Last updated on March 16th, 2024 at 02:13 pm

SEARCHING FOR THE BEST PIZZA IN BANGKOK

See that photo above? It may not look like it, but that right there is an idiot who absolutely loves pizza from New York City.

And that’s where I grew up. On the Lower East Side of Manhattan more specifically. There were many pizzerias in and around my old stomping grounds in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

To this day I still remember going to pizzerias with my dad and grabbing a couple of slices and soda together. I don’t remember what we talked about. I just remember two guys enjoying pizzas. Those are good memories.

Then when I was old enough to go out on my own, like a rite of passage, my parents gave me .75 cents to get a slice for lunch. While trying not to get robbed. I grew up at the peak of the crack epidemic after all. It was life or death I tell you back in the old days of NYC.

I remember Gino’s Pizza on Catherine Street, Richard’s Pasta and Cafe on Pearl Street, Famous Ray’s Pizza (most of them), Pizza Palace on Bayard… and that’s all the names I can remember folks. Hey, it was 40 years ago and at my advanced age, things get foggy.

To me, it was like a privilege to walk a few minutes from where I lived. And smell the sweet, sweet aroma of a freshly baked pizza bubbling away inside an oven.

New York Style pizzas are thin and crispy. The outer crust is not too fluffy but got a good bite. A well-made cheese pizza with a generous sprinkling of garlic powder and dried oregano. And a dash of spicy chili flakes.

It’s the best I tell ya! THE BEST!

BUT I’M NOT IN NYC ANYMORE

I’ve been residing in Bangkok for around 25 years now. It wasn’t until 5 or 6 years ago NYC style pizzas started to gain traction in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok.

Before that time the options for “Western” style pizzas in Thailand were limited. I mean you could find it in hotel restaurants and chain pizza restaurants. Which just wasn’t the same.

I recall there were a few small pizzerias near a red light district in Bangkok. This made sense cause those are the areas where many foreign tourists hang around to get drunk.

Then there are the local Thai pizza interpretations. A round piece of baked dough topped with mayonnaise and ketchup. With not-so-traditional toppings but I get it. The locals love “pizza” too. I don’t blame them.

That’s not to say decent or pizza as close to as I know it was never around Thailand. Like everything else around the world that people are passionate about there is an origin story.

A SHORT HISTORY OF PIZZA IN THAILAND

The fast food business in Thailand started slowly with a cold reception. As the founder of Pizza Hut in Thailand stated in this article, Dairy in the form of cheese wasn’t popular and neither was bread.

Times change and the Western diet is gradually taking hold.

As of writing, there are 180 Pizza Hut restaurants and delivery outlets in Thailand. Pizza Hut’s main rival competition Pizza Company has 560 branches around the Kingdom.

Thais are moving to a Westernized diet. Matter of fact not only Western but East Asian foods are popular also like Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.

That article was written in the 90’s. Today chain pizza restaurants with their flashy commercials are advertised on social media, traditional media with ads splashed all over public transportation. The younger Thai population is crazy about it.

Gradually restaurants serving Neapolitan style or as I like to call fancy pizzas were around too. Because there were many casual dining Italian restaurants, opened by foreigners, especially in Bangkok and Pattaya.

THE ARRIVAL OF NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA IN BANGKOK

All the years living in Thailand I gave up the search for a slice of New York’s finest. I mean I get it. I’m not in New York City but I do go back once a year. And the first thing I did was search for a pizzeria right after I got out of the airport.

If I recall correctly I found SOHO Pizza through an advert on my Facebook feed. It looked legit with the classic New York style slice appearance. Matter of fact they sold pizza by the slice like they do in America. And they had the name SOHO in it.

SOHO is one of those fancy schmancy neighborhoods around lower Manhattan. With many popular pizzerias dotted around that neighborhood.

With SOHO pizza ads crammed in my face, I decided to go try it out with my wife.

I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was really good, as close to NYC style pizza as you can possibly get halfway across the world.

The cheese, the crust, the zingy tomato sauce. And oh yeah, the grease. You know the grease that runs down your hand leaving a yellow orange streak, down to your elbows if you’re not careful. Whether you like that or not it’s a hallmark of a NY slice.

I dug in a little about the background of SOHO Pizza. And learned they were managed by a powerhouse food and beverage agency called SOHO Hospitality. And I think they did a great job bringing my favorite pizza to Thailand. As of writing SOHO Pizza has 6 branches, all inside Bangkok.

Then we got Chef Bing! of Chef Bing Pizza who also started his pizza restaurant in Bangkok, around 2019. The first location was near Khao San Road and now he’s moved to the Lumphini area very close to central Sukhumvit Road.

The chef also has a New York City background and is a real chef. It’s not just a title he picked up. After working in the restaurant industry US for a while he eventually returned home.

And then taught himself how to make New York City style pizza. From scratch!

This reminds me of the story of Mark Iacono, a master pizzaiolo and owner of one of the most famous pizza restaurants in Brooklyn called Lucali. And I wish Chef Bing achieves the same level of success here in Thailand

His pizza has a very good char to it. Every bite I took there was a snap and a crunch, the cheese and the sauce, oh man! He had done NYC pizza justice and I am proud!

PIZZAS IN THAILAND TODAY

If you want to eat Italian or American-style pizzas in Thailand today it is very easy to find. Whether or not they are authentic or taste good by your standards is a whole different matter.

Just take for example if an Italian from Napoli traveled to Bangkok and tried a Napolitana at an Italian-owned restaurant will that pizza remind them of Napoli?

It depends on how well the Italian chef trained his cook. It depends on the ingredients the Italian chef used are the same in the Italian city of Napoli. Pizzas in Napoli use specific ingredients native to its surrounding region, such as tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.

It’s the same way I look at it. Especially when I started making pizza reviews in Bangkok. And I can say for certain it is an exciting time!

As of writing, I made a few pizza reviews on Wally’s Travels and Eats which is my second YouTube channel.

According to this online pizza publication https://www.50toppizza.it/ five of the best fifty best pizzas in Southeast Asia are in Thailand. That’s quite impressive. All of those 5 Thai pizzas are of the Neopolitan variety. I prefer New York style pizzas.

There are Thai cultural aspects to consider in the Thai food industry. Thais do not like to eat burnt food. Eating charred bits as a certain population of Thais believe is carcinogenic. Whether or not that is true I would say you have to do your research on the validity of such a claim.

Traditional pizzas have what’s called Leopard Spotting, where spots of dark char are visible under the pizza as well as the crust. It is typically more pronounced in wood and coal-fired ovens.

That said, there are so many pizzerias all over Bangkok, Pattaya, and Hua Hin I can’t wait to check them out. I’m pretty sure the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui have many too because of foreign tourists and expats.

What’s your favorite pizzeria in Thailand or anywhere you’re reading this?