LOFTER is the Central Chidlom food court, up on the 6th floor of the department store, where I end up for lunch most weeks because my office is a short walk away. It gathers well-known Bangkok street food names and a handful of international counters under one air-conditioned roof, with prices printed on every board. This post covers what the stalls charge, how paying works now that the exit queue has gone, which dishes I would order again and how to avoid the office crowd that arrives at noon.
Why Central Built It
Central opened LOFTER on 25 November 2021 in the space that used to be its older food hall, FoodLoft. The idea was to bring street food names from across the city into one room, around 30 of them at launch, under the slogan that still hangs over the entrance: Eat Happily Like A Thai. The sign outside now reads Local Delights And Global Bites, which is a fair summary of how the counters have since broadened.
The appeal is simple if you have ever eaten lunch on a Bangkok pavement in April. The food here comes out of tiled kitchens behind glass, the room is cool and you sit at a proper table. Every counter names the shop behind it on a board overhead, so you know whose recipe you are buying. Several of them display Michelin Guide plaques beside the till.
How Paying Works Now
Until the end of May 2026 the staff handed you a card carrying ฿1,000 of credit as you walked in, each stall charged your food to it and you settled the total at a cashier counter that was also the only way out. At lunchtime that meant two cashiers for well over 100 people. Getting in was easy and getting out was the problem, because close to 1pm everyone needed to be back at the office at once and the exit turned into chaos.
Since 1 June 2026 you pay at the stall when you order. The signs list credit card, Thai QR, Alipay and WeChat Pay, so my last lunch went straight on a Mastercard at the counter. The signs keep one card option for anyone paying in cash: you top it up at the cashier and it carries a ฿20 deposit. The table cards spell out the rest: buy from any stall, sit anywhere and leave outside food at the door.
What The Stalls Charge
Most Thai plates cost between ฿85 and ฿150. Noodle bowls at Zaew run from ฿85 to ฿125, the rice dishes at the Chinese counter from ฿115 to ฿135 and half a fried chicken with sticky rice and papaya salad is ฿150. The Japanese counter ranges from ฿119 for chicken teriyaki to ฿299 for grilled eel, while the pastas at the Italian counter pass ฿300.
You pay a little more than you would at the original shops. The clearest example from my own lunches is khao soi, the northern curry noodle soup: a bowl with a chicken drumstick is ฿95 at Mok And Soi Express, where a street shop usually asks ฿70 to ฿90. For a clean kitchen, a seat and air conditioning, I consider the difference well spent.
What I Have Eaten Here
The plate I would send anyone to first is the stewed pork knuckle on rice from Trok Sung, a shop whose sign dates it to 1955. The meat arrives shredded over the rice with pickled mustard greens, Chinese kale, a halved braised egg and a dish of garlic and chilli vinegar. The plate is ฿115 and I paid ฿155 with an extra portion added.
Zaew is a name Bangkok people travel for when they want fishball noodles, so I had high hopes for its counter here. My bowl of dry egg noodles with fishballs, stuffed tofu and a crispy fried topping was pleasant but it did not taste like the original shop. Perhaps a food court kitchen changes things or perhaps the cooks are still settling in. I would give it another go before judging.
The grilled saba from Jubu is ฿139 and it is exactly what that price suggests: a decent fillet with cabbage and lime from a man running a Japanese counter in a food court. If you want mackerel grilled over charcoal as part of a full set, that is a different meal at a different price.
The Korean counter opened recently and its spicy pork set was good, with rice, salad and six small side dishes including kimchi and marinated quail eggs. The catch is the price. Korean sets here run to ฿200 or ฿300 when a Thai plate a few counters along costs about ฿100, so order it because you fancy Korean food, not because you are hunting for value.
On the same visit the table shared som tam and half a fried chicken buried in crispy garlic from the fried chicken counter, which is the closest the room gets to a pavement Isan lunch.
When To Go And Where To Sit
Central Chidlom connects to BTS Chit Lom by a covered skywalk, so you can walk from the platform into the store without touching the street, then take the lift to the 6th floor. The surrounding blocks are offices, which means Monday to Friday from noon to 1pm is the hour to avoid. Arrive at 11.30am or after 1pm and you will order without a wait and have your pick of the tables.
The seating runs from pink armchairs near the counters to orange sofa booths at the back, where a small round platform ringed by the booths serves as a stage. A live band plays there on some days, although I have never worked out its timetable. A second level of tables looks down on the hall from a gallery under a timber ceiling, which is where I head when the floor is full.
LOFTER is not the cheapest lunch in Bangkok and it does not try to be. It is a comfortable room where you can eat a Trok Sung pork knuckle, a bowl of khao soi or a Korean set at the same table, pay by card and be back at your desk within the hour. Start with the pork knuckle.