Indian Express opened on 1st March 2022 on Soi Phetchaburi 31 in Ratchathewi, and in under three years it has accumulated over 10,000 Google reviews at a 4.9-star rating — a number that reflects consistent execution rather than novelty hype. The restaurant seats 120 guests across a main dining room built around an open kitchen concept, private banquet facilities, and outdoor seating, with a full bar running alcohol, beer, and wine alongside Indian Masala Tea brewed with jaggery. Halal dining is available, and the menu carries clear vegetarian and vegan options throughout.
Founder Bandi Vivek Wardhan built the menu around both North and South Indian cooking — not as a compromise but as a genuine dual identity. A buffet spread runs alongside a la carte service, covering South Indian staples like dosas, rasam, pani puri, and dal tadka, while the a la carte side leans into North Indian classics and a handful of Thai and Italian dishes for tables with mixed preferences. The kitchen works the tandoor hard: it anchors the most-ordered dishes and gives the food a backbone that sets Indian Express apart from the city's more Westernized curry houses.
You walk into a room where the kitchen is in full view — there's nothing hidden about how the food is made here, and the open layout means the smell of char from the tandoor reaches you before you sit down. Service is direct and familiar rather than formal; staff know the menu and will steer you toward the buffet or a la carte depending on what you're after. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible, and booking a table in advance is recommended for evenings and weekends given the volume of regulars. Delivery is available if you'd rather eat off-site, but the sizzle on the paneer tikka lands better at the table.
The kitchen runs from 10:00 AM to midnight daily, which makes it one of the few Indian restaurants in Bangkok where a late dinner — or a long, unhurried one — doesn't require watching the clock.
The Chicken Biryani is cooked dum style, sealing fragrant basmati rice and spiced chicken inside a sealed pot so the steam does the work — the result is layered and aromatic rather than wet or heavy. Tandoori Chicken Masala takes birds off the tandoor and finishes them in a masala sauce, giving you the smokiness of the grill with the depth of a slow-cooked gravy. Butter Chicken with Naan is the crowd anchor — the sauce is rich but not cloying, and the naan comes out of the tandoor with the right amount of char. Sizzling Paneer Tikka arrives at the table still popping on a cast iron plate, the paneer holding its texture while picking up smoky spice from the marinade. Prawn Masala rounds out the seafood end of the menu with coastal Indian spices that run warmer and more complex than the cream-forward North Indian dishes. For dessert, Gajar Ka Halwa — a slow-cooked carrot sweet — closes the meal in a direction most Bangkok Indian restaurants don't bother to go.
Indian Express sits on Soi Phetchaburi 31 in the Makkasan sub-district of Ratchathewi, close to the Pratunam market area and within easy reach of Phetchaburi MRT station. The soi is accessible by taxi or motorcycle taxi from the main Phetchaburi Road junction.
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