Hi toastedmalow,

As with everywhere the price of food and drinks varies enormously. Much depends on where you are.

You can eat very, very cheaply at some Thai places, but wine does tend to be expensive.

We've never ben able to find any "local" wine that is to our taste, but some Australian wines appear to be reasonable value (the dry sparkly stuff is great with Thai food).

Beer can also vary enormously - in bars (approx - this can vary)
Chang - 60bht
Leo - 70bht
Singha - 70bht
Heineken - 100bht

To get an idea of prices (food and wine) in a good restaurant try http://www.blueelephant.com/bangkok/index.html
There are some links on the LH to their munu and drinks lists, which include prices.

For a meal in an ordinary (I use the word loosely) Thai restaurant, such as Suda off Sukhumvit in Bangkok (thoroughly recommended), expect £3 to £5 for a good full meal.

For an intermediate restaurant such as Cabbages and Condoms, a set menu will be from about £10.

This is a rough guide only, I hope that it helps.

Peter

Unfortunately wine is a crazy price here to to the taxes on it. This applies to Thai wine too. There is some good stuff Chateau De Loei or the stuff from Village Farm near Khao Yai. But on the whole it's best to avoid any local stuff as it's a bit rough. You can get Thai wine from around 250 baht/bottle but it is usually fruit wine - similar taste to the homebrew wine your Dad used to make in the airing cupboard.

A bottle of Hardy's Red that would cost GBP3, is around 450 - 550 Baht in Tesco. So when you get into a restaurant think of any drinkable wine costing around 800 - 900 baht or more. Basically more than doubling the cost of your meal. Stick to beer.

At all costs, avoid the 'Mont Clair' brand which many restaurants sell as house wine. And note that outside the more expensive restaurants red wine is usually served chilled.

Most restaurants will open a bottle of wine you bring for a small corkage charge (50-200baht). Make sure you bring a couple of bottles with you through customs.