The
Table
Thai food is not one cuisine but three — Central, Northern and Southern, each shaped by its own history. This journey moves through all three, built around markets, a proper cooking session, and the country's finest tables.
- 8 – 10 Nights
- Market Visits
- Cooking Session
- Fine-Dining Access
- Nov – Apr
8 Days 3 Destinations Private journey
Bangkok
Central Thailand
3 nights
Markets & river kitchens
Chiang Mai
The North
3 nights
Curry paste & khao soi
Phuket & Trang
The South
2 nights
Turmeric & the coast
Duration
8–10
Nights
Best Season
Nov–Apr
Cool, dry, market-friendly
Accommodation
5★
Ultra-luxury only
Kitchen
Private
Chef & cooking session
From
USD 7,900
Per person · 8 nights
The Journey
Three kitchens, one country
Thai food is regional, not singular. Northern cooking — khao soi, sai ua, larb muang — carries the imprint of the old Lanna kingdom and centuries of Burmese and Shan trade. Central Thai cuisine, Bangkok's own, is a different tradition again: the refinement of the old royal kitchens layered over the Chinese-Thai heritage of the river. Southern cooking turns sharper and more turmeric-forward still, shaped by the Muslim and Malay communities along the Andaman coast. The Table moves through all three in turn, giving the trip its spine.
Bangkok is one of the strongest eating cities on earth, and this is the journey where SALA's local access matters most — a table at the right restaurant on the right night is precisely what a foreign operator cannot arrange. From a night market walked with someone who knows the stalls, to a technique-led cooking session in Chiang Mai, to a private chef under the stars on the Andaman coast, this is Thailand read through what ends up on the table.
"Three regions, three kitchens, one country that never once repeats itself."
Three kitchens on one table — the journey read through what ends up on the plate
Day by Day
Your Private Itinerary
Each day is built around what is in season and what the market offers. This is a framework — your SALA curator tailors every detail.
Bangkok
The royal kitchen and the river's Chinese-Thai heritage — night markets, a morning at the wet market, and a private table in the city's finest dining rooms
Days 1 – 2
Bangkok — Markets, Kitchens and the River
Bangkok · Central Thailand
Bangkok is not one thing to eat but a whole layered history of them — Sukhothai-descended royal refinement, the Chinese-Thai trading families of the river, and a street-food culture that runs from dawn boat noodles to the last skewer of moo ping at 2am. Your first evening is a night market walked with someone who has worked its stalls for years, in the old lanes around Talat Noi, tasting as you go rather than sitting once. The next morning starts early at Or Tor Kor, widely considered Bangkok's best-run wet market, choosing produce with a cook before anything is cooked — the difference between jasmine and sticky rice grades, the herbs that define a central Thai curry paste, the fish sauces worth paying for. A longtail carries you across to a Thonburi canal-side kitchen for a home-style central Thai lunch, the kind of cooking that predates the tourist trail by a century.
- Guided night market walk through Talat Noi's old Chinese-Thai lanes
- Morning at Or Tor Kor market, choosing produce with a working cook
- Longtail crossing to a Thonburi canal-side kitchen for a home-style lunch
Your Residence
Day 3
Bangkok — The Fine-Dining Table
Bangkok · Central Thailand
Bangkok's fine-dining scene has become one of the most serious in Asia, and this is the day set aside for it. Sorn, the southern Thai kitchen that became the first restaurant in Thailand to hold two Michelin stars; Nusara and Le Du, both from chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn's stable, reworking Thai and Isan technique for a tasting menu; Potong, set in a five-storey Chinese-Thai heritage shophouse; and Gaggan Anand, whose progressive Indian tasting menu remains one of the hardest reservations in the city. The best tables need booking months ahead — itself a sign of how far this scene has come, and something your curator handles before your dates are confirmed. The day itself is left loose around the evening's reservation: a slow morning at the hotel, or a daylight walk through Chinatown's shophouse lanes before the kitchen opens.
- Reservations pursued at Bangkok's leading tables — Sorn, Le Du, Nusara, Potong, Gaggan Anand
- A free morning, paced to the evening's booking
- Optional daylight walk through Chinatown's shophouse lanes
- Dinner at the confirmed table — Bangkok's tasting-menu scene at its most serious
Your Residence
Chiang Mai
A different tradition entirely — Lanna cooking shaped by Burmese and Shan trade routes, curry paste built by hand, and highland coffee grown above the rice terraces
Days 4 – 6
Chiang Mai — The Northern Kitchen
Chiang Mai · The North
A short flight north lands you in a different country of food entirely. Northern Thai cooking carries the imprint of the old Lanna kingdom and centuries of trade with Burma and the Shan states — it favours fermented, herbal and smoked flavours over the sugar and coconut cream of the central plains. Your cooking session here is built around technique, not assembly: pounding a curry paste by hand until the fibres break down properly, building the coconut-curry broth of khao soi from scratch, understanding why sai ua sausage is packed with fresh turmeric and kaffir lime leaf, and tasting how larb muang — dark, dried-spice, offal-rich — differs from the bright lime-and-fish-sauce larb of Isan and the central plains. The morning before, you walk Warorot Market in the old city with your cook, past northern sticky rice vendors, fresh turmeric root, and the banana-blossom and jungle-herb stalls that never make it onto a resort menu. In the afternoons, the highlands above the city — around Mae Rim and Doi Saket — are quietly producing some of Thailand's best coffee; a visit to a small-lot farm and a cupping session with the grower closes out the northern leg before dinner.
- Warorot Market walk with your cook before the cooking session begins
- Technique-led cooking session — hand-pounded curry paste, khao soi broth, sai ua
- Tasting larb muang against its central and Isan cousins
- Small-lot coffee farm visit and cupping in the hills above Mae Rim
Your Residence
Phuket & Trang
Turmeric, coconut and the coastal trade with Malaya — Sino-Portuguese shophouses, a private chef under the stars, and fruit at the height of its season
Day 7
Phuket Old Town — Shophouses and the Southern Table
Phuket & Trang · The South
The journey turns south again — heavier on turmeric, sharper on chilli heat, and shaped by centuries of coastal trade with Malaya and Muslim communities along the Andaman. Phuket's old town is the place to see this history laid out in brick: Sino-Portuguese shophouses built by Hokkien tin-mining families who intermarried with the local population, and a Peranakan food tradition of their own — Hokkien mee, moo hong, and o aew, the local shaved-ice dessert, sold from the same family shops for generations. Inland toward Trang, the food turns more distinctly southern still — gaeng tai pla and gaeng som, sour and turmeric-forward curries built for the heat, with a directness the central kitchens rarely attempt.
- Walking Phuket old town's Sino-Portuguese shophouses with a Peranakan food guide
- Tasting Hokkien mee, moo hong and o aew from long-running family shops
- Southern curry tasting — gaeng tai pla and gaeng som, turmeric and sour heat
- Free afternoon at the villa ahead of the evening's private chef dinner
Your Residence
Trisara, Phuket
Day 8
The Villa — A Private Chef Under the Stars
Phuket & Trang · The South
Your final evening is a private chef in the villa rather than a restaurant, a southern feast cooked to order as the sun goes down over the Andaman. If your dates fall between April and June, the region's orchards are also at their best — durian, mangosteen and rambutan all in season together, which happens for only a few weeks each year. The day itself is left slow and unplanned — the villa, the pool, and the coast — before the kitchen opens for the evening.
- A slow final day at the villa, with no fixed plan
- Fruit tasting at the height of the April–June season, when dates allow
- Private chef dinner at the villa, closing the journey on the Andaman coast
- Farewell drinks on the terrace as the sun sets over the coast
Your Residence
Trisara, Phuket
What's Included
Curated Experiences
-
Night Market Walk
Bangkok's old-town lanes, walked with someone who has worked the stalls for years — tasting as you go, never once seated at a fixed table.
-
Morning Market, Before the Kitchen
A working wet market with your cook before anything is cooked — the produce, the grades, the reasons one chilli or one fish sauce is chosen over another.
-
Technique-Led Cooking Session
A proper session in Chiang Mai built around hand-pounded curry paste and northern method — not a pre-cut kit assembled for a photograph.
-
Coffee in the Northern Hills
A small-lot highland farm above Mae Rim, and a cupping session with the grower — Thailand's coffee country, rarely on a first-time itinerary.
-
Private Chef Villa Evening
A southern Thai feast cooked to order at your villa on the Andaman coast — turmeric, coconut and the sea, closing the journey where it belongs.
-
Fine-Dining Reservations
Requests pursued at Bangkok's most serious tables as far ahead as each kitchen requires — the access that a foreign operator cannot arrange alone.
Stays
Where you'll rest
Capella Bangkok
Bangkok, Chao Phraya Riverside
A riverside address on the Chao Phraya with generous rooms, a private jetty for the city's ferries and longtails, and a kitchen culture that treats Thai and Chinese-Thai cooking with equal seriousness.
View hotel
Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai
Mae Rim Valley, Chiang Mai
Pavilion suites set among working rice terraces north of the city, home to one of Thailand's longest-running cooking schools — a fitting base for a journey built around technique.
View hotel
Trisara, Phuket
Andaman Coast, Phuket
Clifftop pool villas above a private bay on the island's quieter northwest coast, with a wine cellar and beach restaurant serious enough to anchor the journey's final evenings.
Experiences
Moments to add
Gastronomy
Talat Noi Night Market Walk
Chinatown, Bangkok
Culinary
River Kitchen by Longtail
Thonburi Canals, Bangkok
Gastronomy
Or Tor Kor, Before the Cooking
Or Tor Kor Market, Bangkok
Gastronomy
The Chinatown Counter at Midnight
Chinatown, Bangkok
Gastronomy
Curry Paste & Khao Soi Workshop
Chiang Mai
Gastronomy
Highland Coffee Cupping
Mae Rim Hills, Chiang Mai
Gastronomy
The Turmeric Coast, South
Phuket & Trang, The South
Go further
Continue your discovery
Other journeys
From the blog
Questions
What travellers ask
When is the best time to do The Table?
November through April, Bangkok and central Thailand's cool, dry season, which also suits the Chiang Mai leg. If your dates fall between April and June, the southern orchards around Phuket are at their best too — durian, mangosteen and rambutan all in season together for only a few weeks each year.
Is this journey private or a group tour?
Entirely private. The night market walk in Talat Noi, the Or Tor Kor market visit, the cooking sessions in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and the final private chef evening in the villa are all arranged for your own party, with no shared group at any table.
How much can the itinerary be changed?
The three-region structure — Bangkok, Chiang Mai, then Phuket Old Town — is a framework. Your SALA curator can rebuild the fine-dining reservations, swap a market visit, or shift nights between regions around your dates, and books the hardest tables months ahead.
Do I need to book fine-dining restaurants myself?
No — your curator handles it. Bangkok's serious tables, including Sorn, Nusara, Le Du, Potong, and Gaggan Anand, need booking months ahead, and confirming those reservations before your dates is part of what this itinerary arranges for you.
Begin This Journey
The table is set.
Come hungry.
Share a few details about your travel dates and what you most want to eat. Your SALA curator will respond within 24 hours with a bespoke proposal.
All journeys are entirely private · No group tours · Tailor-made for you