Zao Ekkamai
Zao started in Ubon Ratchathani cooking its local market and moved to a midcentury villa off Ekkamai with its Lao-script signage intact, where Time Out's food editor scored it 5 of 5 as "a restaurant that pairs genuine daring with remarkably wallet-friendly prices."
Why go
Fermentation is the house language, and the flag dish is pla ra, the fermented fish sauce most Bangkok menus dilute for safety; Time Out says the house version has converted many a plara hater to an aficionado, with a clean, bright funkiness.
BK Magazine called it your new regular go-to somtam place
in the same year, mapping a menu that runs B30 sticky rice to B350 fried pla yon. Owner Nutthida Eve
Palasak, a former fashion designer who worked with Isaan communities, backs the food with a cellar of minimal-intervention and skin-contact wines chosen to stand up to the heat and acid, which resolves the question of whether this is the city's Isaan natural-wine room: it is.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the somtam with hairy-fruited eggplant (B150), the three-jaew set with pork skin (B300) as a flight of the region's chili pastes, and the spicy watermelon with fermented fish sauce (B200), prices per BK's review; let the staff pick a skin-contact pour against them.
- Avoid: ordering around the funk. The pla ra is the dish Time Out says converts plara haters.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out Bangkok (Aug 2022, Andrew Fowler, 5/5):
A restaurant that pairs genuine daring with remarkably wallet-friendly prices.
1 - BK Magazine (Mar 2022):
worth going and making it your new regular go-to somtam place.
2
Good to know
- Timing: daily 11am to 9pm at last verification; an early close by Bangkok standards, so plan it as lunch or first dinner.
- Booking: recommended for dinner; phone 063-246-9545 per BK.
- Getting there: 155 Soi Pridi Banomyong 25, behind Pridi cafe, between BTS Ekkamai and Phra Khanong; pairs with an Ekkamai bar finish.
Verdict
should-visit — An Ubon Ratchathani restaurant that moved to Bangkok whole, ferments included, and pours skin-contact wine against pla ra funk; Time Out gave it 5/5 for pairing 'genuine daring' with cheap plates, and the B300 jaew flight is a regional education in one order. Unadapted Isaan at this quality inside the city is scarce, and the fermentation-plus-natural-wine argument is one Jeff's own cooking instincts would chase. The villa room and B150-350 prices close the case for the detour.