Bangkok climbs to 2nd place in Time Out’s 2025 best food cities list

Though the Thai capital ranks high for deliciousness and convenience, it falls short in the innovation category, with high-end dining dominating this area

Bangkok has been named the world’s second-best city for food this year by Time Out, a British media and hospitality company, edging up from sixth place last year. 

Time Out’s global survey put the Thai capital behind New Orleans in the US as the best food city in the world, Andrew Fowler, Time Out Bangkok’s food & drink editor, wrote in an article published on Tuesday.



He noted that most respondents described Bangkok’s dining scene as delicious, convenient and fast. 

“When one can go out onto the street and get an excellent meal in a matter of minutes or have cuisine from top-tier eateries whisked across town in a heartbeat by a death-defying motorcycle courier, we’re spoiled for choice,” Fowler wrote.



However, he pointed out that few diners marked Bangkok’s food scene as “innovative” or “exciting” compared to other cities. 

“Much of the innovation has been at the highest end, with an abundance of wildly creative THB10,000 per person chef’s tables, but a relative paucity of mid-range, date night-worthy restaurants that are more on the experimental side. A few more avant-garde offerings in the THB1,000 a person range, and New Orleans might start looking nervously in their rear-view mirror,” he wrote.



Medellín in Colombia, Cape Town in South Africa and the Spanish capital of Madrid took the third to fifth places, respectively, as the world’s best food cities this year.

In January, Time Out named Bangkok the world’s second-best city after Cape Town. The Thai capital climbed up from the 24th place last year thanks to votes from city dwellers worldwide, highlighting culture, food, affordability and happiness as key factors. 

New York, Melbourne and London take the third to fifth places on this list, respectively.

(2025/03/13-00:00)