Perhaps more than any other food trend of the past three decades, Thai cooking went from thrillingly exotic — to Western palates, at least — to ready-meal ubiquity before the 1990s were even out. But while many of the restaurants below are a delicious reminder that a properly made pad Thai is not something that can be achieved with three minutes in the microwave, it is the exploration of Thailand’s lesser-known regional traditions that have re-invigorated the cuisine for the capital’s palates, though spice levels at these newer places are often not for the faint-hearted.
What’s more, Thai is one of those rare cuisines where the best restaurants are as likely to be found in Highbury or Hammersmith as a Hyde Park hotel, while the size of the bill will rarely unbalance the monthly finances.
