Pla goong pao @ Soei Restaurant
Soei, a local Thai restaurant in Bangkok situated next to the railroad track, is known for serving fiery and extremely flavorful dishes. The owner and chef, who is a former sports player and coach, had a passion for cooking, and after cooking for years for his sports friends, he decided to open a restaurant. His pla goong pao consists of roasted prawns, sliced in half, then topped with a mixture of tomatoes, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, chilies, and lime juice, and finally a handful of sweet basil. The prawns are rich and creamy, while the dressing is sour and spicy. Soei is one of my personal favorite restaurants in Bangkok.

Kuay teow khua gai @ Kuay Teow Kua Gai Nai Hong
Kuay Teow Kua Gai Nai Hong is a restaurant that specializes in a Thai dish called kuay teow khua gai, roasted wide rice noodles. The ingredients of the dish are quite simple, including just the sticky wide rice noodles, chicken and squid, and an egg. But the trick to cooking it, and reason it tastes so good, is because it’s fried in pork lard on an extremely high heat, using charcoal, and giving the noodles an unmissable smoky flavor. This restaurant is slotted down an alley, a true street food environment in Bangkok.

kuay teow neau buai (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อเปื่อย) @ Wattana Panich
The first thing you'll see as you walk into Wattana Panich is the gigantic cauldron of simmering beef, slow braising in its own oil and juice, and ready to to be served. Their most famous dish is kuay teow neau buai (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อเปื่อย), rice noodles topped with nuggets of beef and soup. The beef is extremely tender, and richly flavorful, with a hint of cinnamon and star anise. I like to add a few scoops of vinegar and a couple spoons of chili flakes.

Roast Suckling Pig @ Kimberley Hotel Chinese Restaurant
Gather at least 6-8 friends when you make your reservations. Portions are large and the roast suckling pig is stuffed with glutinous rice and various nuts. The skin on the roast pork gives an audible satisfying crunch upon first bite and the glutinous rice adds to its flavours. The restaurant also does double boil Cantonese soups that goes well with a full Cantonese meal in addition to the suckling pig.

Crab Congee @ Seng Cheong
Seng Cheong is known for it's crab congee and a whole menu of seafood from razor clams to scampi and crabs deep fried in salted duck egg yolk - a cholesterol grenade well worth the calories. The congee is light and watery cooked with crab as the base of its bouillon and served in large plastic bowls with big ladles garnished lightly with spring onions and full pieces of crab with meat in tact broken in quarters, the shell included. A large plastic sheet is placed over the tables for a quick turnaround of tables where shells are discarded on the table top. The Yee Foo crab noodles are also worth an order if you're aiming for a full crab experience here.

Egg Tarts @ San Hou Lei
This local diner (cha chaan teng - Chinese for tea house/cafe) serves everything from pork chop buns to noodles and curry rice, but it is their local confectionary that stand out here. They specialise in egg tarts - serving a great Portuguese egg tart (with burnt crust) and the regular Cantonese egg tart alongside more creative renditions like milk custard, coconut and their prized birds nest egg tart they are famous for.

Oxtail stew @ Amagao
This 20 seater restaurant evolved from a Private Kitchen. The dishes served are all home styled Macanese and the oxtail stew is rich, the meat falls right off the bone and you get pockets of gelatine. The gravy thick with subtle hints of herbal mix - perfect over some steaming white rice.

Beef Brisket Noodles @ Kau Kei
This tiny noodle house famous for its beef brisket on Gough Street in Central Hong Kong is no stranger with the international and local press it gets. Kau Kee has spanned generations in its 90+ years it's been around, serving the popular Beef Brisket Noodles in tasty clear broth. You also have a choice of curry gravy, but go with the rich bouillon. It's rich and flavourful, but never too heavy.

Duck Rice @ Dragao Restaurante
This typical Portuguese dish is a perfect case of duck rice. Crispy on the top, well flavoured and stuffed full of duck and chorizo, without the greasy heaviness, but full flavoured. It isn't easy to find the dish a good balance of rice and meat, but it's executed well here with both top and bottom layer of rice crispy and rich.

Peking Duck @ Jing Yaa Tang
Jing Yaa Tang is London's Alan Yau's Beijing outfit. The duck here is roasted to perfection with jujube (red dates) wood and hits the spot. It is worth coming here just for the duck. The rice flour pancakes soft, thin and so fluffy you’d want to use it as a face mask and eat it after. Chef Dong Li also spices things up a little with honey lemon in the condiments mix that came in cute little silver gourd dishes and a delish homemade hoisin sauce that perfectly complements the acidity and sweetness of spring onions, julienne melon (modern twist) and cucumbers.