One of the great things about Bangkok is finding out, with a bit of exploration, just what a cosmopolitan city it really is. Farangs aren’t actually the largest expat population, that honor goes to the Japanese, some 80,000 of them; and a trip to Thonglor, say to Nihonmura in Soi 13, will make you think you are somewhere in Asakusa rather than Bangkok. The number of Burmese, both legal and otherwise, and their community, is a story in itself. Yet certainly one of the most interesting places in the City of Angels is Sukhumvit Soi 3/1, also known as Little Arabia (or Soi Arab to others).

Little Arabia is an enclave full of Middle Eastern restaurants, along with shops, hotels, and other establishments catering to the large African and Middle Eastern population visiting and residing in Bangkok. The narrow soi has an other worldly feel to it, as the djellaba, burqa, turban, and the keffiyeh, shemagh, and other headdresses worn by the residents of Saudi, Oman, and throughout the Middle East are far more visible than the usual miniskirts to be found elsewhere in the neighborhood.

The food in Little Arabia is probably the main reason for making a visit. The street is lined with open cafes and eateries serving up delicious portions of hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, shish kebab, and other delicacies. Several of the best ones, the Egyptian-run Nefertiti and Nasir restaurants, are crowded with customers every night, with trays of thick pita and naan bread and plates of lamb, sharing table space with glasses of mint tea and sweet slices of baklava and other sticky honey-filled desserts. Just up the road, Shahrazad has been serving fine cuisine since 1983, with dishes such as stuffed pigeon served by hijab-wearing Thai waitresses, and is often filled with the young and trendy.