Tien Sin
เขดบางรัก บ้านเลขที176.ซ.ศรีเวียง ถ. เจริญกรุง Si Lom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500
This is breakfast and lunch territory, not dinner. The 30-baht flat rate makes it one of the cheapest proper meals near Silom. Come early if you want the full spread, because once a dish sells out it stays empty. The green curry with mock meat is the anchor order.
You step off Charoen Krung into a narrow shophouse dining room with fluorescent lights and plastic stools. Tien Sin runs a buffet line of pre-cooked Thai vegetarian dishes under heat lamps, the kind of setup where you grab a plate, point at two or three items, and the server loads your rice. Every dish costs 30 baht.
The menu rotates daily but centers on Thai-Chinese jay staples. Kuay teow jay arrives as rice noodle soup with morning glory and a light broth. Gaeng keow wan comes with chunks of mock chicken in green curry paste, coconut milk, and Thai basil. Tom jap chai is a clear tofu soup with cabbage, mushrooms, and glass noodles, the kind of thing that feels medicinal in a good way. There is also an extended menu for dishes made to order, though most people stick to the buffet.
The restaurant opens at 6:30AM and officially closes at 5PM weekdays, 4PM Saturday, but the real cutoff is earlier. Once the trays empty, service stops. Lunch hour between noon and 1PM sees the heaviest traffic, mostly office workers from the Silom end and a handful of regulars who live in the soi. The room is small, seating maybe 20 people across a few tables, and turnover is fast.
Cash only. No cards, no wallet apps. The location sits across from the Shangri-La Hotel on the Charoen Krung side, a short walk from Saphan Taksin BTS but far enough that you are outside the expat breakfast circuit. Closed Sundays.