Indiagate Indian Restaurant – Bangkok
567/1 อาคาร, เซ็นทารา วอเตอร์เกท พาวิลเลียน กรุงเทพ, Ratchaprarop Rd, Makkasan, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400
Pick Indiagate when the group is bigger than four and someone has shopping bags from Platinum. The kitchen has been doing the same North Indian repertoire for 20-plus years across five Thailand outlets, so the thali, biryani and butter chicken come out consistent. Go to a smaller, chef-driven place if it is a date night.
You sit down on the ground floor of a building on Pratunam Road, the bags from Platinum and Pantip parked under the table, and a menu that opens with chaat, kebabs and a long biryani section in front of you. That is the practical reality of Indiagate's Pratunam branch, address 567/1, Makkasan, Ratchathewi. It is built for the shopper, the tour group and the family of six, not for the candlelit two-top.
The restaurant has been running since 2004. Two decades, five locations across Thailand: Pratunam and Sukhumvit 47 in Bangkok, two in Pattaya (Terminal 21 and Beach Road), and one on Thawewong Road in Patong, Phuket. The repetition matters. The thali plates, the butter chicken, the mutton, the pani puri and the biryani are the same dishes the kitchen has been turning out for over twenty years, which is the case for ordering them rather than going off-piste.
The cuisine is straight North Indian. Starters cover soups, spiced seafood, chaat and kebabs. Mains run through lamb, chicken and seafood, with a full vegetable and daal section for vegetarians. Order the butter chicken and a biryani for the table, add a thali if someone wants the sampler route, and let the breads carry the rest.
The group-dining angle is the real differentiator. Indiagate publishes a corporate buffet menu and runs catering for big travel groups across Bangkok and Pattaya, which is why the Pratunam dining room is sized for parties rather than couples.
Call ahead if you are ten or more. The kitchen handles set buffets and group bookings as a routine part of the operation, and confirming the headcount in advance is the difference between a smooth dinner and a 40-minute wait for the second round of naan.