Hong Seng
Bib Gourmand 2026

🔄 Last checked 2 Jul 2026 · details and hours can change — check the venue before you go

Hong Seng Pochana is a Thai-Chinese restaurant on the Chao Phraya at the foot of the Rama IV Bridge, right next to the Pak Kret municipal pier in Nonthaburi. It's been open since 1957, so it's now past 60 years old and running into its third generation. Few restaurants like this are left in Bangkok and its surrounding provinces — an open-air dining room that catches the river breeze, with a wooden terrace jutting out over the Chao Phraya where you can eat while watching the boats go by. MICHELIN agrees, awarding it a Bib Gourmand and keeping it in the guide for at least three consecutive years running through the 2026 edition, with inspectors specifically praising the reasonably priced flavoursome fare, plus a special mention for the open-air dining room and the riverside wooden terrace.

Two dishes get a direct mention from MICHELIN — the grilled giant river prawns served with a spicy seafood dipping sauce, and the mini deep-fried crab meat rolls wrapped in tofu skin. Those two dishes are the reason people drive all the way out to Pak Kret. The giant river prawns are priced by size, so you can order small or large depending on your budget. The vegetable dishes aren't an afterthought either — the bitter, salty stir-fried bitter gourd with salted fish eaten with hot steamed rice, and the kale stems stir-fried with prawn claws, which pairs the crunch of the kale stems with the sweetness of the prawn claw meat, are dishes that get reordered at every table. Most of the menu is still very reasonably priced — kale stir-fried with shrimp paste is THB 180, fried mullet cake is THB 150, and it finishes off with mango sticky rice with coconut milk at THB 80. The total budget per person runs about THB 251–500 and up; skip the large giant river prawns and you'll pay less than you'd think.

What makes this restaurant more fun than most is how you get there — MICHELIN itself suggests arriving by boat straight to the pier, or if you're driving, parking in the public space under the Rama IV Bridge. These days the Pink Line runs all the way to Pak Kret Junction station, from where it's about a 1.5–1.8 km walk, roughly 20 minutes, or a 5-minute motorbike taxi ride. Two things worth knowing before you go — on weekdays the restaurant only serves lunch, closing sharp at 2pm, and it's cash only, so bring enough bank notes. Get those two things sorted and this riverside lunch on the Chao Phraya will go smoothly from start to finish.