Chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn opened Nusara in 2020 with his brother Chaisiri "Tam" Tassanakajohn, naming the restaurant after their grandmother. Located in the Ta Tien district of Phra Nakhon, directly across from Wat Pho, the restaurant occupies a heritage building where Bangkok's historical layers are visible from every window. Chef Ton trained at the Culinary Institute of America, earned an MBA from Johnson & Wales, and staged at Eleven Madison Park, Jean-Georges, and The Modern in New York before returning to Bangkok. He also runs Le Du (one Michelin star since 2019), Baan, and several other concepts.
Nusara earned its own Michelin star in the 2026 Guide Thailand and climbed to No. 5 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026, up from No. 6 the previous year. The 2025 World's 50 Best Restaurants list placed it at No. 35. Chef Ton received the 2026 Chefs' Choice Award from Asia's 50 Best, a peer-voted honor. He remains the only Thai chef with two restaurants on the Asia's 50 Best list simultaneously.
The food at Nusara is what Chef Ton calls "colorful Thai cuisine." It is neither strictly traditional nor overtly modern. The 12-course tasting menu draws on regional Thai recipes and reframes them with precision techniques, served family-style after an opening sequence of inventive small bites. This modern Thai restaurant in Phra Nakhon, Bangkok reflects the Ta Tien neighborhood itself, where old and new coexist without tension.
You begin the evening on the rooftop, where the softly lit balcony frames a direct view of Wat Pho's illuminated spires. Welcome bites are served here before staff guide you through the kitchen and a bar area on the upper floor. The main dining room seats roughly 10 guests at a time, creating an atmosphere closer to a private dinner than a conventional restaurant. Olive-green walls and gold accents set a warm, understated tone.
The 12-course tasting menu is priced at 3,590 THB per person. Staff introduce each dish with context on its regional origins, the ingredients used, and the techniques behind it. Tam, who serves as managing director and certified sommelier, oversees the beverage pairings and front-of-house operations. Dinner runs from 6pm to 11pm nightly. Reservations are essential given the limited seating.
The Tom Yum Goong Consomme opens the meal with a clear, intensely concentrated prawn broth that strips the classic soup to its essence: lemongrass, galangal, and clean heat. Isaan Tartare reworks northeastern larb traditions into a raw beef preparation finished with toasted rice powder and a tangle of fresh herbs. Mid-meal, the Thai Wagyu stir-fry with holy basil arrives as a refined pad kra pao, with premium wagyu replacing street-stall cuts and the wok hei flavor kept intact. A quartet of regional relishes, each representing a different Thai province's chili-paste tradition, comes with seasonal vegetables and shifts the pace toward communal, family-style eating. Nusara closes with coconut ice cream threaded with Thai herbs, a clean finish that links back to the grandmother's home cooking the restaurant honors.
Nusara sits on Thanon Maha Rat in the Ta Tien area of Phra Nakhon, directly across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun and steps from Wat Pho. The nearest transit option is the Tha Tien express boat pier; alternatively, a taxi from BTS Saphan Taksin takes about 15 minutes.
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