Potong
“Chef Pam's 20 courses in a five storey Chinatown pharmacy: one star, rebuilt June 2026. Book it for a birthday with theatre.”
About Potong
The building came first: a five storey Sino Portuguese house on Vanich 1 Road that served as Pichaya Soontornyanakij's family pharmacy for over a century. Chef Pam turned it into Potong in 2021, kept the medicine cabinets and the patina, and cooks a 20 course Thai Chinese tasting that treats her own ancestry as the pantry. The restaurant holds one Michelin star in the 2026 Thailand guide, and in 2025 the World's 50 Best organisation named her the World's Best Female Chef.
Dinner climbs the house floor by floor and runs about 20 courses under a philosophy Pam calls five senses, five elements. The centrepiece is the dry aged duck, matured 14 days and split across courses, crackling skin one moment and blood rich jus the next. Around it, Thai Chinese heritage cooking gets the full modern treatment: century egg refined past its reputation, chilli oil built in house, herbs from the Chinatown lanes outside. The ticket is ฿6,300 plus tax and service.
Pam closed the house for renovation and reopened it on 16 June 2026 with 28 seats across two dining levels, an expanded kitchen and a rewritten wine list. The one star standing held in the 2026 guide, announced before the works began. Booking runs through Chope, and the reopened room is currently the hardest table in Chinatown, so plan weekend dates several weeks ahead. Arrive early and walk Vanich 1 Road first; the street, all goldsmiths and dried goods, is part of the meal.
The Room
Five narrow storeys of patinated brick, Chinese apothecary cabinets and stairs worn by a century of the family's customers, now seating just 28 across two dining levels. The renovation lightened the rooms without scrubbing the age out of them. Expect close quarters, candle glow and a finale upstairs. Dress smart casual; the stairs punish nothing but stilettos.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Book the right occasion and Potong repays the effort twice over. These are the right ones.
For a birthday built like a story
Twenty courses through a century old house is a narrative, and narratives make better birthdays than banquettes. The kitchen paces the meal like chapters, the duck arrives as a mid evening high point, and the top of the house serves the closing sweets somewhere that feels like a secret. Note the birthday in the Chope booking and confirm by message; the team folds a personalised plate into the ending without a singing waiter in sight.
For a date with built in conversation
The house does the talking when the conversation pauses: every floor has an artefact with a story, the menu arrives in chapters that invite commentary, and the seats are close by design. Two people can hide in the rhythm of 20 small courses far better than across a white tablecloth. Book the earlier evening for softer light on the brick, and linger upstairs after the last course rather than rushing into the night.
For the visitor who wants Bangkok, not a ballroom
International guests get taken to hotel dining rooms all week. Bringing them into a working Chinatown lane, through a pharmacy facade and up a century of family history lands differently: it says you know the city, not just its concierges. The Thai Chinese menu gives Thai partners genuine pride of place too. Ask for the quieter upper dining level and build in time for the street before dinner.
What to order
The tasting is fixed at 20 courses, so the calls are the pacing, the drinks and how you use the house.
- The dry aged duck
Fourteen days of ageing, served across courses. It is the dish reviewers fly in for and the axis of the whole menu.
- The five element pacing
Do not ask to compress the meal. The 20 courses are small and the arc matters; give it the full three hours.
- The house aperitif
The drinks list leans on Chinatown botanicals and belongs to the building. Start with it before the first chapter.
- The upper floors, unhurried
Dessert moves you upward. Do not call the car until you have seen the top of the house.
Practical
- Address
- 422 Vanich 1 Road, Samphanthawong, Bangkok
- Reservations
- Chope · book weeks ahead since the June 2026 reopening
- Menu
- 20 courses, ฿6,300 plus tax and service
- Seats
- 28 across two dining levels
- Building
- Century old former family pharmacy, five storeys
- Dress
- Smart casual · stairs throughout
- Dietary
- Adaptations with advance notice; duck anchors the menu
- Getting there
- Wat Mangkon MRT, short walk into Vanich 1
Questions diners ask
Is Potong worth it?
Yes. One Michelin star, a chef named World's Best Female Chef in 2025 and a rebuilt 28 seat house make it Bangkok's most complete evening under ฿8,000 all in. The 20 course format genuinely earns its length, and the building gives the meal a sense of place no hotel dining room can copy.
Did Potong change after the 2026 renovation?
Yes, deliberately. The house closed for renovation and reopened on 16 June 2026 with 28 seats across two dining levels, a larger kitchen and an updated menu and wine list. The bones of the century old pharmacy remain, the star held in the 2026 guide, and demand since reopening has made booking tighter than before.
How much does Potong cost?
The tasting menu is ฿6,300 plus seven percent tax and ten percent service, which brings the food to about ฿7,400. With drinks, plan on ฿9,000 to ฿11,000 per person. That sits mid pack for starred Bangkok and buys 20 courses and one of the city's most distinctive rooms.
How do I book Potong?
Through Chope, the restaurant's reservation platform, where dates open in advance and weekends go quickly since the June 2026 reopening. Book several weeks out, note occasions and dietary needs in the booking, and confirm the flight afterwards. The house opens from late afternoon daily, and earlier slots are the easier win.