top of page

Thailand Is Throwing a Free Food Festival in Century City, and It Brought Its Celebrities

22 hours ago
4 min read

A free Thai food festival is coming to Century City on a Sunday night in November, and the government of Thailand is paying for it.


The Thai SELECT Festival 2026 runs Sunday, November 22, from 7 to 11 p.m. at The Pavilion at Century Park. Admission is free and open to anyone who shows up.


What Thai SELECT Actually Is


This is the part most people miss, and it changes how you read the event.


Thai SELECT is a certification mark issued by Thailand's Ministry of Commerce through its Department of International Trade Promotion. Restaurants abroad that meet the ministry's standards for authentic Thai cooking can carry it. The festival exists to put that mark in front of American diners and American food importers at the same time.


In other words, this is a trade promotion wearing the clothes of a street party. That is not a criticism. It does mean the restaurants serving that night were selected by a government body rather than by a critic, and it is worth knowing which filter produced the lineup.


The Draw Is Two Actors


The headline guests are Keng and Namping, and if those names mean nothing to you, they mean a great deal to a large and well-organized audience.


Keng is Harit Buayoi, born in Phayao Province in 1999, who played Jingna in The Paradise of Thorns in 2024 and took his first lead role as Pharan in the 2025 series Khemjira. Namping is Napatsakorn Pingmuang, his co-star in that series. The two took Best Partner at the Y Universe Awards in 2025, and they tour as a pair.


Their fandom calls itself the OhOhs, and the organizers are leaning on it hard, asking fans to tag posts with two hashtags and push the event to trend. The duck and rabbit that keep appearing in the promotional material are the pair's symbols.


Keng and Namping held their first Manila fan meeting earlier this month. Expect the Century City crowd to include people who are there for the actors and will discover the food as a side effect, which is almost certainly the point.


What Last Year's Los Angeles Edition Looked Like


The best guide to November 22 is what the same organizers did here last year.


On November 28, 2025, the Thai SELECT Festival took over The Cabana at Westfield Century City and styled it as a Thai night market. More than 14 Thai SELECT certified restaurants served signature dishes. Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi presided over the opening and toured the booths.


There was a cultural activity zone with a Pa-Pao dart game, a set from the band Kruangtedd, a DJ, and appearances by Warbie Yama, a Thai cartoon character with a serious following. Guests collected stamps in a Thai SELECT Passport for a prize drawing, and the prizes were handed out by actors Mile Phakphum Romsaithong and Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat.


So the formula is established: certified restaurants, a night market layout, cultural programming, a stamp card, and a pair of Thai celebrities as the magnet. This year the magnet is Keng and Namping.


About That Full Moon


The promotional copy keeps calling it a night under the full moon, which is a nod rather than a coincidence.


Loy Krathong, the Thai festival of floating candlelit krathongs on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, falls around November 24 or 25 in 2026. November 22 sits just inside that window. The organizers have not announced a krathong float, and we would not promise one, but the timing is deliberate.


What We Do Not Know Yet


A fair amount, and it is worth saying plainly before you plan around it.


  • No restaurant lineup has been published. Last year's count was more than 14. This year's is unannounced. The ministry does publish its full certified list, filterable by country, in the official Thai SELECT restaurant directory.

  • No street address has been released. The organizers say The Pavilion at Century Park. Century Park sits at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, per its Google listing.

  • No RSVP or ticketing link has been posted, and the announcement says only that admission is free and everyone is welcome.

  • Whether the food is free is not stated. Admission being free is not the same thing. Last year's format had guests moving between restaurant booths.

  • No parking guidance. Century City on a Sunday evening is manageable, but a free event with a fandom attached is a different proposition.


If You Go



We will update this piece when the restaurant lineup and a street address are released.


Sourcing


The date, time, venue, free admission and the Keng and Namping appearance come from the event announcement issued by the Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, Thailand, which was provided to Food Journal Magazine. Biographical details on Harit Buayoi and Napatsakorn Pingmuang come from public records of their work. The account of the 2025 Los Angeles edition comes from the organizers' own release on that event. The Loy Krathong timing is from published 2026 lunar calendars and should be confirmed with the Tourism Authority of Thailand closer to the date. The Century Park address comes from Google Business Profile, checked October 28, 2026.

Comments

bottom of page