you do have a larger appetite, the Fried Rice with Mackerel Fish (150 THB) and the Fried Rice with Chilli and Dried Fish (150 THB) are tasty options. And order one of their refreshing drinks such as the Virgin Mohito (85 THB), Passion Fruit Soda (85 THB) or the Blue milk Cream (85 THB).