London's best Thai restaurants offer up a cheerfully clanging, vibrant array of flavours – sweet, sour, spicy, salty, and aromatic – that take diners on an addictive culinary journey, alive with chilli heat and the depth of warming spices. Fresh herbs, smoky grills, bright citrus, fermented fish sauce, rich coconut milk and slow-cooked curries combine to create a cuisine that’s both versatile and visually exciting for food that neatly fits under the stereotype bracket of looking as good as it tastes.
When you want to go beyond the classics, London’s best Thai restaurants each offer their own unique spin on the cuisine that push boundaries and present new culinary experiences. From cosy, family-run eateries to sleek modern hotspots, these restaurants provide the perfect balance of bold authenticity and contemporary flair.
Koyn
Samyukta Nair has a knack for knowing what the crowds of west London want and she’s done it again in Koyn which joins joints such as Chinese restaurant Mei Mei Mayfair and Indian favourite Jamavar in her fold. Fabled Studio were employed to bring approachable opulence to the dining room here, which they delivered via hand painted tapestries and moody leather upholstery. As per her usual approach Nair has looked to the very best of the country’s recipe repertoire, offering guests a selection of dishes from all over Thailand that feel indulgent and special: crispy prawn cakes, yellow crab curry, grilled pork neck with jiew sauce and a whole crispy seabass, for instance.
Koyn, 38 Grosvenor Street, W1K 4QA
Book now: opentable.co.uk
Plaza Khao Gaeng
Tucked away at the back of Arcade Food Hall on Tottenham Court Road, Plaza Khao Gaeng is the work of Luke Farrell whose long-standing obsession with Thailand and an 18-year residency in the country stood him in good stead to bring his London vision to life. Here he’s recreated the atmosphere of a bustling, no-frills Thai eatery complete with strip lighting, blaring pop music and plastic tablecloths, as well as a short and sharp billing of plates that he’s coined as coast-to-jungle cuisine. There are things you’ll recognise – like a rich, slow-cooked massaman curry – as well as the less obvious things like gaeng som pla (sour orange sea bass curry with papaya, pineapple and cha-om omelette) or gung pad sator muu sap (stir-fried prawns with pork, chilli paste and sator beans). Everything’s served by upbeat staff who cheerfully warn diners about the searing 'authentic' heat in many of the dishes and suggest lurid-colour cocktails to quell the subsequent burn.
Plaza Khao Gaeng, 103-105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB
Book now: sevenrooms.com
Kiln
Kiln was one of the first places to approach Thai cooking with a contemporary small plates focus and has managed to maintain the hype of its opening throughout nearly the decade since. The smell of a smoking hot, wood-fired grill wafts out onto the street from this tiny counter dining destination, drawing crowds who come to tuck into the restaurant’s slightly left-leaning dishes that promise new flavours and unusual ingredients as well as clever use of British produce. With a stainless steel counter, leather seats and a large rigmarole of authentic looking cookery kit, Kiln is an experience that is about more than the food.
Kiln, 58 Brewer Street, W1F 9TL
Book now: Walk-ins only
Speedboat Bar
Speedboat Bar took up the mantle following the closure of Xu, the Taiwanese restaurant which previously called 30 Rupert Street home. The takeover included a full makeover that resulted in an intentionally gaudy interior scheme complete with seventies style soft furnishings, red plastic stools out front and splashes of neon lighting bringing a certain oxymoronic stylish-dive-bar quality to proceedings. While the product of its popularity means a high turnover of tables (this isn't a place to lounge) and a staff that are often both hurried and harried, the flavours themselves are worth visiting for. Expect heaving plates of smoky, charred beef noodles, fragrant curries and picking bowls of spiced crispy chicken skins. Cocktails are well-made and plentiful, and the busy crowd keeps the atmosphere buoyant.
Speedboat Bar, 30 Rupert Street, W1D 6DL
Book now: sevenrooms.com
Som Saa
What started off life as a pop-up progressed to a bricks and mortar site following a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign ten years ago. Som Saa is the work of an Australian-British collaboration between Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver who met while working at Michelin starred Nahm. A decade in and their own culinary creation is just as popular as it was when it opened. The dining room could be described as finely tuned rustic, with the best seats in the house found in little booths on the peripheries of the dining room where you can get a good people-watching angle without being in the melee yourself. You won’t find plates of pad Thai here, but instead old-world regional dishes that don’t shy away from full-throttle flavours.
Som Saa, 43A Commercial Street, E1 6BD
Book now: sevenrooms.com
AngloThai
AngloThai was one of 2024’s most anticipated new restaurant openings after pop-ups and plans that kept the brand hype alive and well over the course of many years. As the name suggests, this is Thai food with a distinctly British influence. The husband and wife team behind it believe that the food of Thailand isn’t held ransom to specific ingredients but rather the balance of flavours. Here you’ll find produce like locally sourced venison, crab and root vegetables all turned into lovely little sharing plates lifted by tart citrus flavours, the fragrance of fresh herbs or the hum of ground spices. Design-wise things are kept simple with clapboard walls, wooden floors and an open kitchen all giving centre stage to the procession of food from the pass.
AngloThai, 22-24 Seymour Place, W1H 7NL
Book now: sevenrooms.com
Farang
With a slew of awards to its name, Farang profits from mass appeal thanks to its mind-bending, unapologetic Thai flavours. The interiors are lowkey without much fanfare paid to color schemes or design details, so you’re here for the food rather than the dining room. Pleasantly affordable, the menu is reassuringly compact which demonstrates the kitchen’s faith in their billing. Things change, as is de rigueur, but you’ll always find some sort of rich coconut-based curry, a whole fish perhaps and something wonderfully crisp and deep-fried on the starter selection. If time allows for it, the feasting menu is designed to bring you along on the journey of high sour notes and deep aromatics, for a well rounded meal without the pain of choosing between wonderfully described, fragrant plates.
Farang, 72 Highbury Park, N5 2XE
Book now: opentable.co.uk
Long Chim
It would be remiss to not mention Long Chim in amongst the competition, given it’s run by David Thompson who previously headed up Nahm (which happens to have been the first Thai restaurant in Europe to win a Michelin star). He’s back from Bangkok with this Soho spot, a decidedly casual joint with a name that means 'come and try'. If you take the advice you’ll be well rewarded with bullseye-hitting precision cookery that is simultaneously meticulously executed but comfortably casual. Kick off with spicy pork with crunchy rice cakes before moving on to lamb with cumin, toasted chillies and crunchy shallots or grilled kingfish with green mango and chilli sauce. Then let the team persuade you into pudding – the grilled sticky rice with banana is all kinds of childhood joy.
Long Chim, 36-40 Rupert Street, W1D 6DW
Book now: web.dojo.app
Smoking Goat
Made famous by its fish sauce chicken wings et al, Smoking Goat is said to be inspired by Bangkok’s late-night canteens. The aforementioned wings are crisp from the fryer and coated in a sticky, sweet sauce underpinned by the funk of fermented fish sauce – they’re really very good. This is the type of restaurant that’s great to go to with a group to enjoy the platters of wonderful sharing food. There’s a strong seasonal element that cleverly swaps classic Thai ingredients like green papaya in a som tam salad for intensely British celeriac. Design-wise, the dining room is pleasantly decked out with wooden tables and chairs which take up their place against the backdrop of exposed brick and warehouse-style windows that are synonymous with its Shoreditch setting.
Smoking Goat, 64 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ
Book now: sevenrooms.com
The Begging Bowl
A simple, pared-back dining room with plenty of natural daylight in the day and a cosy atmosphere at night, The Begging Bowl is one of Peckham’s best restaurants. There’s a wonderful neighbourhood, unhurried feeling here with friendly staff and chatty culinary compatriots filling the floor. Plates are extraordinarily bright with generous quantities of herbs and citrus cutting through rich coconut milk, the caramel of palm sugar, and the fiery heat of chillies. Don’t skip the deep-fried whole sea bass with a tangy tamarind dressing that manages to inhabit that ideal place between indulgence and virtuous.
The Begging Bowl, 168 Bellenden Road, SE15 4BW
Book now: dishcult.com
Kolae
Kolae (pronounced ‘somewhere between gol-ay and kol-ay') was part of the recent revamp of Borough Market which saw a whole spectrum of unbelievably popular restaurants open within months of each other – Oma, Camille and Rambutan to name a few – to represent a whole swathe of the globe’s most popular cuisines. The scene for Southern Thai food is set in a serene three-storey structure that benefits from layers of neutral textures and warm, soft lighting. Downstairs you’ll profit from being near the buzz of the grill while upstairs is more relaxed for long lunches or dinners. Immediate crowd pleasers upon opening were the Kolae grilled mussel skewers with calamansi lime and the herb fritters which are literally whole leaves dunked in a light batter and fried for addictive, aromatic bites that pair perfectly with an ice cold beer. The produce here is top quality, carefully sourced by owners Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver, who also head up Som Saa.
Kolae, 6 Park Street, SE1 9AB
Book now: sevenrooms.com
Singburi
A cult-classic, Singburi in Leytonstone is the foodies’ choice for authentic Thai food. It’s a tiny dining room, the decor is perfunctory, it’s almost impossible to get a reservation (although you can try your luck by calling ahead), it’s BYOB and it’s cash only. Despite what feels like a fair few hurdles, the space is always packed with a queue outside ready to take the tables as soon as they’re turned. Its popularity is testament to the family who run it with the utmost attention to detail when it comes to big, bold flavours. The menu changes regularly but curries and stir-fries are mainstays, with plenty of unusual Thai dishes to laden your table with as you make your way through the run of hot, sour, sweet and salty dishes that make up the perfect feast.
Singburi, 593 High Road Leytonstone, E11 4PA
Book now: Mostly walk-ins only, some bookings by phone on 020 8281 4801
