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Looking for the best Thai restaurants in London? Although we love a good pad thai and green curry but there’s so much more to Thai food than that. From the new innovators such as Som Saa and Smoking Goat, to the old school authentic classics, these are the best in London.
Som Saa is all about regional Thai dishes made using a mix of seasonal British and authentic Asian produce. They’re famed for their Bangkok HOT som tam but everything packs a serious punch here – the whole deep-fried seabass and northern-style herbal curry of Dexter beef shin are ESPECIALLY delish. The Thai-inspired cocktail list is well worth a look too, you won’t see drinks like those many other places in town. One of the best Thai restaurants in London
It was named the UK’s best restaurant at the 2018 National Restaurant Awards and we can confirm that Kiln defo lives up to the hype. The food is inspired by the Thai borderlands, including Burmese and Yunanese spices and flavours, and there’s lots of cooking over open fire. The jungle curry of brill is a winner (and spicy too) and the claypot baked glass noodles are an absolute must-order too.
Krapow’s mission is to prove to Londoners that there is so much more to Thai food than Pad Thai and Green Curry – and they’ve nailed it. It’s cheap and cheerful but the food is bang on. The menu is pretty short, with a few small dishes and larger plates to choose from, so you can work your way through a good chunk of the menu. We loved the ‘Sai Oua’, a smoked Chang Mai-style sausage; the turkey larb salad; and the ‘Son In Law’ eggs, deep fried and served with a sweet tamarind dip. A newcomer but already one of the best Thai restaurants in London.
Thai Restaurants
Looking for the best Thai restaurants in London? Although we love a good pad thai and green curry but there’s so much more to Thai food than that. From the new innovators such as Som Saa and Smoking Goat, to the old school authentic classics, these are the best in London.
Som Saa is all about regional Thai dishes made using a mix of seasonal British and authentic Asian produce. They’re famed for their Bangkok HOT som tam but everything packs a serious punch here – the whole deep-fried seabass and northern-style herbal curry of Dexter beef shin are ESPECIALLY delish. The Thai-inspired cocktail list is well worth a look too, you won’t see drinks like those many other places in town. One of the best Thai restaurants in London
It was named the UK’s best restaurant at the 2018 National Restaurant Awards and we can confirm that Kiln defo lives up to the hype. The food is inspired by the Thai borderlands, including Burmese and Yunanese spices and flavours, and there’s lots of cooking over open fire. The jungle curry of brill is a winner (and spicy too) and the claypot baked glass noodles are an absolute must-order too.
Krapow’s mission is to prove to Londoners that there is so much more to Thai food than Pad Thai and Green Curry – and they’ve nailed it. It’s cheap and cheerful but the food is bang on. The menu is pretty short, with a few small dishes and larger plates to choose from, so you can work your way through a good chunk of the menu. We loved the ‘Sai Oua’, a smoked Chang Mai-style sausage; the turkey larb salad; and the ‘Son In Law’ eggs, deep fried and served with a sweet tamarind dip. A newcomer but already one of the best Thai restaurants in London.
Seven years after Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver duo opened som saa in Spitalfields, they’ve opened their newest spot, Kolae, in a three floor site (including a courtyard) in Borough Market. The focus is on grilled dishes and kolae (also known as Golae, Galae and Gaw Lae), a cooking technique found in the south of Thailand where ingredients are soaked in a curry-like coconut marinade before hitting the grill. Highlights from the menu include fried prawn heads with turmeric & garlic; kolae mussel skewer with calamansi lime; kolae chicken bamboo skewer; sour mango salad with dried shrimp & roasted coconut; southern gati curry of seasonal whole fish; and pandan sticky rice, young coconut sorbet & jackfruit. As for drinks, there’s concise menu of imaginative cocktails made using Thai ingredients – hello pickled green mango dirty martini – around 15-20 wines from Modal and a handful of beers and ciders.
Inspired by Buddhist traditions and all the provinces of Thailand, The Begging Bowl serves up a short but varied menu featuring dishes such as smoked mackerel, pomelo, galangal and peanuts in betel leaf; deep fried whole seabass with green mango and tamarind and chilli caramel dressing; turmeric, black pepper and braised pig cheek curry; and charcoal grilled celeriac with peanut curry and pickled ginger. It’s a real local fave so it’s defo one to check out when you’re down Peckham way.
After announcing a sabbatical at the end of last year, cult Thai restaurant Singburi has now relocated from Leytonstone to Shoreditch. Chef Sirichai Kularbwong has teamed up with chef Nick Molyviatis (who was the founding chef at Kiln and who helped launched OMA) and Alexander Gkikas (co-founder of Catalyst Cafe and Roastery), to open Singburi 2.0 inside the new Montacute Yards development close to Shoreditch High Street station. The menu is reminiscent of the blackboard at the Leytonstone restaurant, with dishes like Dill & Lemongrass Pork Sausage; Wild Ginger Chicken Thigh; Prawn & Betel Leaf Southern Curry; Mussels, Tomato & Sweet Basil; and Smoked Pork Belly & Green Peppercorn. There’s also a bar at this Singburi, pouring a rotating selections of wine (all available by the glass) from a list curated with the help of Ancestral Wine, and cocktails like clarified Bloody Marys and makrut lime leaf Gimlets.
Som Saa is all about regional Thai dishes made using a mix of seasonal British and authentic Asian produce. They’re famed for their Bangkok HOT som tam but everything packs a serious punch here – the whole deep fried seabass and northern style herbal curry of Dexter beef shin are ESPECIALLY delish. The Thai inspired cocktail list is well worth a look too, you won’t see drinks like those many other places in town.
They turned up the heat (literally) with Plaza Khao Gaeng in Arcade Food Hall and now Luke Farrell and JKS Restaurants have returned for round two with Speedboat Bar. The restaurant takes inspo from Bangkok’s Chinatown and the speedboats that race along the canals of Thailand, so it’s fast, furious and full of energy, including an upstairs clubhouse featuring a bar, pool table and speakers blasting Thai pop and turbo folk. Wok cookery and dishes like drunken noodles and stir fries are at the heart of Speedboat Bar, alongside the likes of tom yam mama soup; ash melon & aubergine curry; poussin with ‘chicken rice, soybean sauce’ & red roast pork; cashew nut, pork crackling & dried fish salad; and pineapple pie with purple taro ice cream. Wash it down with drinks like the Snakesblood Negroni, and the Jelly Bia made with frozen Leo Lager, and you’re guaranteed a good time.
It was named the UK’s best restaurant at the 2018 National Restaurant Awards and we can confirm that Kiln defo lives up to the hype. The food is inspired by the Thai borderlands, including Burmese and Yunanese spices and flavours, and there’s lots of cooking over an open fire. The jungle curry of brill is a winner (and spicy too) and the clay pot-baked glass noodles are an absolute must-order too.
Touted as having some of the best Thai food in London, 101 Thai Kitchen is a relatively unassuming spot in Hammersmith with an extraordinary menu. While not super low-key (prints of Thai nobility adorn the vibrant pink walls), the interiors are pared-back so you can spend more of your attention on a bowl of panang curry or their signature pla plaa style lao. Priding themselves on being ultra-authentic, 101 Thai Kitchen make it clear that there’ll be no westernising here, just straight-up, well-made, delicious Thai classics with beer to wash them down.
Plaza Khao Gaeng is the Thai restaurant from Luke Farrell – he has one at Arcade Food Hall in Tottenham Court Road and one in Borough Yards. It’s defo one for the chilli fiends out there – if you’d don’t like serious chilli heat, this probably isn’t one for you. The place has been designed to recreate the feeling of classic Thai ‘khao geng’ (meaning curry over rice) eateries, with bright strip lighting, blue and white table vinyl table covers, and dishes served in metal trays. The menu is a fairly short, sharp line up of Southern Thai dishes and you’ll want to aim for 3 – 4 dishes between two people. The Khua Kling Muu – a ‘dry’ curry of fried minced pork, southern curry paste, chillies and long pepper – comes with the biggest heat warning from the servers and it is properly hot, hot, hot. Dishes like beef shoulder massaman, green chicken curry with palm heart, and sea bream with chillies, makrut lime leaves and wild ginger, are much lower in spice, so you can give your mouth a break from the fire. And if you still need to cool down, the Itim Khanom Pang, a classic Thai-style ice cream sandwich made with coconut ice cream, pandan sticky rice, condensed milk and peanuts in a sugary bun, will defo do the job.
There should be more pubs like Skehans in London. In fact, ALL pubs should just be exactly like Skehans. Located on a quiet residential street in Nunhead, Skehans has got it all: pool table, darts, sports on the telly, and a great beer garden out back. The drinks list is a good mash up of your standard beers like Heineken and Fosters together with Beavertown and Hop House 13 lager. They also do a banging little menu of Thai food, probably some of the best we’ve had in London. Add to that regular live music, a jukebox and general good vibes and you’ve got one of the most fun pubs in London.
After setting up shop in Soho, Shoreditch is now the place to come for smokey, BBQ Thai food inspired by the grub you’d get in late-night canteens in Bangkok. We love their freshly made rotis, goat krapow, turmeric crab curry and lardo fried rice. It’s all a world away from cheap pad thai and prawn crackers and has been part of a wave of restaurants that woke London up to proper Thai food.
Korat Thai Cafe in Newington Green is one of the best Thai spots we’ve discovered in London. It’s got a big menu but we wade through the more crowd-pleasing dishes to find some gems like the Yam Khao Tod, a crispy rice salad with fresh herbs and leaves, peanuts, chillies and kaffir lime; the Larb Gai, a minced chicken salad with herbs, rice powder, chillies, and fish sauce; the Som Tum, a classic papaya salad (though this could have been a bit spicier); the Sai Krok Isan, the fermented sausage from northern Thailand, made with glass noodles, chillies and pork; and Khao Soi (curry chicken noodle soup), which might just be the best one we’ve had outside Thailand. We’re very impressed with Korat, it’s proper Thai cooking the likes of which you don’t find all too often in London and the £2 corkage just seals the deal. A friendly team too, so we highly recommend it on every level.
Following on from a successful four-month residency at Rondo la Cave in the basement of The Hoxton in Holborn, ‘LA Thai’ spot Chet’s has moved into another Hoxton (in Shepherd’s Bush), this time permanently. Created in collaboration with the creator of LA’s NIGHT+MARKET, Kris Yenbamroong, Chet’s blends Americana with Thai flavours. Kris’ unique brand has been inspired by his childhood spent working in his family restaurant, Talesai, which was the first mainstream Thai restaurant in LA, as well as his background in the arts. At Chet’s, this manifests itself as dishes like bodega sandwich with sai uah sausage, egg and cheese; pineapple rice; tuna melt with ruffles and pickles; Chet’s smashburger with American cheese, pickle, and thousand island sauce; firecracker lobster noodles; and bloomed tingling 5 spice onion. The cocktails, like the Holy Chet! (a holy basil and vermouth swizzle), and the Thai-ami Vice (a sharing cocktail served in Chet’s full moon bucket alongside a bottle of champagne), are just as punchy.
Sebby Holmes earned his stripes at some of the best Thai restaurants in London, including Begging Bowl and a stint as head chef a the original (now closed) Smoking Goat in Soho. Now at Farang he’s cooking up modern Thai grub, with dishes like crispy duck wontons with plum dipping sauce;‘Miang’ – minced prawn in betel leaves; and braised beef cheeks with mustard greens. The weekend Drunken Noodle menu sounds pretty epic too, especially the eponymous ‘Drunken Noodles’ – a tea smoked duck breast stir-fried with pak choi, sweet basil, wild ginger, chilli, garlic and flat rice noodles.
Formerly a Borough Market pop-up, Khao Bird now has a permanent Soho site, serving Northern Thai–inspired cooking from chef Luke Larsson and restaurateur Mike Palmer, shaped by time spent cooking and travelling in Northern Thailand. Fermentation, herbs, bitterness and heat drive the menu, wrapped up in playful dish names – perhaps a little too playful at times. The space was once home to Soho’s last surviving adult cinema, and it still hums with that energy: loud music, tightly packed tables and a sense of near chaos that nods to the buzz of its pop-up days. The Shan BBQ meatballs are the standout (though they don’t need the ‘Ikea-style’ gimmick to sell them), with other highlights including the beef and Campari larb, onglet with white curry, and Chiang Mai BBQ chicken. The drinks list keeps pace with the food and cocktails are playful without feeling throwaway.
