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Best Thai restaurants in London, recommended by the olive team

• Helen Salter

Published: October 26, 2026 at 3:53 PM

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Enjoy the best Southeast Asian food London has to offer with our pick of regional Thai spots, from elegant small plates to extravagant tasting menus and rustic dishes cooked over charcoal

Looking for a Thai restaurant in London? Read on for our picks of the best Thai restaurants in London, from no-frills dining and neighbourhood favourites to six-course menus.

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Has eating Thai in London got you in the mood to try cooking it yourself? Discover Thai cuisine then try our Thai recipes and Asian street food recipes.

For more London restaurant guides, check out our reviews of the best London openings, best restaurants in Soho and the best restaurants in Covent Garden.

Best Thai restaurants in London

Khao-Sō-i, Soho

London doesn’t lack for Thai restaurants but at Khao-Sō-i – named after the curry noodle dish of Chiang Mai – chef Win Srinavakool has designed a menu formed by the flavours of northern Thailand, with smoke from a wood-fired grill and bold spice.

We started with moo ping: wafer-thin Norfolk pork belly skewers grilled over wood with a sticky, caramelised edge and a warm, savoury depth. Tum khanun – young jackfruit salad tossed with northern herbs – whacks your tastebuds with bracing and tingling heat and zest.

The star of the show is the namesake khao soi. We enjoyed it two ways: gai (chicken) and bai pye (torched beef chuck eye). The pleasure is in shaping it. Each bowl arrives with coconut cream, chilli flakes, herbs and crisp noodles on the side, so you build your own version: richer, hotter, crunchier, or all of the above, before you pull the noodles from the creamy spiced broth and slurp like no one’s watching.

There’s a broad drinks list but ice-cold Neckstamper pale ale is the way to go to cleanse your palate before tucking into luxurious cha thai cheesecake or bai toey ice cream with cloud-like cubes of brioche. khaosoilondon.com

Speedboat Bar, Chinatown

Despite London having possibly the best nightlife in the UK, it feels rare to get a spot like Speedboat Bar. Open until late on the weekend (you can get your fill of fiery cuisine and party vibes until 1am), this Thai canteen, brought to you by Plaza Khao Gaeng’s Luke Farrell, has décor almost as bombastic as the flavours.

Once you’re finished looking at the framed pics of the Thai royal family or playing a game of pool, get your tongue tingling with dishes that would satisfy any chilli enthusiast. And don’t forget to cool down after with a creamy cocktail or a tower of beer. speedboatbar.co.uk

Som Saa, Shoreditch

The interior of this beloved Thai restaurant wears that trendy East London warehouse look well – it’s a former fabric warehouse – with a mix of exposed brick, battered wooden tabletops, steel girders and tanks of beer from Camden Town Brewery. The staff are brilliant – friendly, knowledgeable, efficient. Many have been with the chefs (Andy Oliver and Mark Dobbie who both previously worked at Nahm with chef-patron and Thai food guru David Thompson) from the beginning.

It’s the food, however, that draws these sorts of crowds: uncompromising, regional Thai. We’re advised to order four to five dishes between two after sampling a cocktail each. Bangkok-style Som tam Thai shrieked with flavour – salt, sour, and chilli fire. Sticky rice was addictively good and the ideal carrier for a mellow, sticky Burmese-style curry (gaeng hung lay) of pork belly and shoulder, topped with pickled garlic and ginger. Nahm dtok pla thort (whole deep-fried sea bass) looked terrifying, but hacking into the crisp, roasted rice-coated skin, gave way to the most tender flesh, and was perked up with sprightly dressed Isaan herbs.

For dessert, jackfruit poached in coconut cream and palm sugar ice cream with grilled banana are worth a try. somsaa.com

KILN, Soho

Ben Chapman’s restaurant has all the ingredients for yet another top-notch Soho restaurant – small, no-reservation policy, sterling reviews. But, it’s worth any queue. Grab a spot at the pass, where the flames of the charcoal fires will keep you as warm as the spices from the confidently succinct, regional Thai menu.

As well as delivering on atmosphere, Kiln offers the ever rarer phenomenon of good value in London. Aged lamb skewers, delicately fragrant with cumin and Szechuan pepper and cranked-up in flavour with the lick of those flames, are £2.90 for two. A main of clay-pot baked glass noodles with Tamworth pork belly and brown crabmeat, which comes with an intense, zingy herb dip on the side, is a favourite. We’re warned about the heat of the roasted long pepper and Tamworth pork shoulder curry but its tingle was just the right side of numbing, mellow and spicy sweet. Wild mushroom salad flavoured with soy and lime, inspired by the region of Isaan, in the northeast of Thailand, was precisely the sort of plate that the term umami was coined for. kilnsoho.com

AngloThai, Marylebone

AngloThai is the debut restaurant from husband and wife team John and Desiree Chantarasak, and marks the culmination of a nearly four-year site search after multiple successful pop-ups and residencies. Now the couple bring their unique vision for contemporary Thai-British cuisine to the historic Seymour Place in Marylebone.

À la carte by day and tasting menu by night, the menu is packed with dishes that blend the bold flavours of Thailand with modern presentation and innovative techniques, while still honouring traditional cooking styles. It also embraces the seasonal offerings of the British Isles, and is paired with a wine list that celebrates thoughtful producers and superior craftsmanship.

This 44-cover restaurant was one of the hottest tables of 2025, with AngloThai winning it's first Michelin star. anglothai.co.uk

Plaza Khao Gaeng, Borough Market

Located under the railway arches that flank Borough Market, this delightful spot channels the energy of a raan khao gaeng – the informal canteens that pop up on street corners and markets across Thailand. The high-ceilinged room is breezy and buzzy with a quirky, eclectic style: stainless steel tables, zingy pops of colour and retro Thai movie posters all add to the atmosphere.

A Paricha margarita eased us into the heat zone – mango infused tequila and kumquat liquor with a kick of fresh Thai chilli served alongside an appetiser plate of miang pla: betel leaves to be wrapped around spicy sausage, dried fish and crunchy galangal floss to make a herbal, tangy mouthful.

From the curries, the gaeng massaman neua was deeply comforting – large chunks of beef, slow cooked in a rich spiced coconut sauce with hunks of potato to soak up all of that fragrant curry. Gung pad prik gaeng sator (tiger prawns stir-fried in red curry paste) brought some of that notorious heat but levelled it well with coconut cream.

We kept the heat at bay with an icy glass of Singha beer, served in a chunky frozen glass tankard. Or if you’re in a crowd there’s the option to order a three-litre beer tower with your own tap – a playful touch for a very fun spot. plazakhaogaeng.com

Platapian, Soho

Find this stylish space from the people behind Patara on one of London’s busiest streets. We kicked off with crispy chicken skin with a squeeze of lime – think gourmet pork scratchings. Stuffed snub nose chilli crammed with minced chicken and prawn is big enough to share, plump and aromatic, and, despite its name, only mildly hot.

Of the many unexpected dishes, one especially stood out: cabbage roasted until soft yet still with bite, the wedges dressed with fish sauce and whole chillies to offer a sweet-salty heat that works perfectly with the vegetable’s faint sourness.

Mains kept the balance between comfort and freshness. Short rib beef in five-spice ‘paloh’ with grated salted egg yolk is the highlight. Flake-apart meat in a rich gravy was positively swoon-worthy. While southern-style yellow curry with crab, mellow and light, saucy with coconut, was a hug in a bowl. Together they showed how Platapian’s menu champions the whole of Thai cuisine.

From the drinks list, Tom Yum-tini and a whisky sour are smart, punchy and in simpatico with the elegance of the restaurant, while desserts use Thai ingredients to twist familiar Western dishes, including a smooth pandan crème brûlée. pataralondon.com

Image credit: Steven Joyce

MIKO Mei Fair, Mayfair

This Thai dining room in a Georgian townhouse comes with expectations: restaurateur Samyukta Nair is behind Jamavar, Bombay Bustle and MiMi Mei Fair, the kind of pedigree that sets the bar high. We weren't disappointed. The kitchen is headed by chef Soonthorn Apaipat, previously head chef at KOYN Thai, whose ingredient-first instincts of balance, depth and freshness shape a sharing menu.

The setting howls special occasion – teal and timber panelling, red leather banquettes and gold-leaf lotus motifs split the space into salon-style rooms – but the food whispers from the streets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Tableside larb set the theatrical tone: herbs, spices and rice pounded, mixed and stirred through chicken mince. Want it hotter? It's yours. Sharper with lime juice? Or an extra splash of fish sauce? Your larb, your choice. Black pepper squid came next, crispy yet chewy; chicken satay arrived loose-sauced and tender, nothing like sad supermarket versions; tiger prawn pla-ra came as impressive as a small lobster, meaty as monkfish.

Then two dishes competed for stardom: apple wood-fired Panang duck curry, sliced on the bias, bathing in aromatic coconut sauce; and crab fried rice, the finest we've had, every grain separate, the crab running through it as seasoning rather than sitting in chunks. mikomeifair.com

101 Thai Kitchen, Hammersmith

I am always craving 101 Thai Kitchen – I have a personal mission to eat my way through the menu, and I’ve made a promising start. Some of my highlights are the tom kha soup – which is very healing during a hangover – and the mini-menu of som tum salad (I love the addition of soft shell crab in the tum pu nim). Make sure you get a Thai iced tea to cool down, too. In summer, the mango sticky rice is worth the trip alone. 101thaikitchen.uk Reviewed by Helena Busiakiewicz

YiQi, Chinatown

Aesthetic cocktails and interiors give this Chinatown restaurant instant standout, but the quality of the cooking and diverse menu make it more than just hype. The menu showcases Thai, Malaysian and Chinese influences. Assam sauce – sour and softly hot with tamarind and chilli – features in head-on prawns and scallop starters as well as its signature bamboo tube rice seafood dish. Stir-fried clams are fragrant with soy, oyster sauce and curry leaves; pumpkin king prawns are creamy and rich; skate is spiked with yuzu. Charcoal chicken wings and grilled short rib are best eaten with your hands (gloves are provided) and crab is also marvelouslly messy. The abacus wall and clever cocktails (try the quirky Magic Mike) add to the fun. @yiqipanasia

Chet’s, Shepherd's Bush

LA chef Kris Yenbamroong has brought his tried and tested Thai-American concept to the lively Shepherd’s Bush Hoxton Hotel. Cocktails are creative, food is playful and flavours are punchy: its famous pineapple rice served in the shell, babka french toast and exuberantly garnished ice cream sundaes. Décor exudes La La Land chic – a soft warm pink palette, oversized plants, a huge skylight and retro booths – a nod to the American diner. Open from breakfast till late. chetsrestaurant.co.uk

Kolae, Borough Market

Kolae is a southern Thai cooking style where marinated meat and veg is grilled over open flames. This is the focus of this restaurant from Som Saa’s Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver. At the centre of the menu is a half kolae chicken marinated in fragrant lemongrass and turmeric, served with fresh and fiery salads, and cocktails that incorporate Thai ingredients. @kolae_london

Plaza Khao Gaeng at Arcade Food Hall, Tottenham Court Road,

On a mezzanine hidden above Arcade Food Hall, Luke Farrell’s southern Thai restaurant offers a brilliantly fiery, no-frills dining experience. Sepia photographs of Thai kings and queens watch over from gilt frames alongside bronze Buddhas sitting in shrines. Hop up at the counter bar or pull up a chair in the canteen-style restaurant proper.

Miang phuket, a mix of cashews, coconut and chillies to wrap in betel leaves, is a riot of umami, sweetness, spice and zing. Chicken wings are subtly fragrant with turmeric, braised pork belly melts into a pool of umami-rich sweet soy glaze, while beef shoulder massaman curry provides gentler heat and aromatic flavours.

Cocktails include a punchy gimlet made using gin infused with homegrown Thai citrus, and a tequila-based shandy, maeng da lagerita, offering fragrant pear notes courtesy of maeng da leaf essence. There are also plenty of booze-free options such as iced Thai coffee with condensed milk and the freshly squeezed wild ginger with soda as an immune-boosting remedy. plazakhaogaeng.com

Kaosarn, Tooting

Kaosarn is my go-to Thai takeaway, and I feel so lucky to have it just a few minutes drive away. They are one of the few London-located Thai restaurants to be recognised by the Royal Thai Embassy for quality and authenticity. Whether you eat in or takeaway the dishes are vibrant and flavour-packed. I’m a creature of habit and always order the aromatic and creamy Penang curry. kaosarntooting.co.uk Reviewed by Milly Kenny-Ryder

Farang, Highbury

This award-winning modern Thai restaurant from chef Sebby Holmes offers a fantastic six-course menu that’s perfect for a gathering. You can opt for dishes such as salted turmeric flossed tiger prawns, peanuts, coconut and sour apple miang bites; ‘gai prik’ beer-battered free-range chicken in a sweet and salty fish sauce glaze with lemon zest, fresh herbs, crispy garlic and chilli; and whole marinated plaice paired with three-flavoured sauce, lemongrass, samphire, ginger, roasted rice powder and fresh lime. Finish with homemade pineapple sorbet or coconut panna cotta with palm sugar. A wine pairing and vegetarian sharing menu are also available. faranglondon.co.uk Reviewed by Gurdeep Loyal

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Authors

Helen Salter

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