Thais take food seriously, and Buriram is no exception. This is a province where people will drive an hour for a good som tam, queue for meatballs on a stick behind the railway station, and spend a Sunday afternoon at a café in the middle of the rice fields. If you are working out where to eat in Buriram, this guide starts where most visitors are, in and around the city, and then heads out to the places that are worth a drive on their own.
How we put this together. We haven’t eaten everywhere on this list. Where we have, we say so. For the rest, we checked in October 2026 that each place is open and trading, from its own recent posts and dated reviews. Every place named below links to its listing in our business directory, with a map pin, directions, opening hours and phone number. Small Thai businesses change fast, so if something has moved or closed, please let us know.
Eating in Buriram: The Basics
Buriram eats like the rest of Isaan: sticky rice, grilled meats, salads and soups, all shared from the middle of the table. If the names are new to you, our guide to Isaan food explains what to order, and our pla ra guide covers the fermented fish sauce that flavours much of it.
- Spice: Isaan food is hot. If you don’t like it as spicy as the locals do, ask for phet nit noi (a little spicy) or mai phet (not spicy).
- Paying: cash is safest at small shops and markets. Many places take PromptPay QR payments, which need a Thai bank account. Cards are fine at hotels, malls and larger restaurants.
- Opening hours: breakfast shops open early, and some close by early afternoon. Cafés usually run from about 8am to 6pm, and many close one day a week, so check before a long drive.
- Prices: most of this is cheap by Western standards. A plate of chicken rice in town starts at about 50 baht, and a mu kratha buffet in the city is under 200 baht a head.
In Buriram City
Isaan and Thai Food
Kai Yang Sida is a long-running local favourite for charcoal-grilled chicken, with som tam and mok moo (minced pork steamed in banana leaf) alongside. It is on Anuwat Road in town.
Baan Chay Nam is a Thai and Isaan restaurant by the water on the bypass road, open in the evenings from 4pm, with live music. It suits a long dinner: crab curry with rice noodles and whole sea bass are among the dishes people come back for.
Mehaimena (มีไฮมีนา) in Ban Bua, just outside the city, is known for som tam and spicy Isaan dishes, and for a brightly coloured walkway out over the water. It was recommended to the travel YouTubers Danny and Diggy, who filmed their visit.
Orchid Restaurant, also in Ban Bua, serves Thai, Isaan and seafood dishes in thatched huts set over a pond.
Isaan Pratu Nam Chai on Palat Mueang Road is a big, busy Isaan restaurant with a long menu, a room for groups and its own car park: a good choice when you are eating with a family.
Old-School Breakfasts
Two of the city’s oldest shops are worth getting up for. Neither has much of an online presence, so if you can, ask your hotel to check they are open.
Kwang Jao is a Chinese-Thai breakfast and lunch shop on Niwat Road, said by regulars to be more than 50 years old: red pork and crispy pork on rice, noodles and congee, mostly under 100 baht. It is open from 7am to 3pm.
Khao Man Gai Chumnum Thai, by the railway station, serves Hainanese chicken rice from about 50 baht, from 6am. One long-time customer dates it to 1960.
Mu Kratha: The Thai Barbecue
Mu kratha (หมูกระทะ, also written moo kata) is the Thai way to barbecue, and one of the best evenings out in Isaan. A domed metal grill sits over a bucket of glowing charcoal in the middle of the table. You grill thin slices of pork on the dome, and the juices run down into a moat of broth around the rim, where you cook vegetables, glass noodles and eggs. Everything gets dipped in a sharp, spicy sauce.
It is a family occasion more than a meal. We have eaten mu kratha in the villages near Krasang, where three generations sit round one grill, trays of meat wait to be collected, and the idea is to eat until you are stuffed. Most places are buffets: you pay per head and help yourself. Some sell by the plate or by the kilo instead.
Wherever you stay, there is likely to be a mu kratha place in a nearby village, and the busy one is usually the good one. In the city:
- Romburi Buffet on Niwat Road, in the centre, advertises a 189-baht buffet.
- A-Yi Moo Kratha on Palat Mueang Road calls its recipe the original, dating from 1988.
Cafés in Town
Buriram’s café scene has grown quickly, and the city now has some properly stylish places for coffee and cake.
- Unbox Project, Bulamduan Road: a minimalist café known for its cakes.
- Loamer Teahouse, Thani Alley: a new Japanese-style matcha house, with coffee too.
- Sooon Coffee, Samatthakarn Road: coffee and pastries in a crisp white building.
- Sunbaked, opposite Wat Khao Kradong on the edge of town: a calm, minimalist café on the way to Khao Kradong.
- CHER Café, Niwat Road: a shady garden café full of plants.
Western Food
For a change from Thai food, these are the places expats in Buriram use:
- London Steak, Thani Road (opposite the Isuzu showroom): steaks and burgers, plus Thai and Mexican dishes, breakfasts and coffee.
- Pasta Lab 38, Soi Santisuk 4 behind Buriram Hospital: fresh pasta and homemade pizza. It calls itself the first fresh-pasta shop in Buriram.
- Up A Notch, on the Buriram–Phutthaisong road: steaks, burgers, wings, ribs and draught beer.
- La Lom, Khu Mueang Road: a restaurant and beer garden, with a games night (darts, pool, backgammon) every Wednesday from 6pm.
- Bella Italia, Thaiwatcharamas Road: Italian, open Tuesday to Sunday.
- Muang Pizza, Hanchana Road: a Dutch-owned pizzeria with pasta, Western dishes and Thai food.
- Bee Stop Bar and Grill, Thani Alley: a long-running expat bar that also serves food.
If you just want something familiar, there are branches of McDonald’s and KFC at Buriram Castle, next to Chang Arena, and more KFCs at Big C, Robinson and around the province.
Markets and Street Food
Standing meatballs (ลูกชิ้นยืนกิน). Behind Buriram railway station, more than ten stalls sell grilled meatballs on sticks at about 5 baht each. You eat them standing up at the stall, which is the point. They are such a Buriram institution that the city holds a “World Championship” standing meatball festival; the ninth was held at Chang Arena in March 2026.
Seraokrao Walking Street runs every Saturday and Sunday from 5pm to 10pm along the Khlong Lalom canal on Khu Mueang Road: local food, handicrafts and live music, with tables by the water.
Buriram Night Bazaar on Romburi Road is the city’s long-running evening market, good for som tam and mu kratha by the kilo.
On Match and Race Days
Chang Arena and Chang International Circuit are on the edge of the city, and on big days the roads around them fill up. Buriram Roasted Duck (บุรีรัมย์เป็ดย่าง) at Ban Khok Khao, about 1 km south of Chang Arena, serves salt-roasted duck in the original local style (closed Tuesdays). The Amari hotel at the stadium has its own restaurants, and the stadium runs food zones for major events. Our Buriram United guide and MotoGP guide cover match and race days in full.
Worth the Drive
Out in the countryside, Buriram has a remarkable number of cafés and restaurants that are a day out in their own right: rainforest gardens, rice-field walkways, lakeside platforms and farm cafés. They are busiest at weekends, many close one weekday, and you will need a car. Compare car hire rates from Buriram Airport.
Near the City
- Suan Khun Pu (Grandpa’s Garden), Sakae Phrong, about 15 km south-west of the centre: a family farm turned into wooden boardwalks across the rice fields, with pavilions, a café and local food. It also hosts events, including a New Year camping festival.
- U-Dom Suk Club, Ban Yang: a rustic café and co-working space on the site of the old Play Park water park.
- Muangpae Cafe, in Ban Dan, on the road between the city and the airport: a garden café with an artificial waterfall and koi, known for its cakes. Handy before or after a flight.
With Phanom Rung and Mueang Tam
These pair well with a morning at Phanom Rung and Prasat Mueang Tam, or our 3 days in Buriram itinerary.
- Natee Café, at Ban Thawon in Chaloem Phra Kiat, about 10 km from Phanom Rung: a rainforest-style garden café with a koi pond and misting. It calls itself a Buriram landmark, and its following suggests it is. The YouTube channel Ryan & Mo – Life In Rural Thailand filmed a full tour of it in March 2024.
- Baan Na Thawon, Chaloem Phra Kiat, near Phanom Rung: an Isaan restaurant around a bright blue pond in the rice fields, at its best for dinner at sunset.
- The Forest 24, Prakhon Chai: a garden restaurant in a tropical rainforest setting, serving full meals.
- Mar’s Riverside, off Highway 24 near Nang Rong: a riverside café and campsite. The café opens Friday to Sunday and on holidays.
- Phu Lava, on the slopes of Khao Angkhan, the extinct volcano under Wat Khao Angkhan: a small farm café serving Arabica coffee and produce grown in volcanic soil.
South-East: Krasang and the Surin Border
Infinity SeeSun Resort, Krasang. We have eaten here. The food, Thai and Western, is decent but nothing special: the reason to come is the place itself. It has a water park, so children can spend the day in it while everyone eats on site, and it makes an easy half or full day out.
- Several pools and a water park: a real resort
- Feels the MotoGP price surge less than the city
- Handy for the Sarus crane wetlands
- You will want a hire car for the circuit
- Rural and quiet: little within walking distance
Kiang Nam Kiang Na, next door in Song Chan: an organic farm café with wood-fired pizza, cakes and children’s pizza-making workshops. Open Wednesday to Sunday.
Nong Tah Haeng, just over the border in Surin province: we have been here too, and it is one of the best days out in the area. Around 30 floating raft platforms, each run by a local family, serve cheap Thai home cooking while you swim and float on the reservoir. Our Nong Tah Haeng guide has everything you need.
Further Afield
- Truthom, Phlapphla Chai: a restaurant and “slow-life retreat” with walks to waterfalls, rice fields and old houses, plus a pool. Thai food, coffee, desserts and shabu, open daily.
- Rai Sri Thong Suk, Nong Ki: wood-fired pizza and Thai food among the rice fields (closed Mondays), recently featured by a popular Isaan food channel.
- Doo Khao, Non Din Daeng, about 100 km from the city: a small café and guesthouse with mountain views, for a slow morning on a longer trip.
Where to Eat in Buriram FAQ
The city centre has the widest choice within a few minutes of each other: Isaan grills, old breakfast shops, cafés, Western restaurants and the markets. For destination cafés, head towards Phanom Rung (Route 24) or Krasang. (Checked October 2026.)
Thai barbecue: a domed grill over charcoal, with pork grilled on top and vegetables cooked in a moat of broth around the rim. Most places are buffets; in Buriram city, buffets cost under 200 baht a head (October 2026).
Choose busy stalls where food is cooked in front of you and turned over quickly. The standing-meatball stalls behind the railway station and the weekend walking street are good places to start.
Larger restaurants, hotels and malls do. Small shops and markets usually want cash or a PromptPay QR payment, which needs a Thai bank account.
Seraokrao Walking Street runs on Saturdays and Sundays from 5pm to 10pm along the Khlong Lalom canal on Khu Mueang Road (checked October 2026).
Not always. Many close one weekday and some open only at weekends, so check the café’s Facebook page before a long drive.
Last updated: 25 October 2026. Every place was checked open in October 2026.
Mu kratha: Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Som tam, sticky rice and gai yang: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Grilled meatballs: PattayaPatrol, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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