I LIVED IN THAILAND for nearly a quarter century. I’ve authored and photographed dozens of articles on Thai food and have written and/or contributed to at least six books on Thai cookery. With all this experience under my belt, I rarely get excited about Thai food outside of its homeland. The exception to this is London.
For many Londoners, their first introduction to Thai food was most likely the pub. In the early ’90s, The Churchill Arms started selling Thai dishes, making it the first pub in London to do so. In 2001, chef and author David Thompson opened Nahm in the Halkin Hotel, bringing diners a more refined, sophisticated take on Thai cuisine. All the while, Brits were visiting Thailand in great numbers, and direct flights between London and Bangkok meant that chefs had increasingly easy access to imported Thai ingredients.
Courtesy of The Churchill Arms
Nearly 40 years after the first green curry was served at The Churchill Arms, these elements have coalesced to make London arguably the most exciting place outside of Thailand to eat Thai food. Here are some of the restaurants serving up the best Thai food in London.
Som Saa
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som saa interiors. Courtesy of som saa
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yum neua yaang. Courtesy of som saa
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gaeng gari with tofu. Courtesy of som saa
“There’s quite a lot of energy,” says chef/co-owner Andy Oliver, when I ask him to describe London’s Thai food scene. “It’s had a lot of time to mature, and there’s many points of reference.”
Nearly a decade old, it could be argued that Oliver’s restaurant, Som Saa, is the template for the contemporary London Thai restaurant: it can claim a direct link to David Thompson (Oliver and co-founder Mark Dobbie both worked at Nahm), and it boasts a menu that blends imported and British ingredients in a way that centers punchy, authentically Thai flavors, textures and aromas. Such as the Nam Dtok Pla Thort I tasted on a recent visit, a whole sea bass, deep-fried and hiding under a bed of fresh herbs, fish sauce, lime juice and crunchy toasted rice powder.
At this point, Som Saa’s former employees have gone on to start their own venues. Yet Oliver concedes,“We’re still learning. The longer you cook Thai food, the more humble you are.”
somsaa.com; @somsaa_london; 43A Commercial St; mains from GPB 10.50.
AngloThai
Restaurant Exteriors. Courtesy of AngloThai
Easily the most idiosyncratic recent opening on London’s Thai scene is AngloThai. The restaurant is the culinary manifestation of John Chantarasak, a Thai British chef who has spent the last decade doing pop-ups and events under the same name in Europe, North America and Asia.
Chantarasak’s vision blends Thai and European dishes, ingredients, flavors and cooking techniques in a way that’s discombobulating yet delicious. Brixham Crab, Exmoor Caviar & Coconut Caviar combines a Thai sweet with some of Britain’s most decadent savory ingredients, while a curry and stir-fry course is served with heirloom grains (in this case oats) rather than rice.
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Brixham crab and Exmoor caviar. Courtesy of AngloThai
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Tasting Menu at AngloThai. Courtesy of AngloThai
“I’m not too fussed by [the term] fusion – there is a lot of fusion here,” Chantarasak tells me, adding that “modern British” is probably more accurate, and crediting his Thai grandmother, who taught him to rely on seasonal local ingredients rather than imported items.
AngloThai is also one of the most swiftly lauded openings in recent years; a mere three months after having opened its doors, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star.
@anglothai; 22-24 Seymour Place; set lunch GBP 65, dinner GBP 125
Kiln
Vietnamese Brawn (left) and Mok pla isan (right). Courtesy of Kiln
Open since 2016, at this point Kiln also feels like something of an elder statesman of London’s Thai restaurant scene. The restaurant has gone in a few different directions in that near-decade but seems to have arrived at a position of confidence.
Sit at the bar of Kiln and you feel the heat of a wall of coals; nearly every menu item here is cooked over live fire. Elsewhere, this could be one-dimensional, but at Kiln it’s backed up by punchy, precise seasoning in dishes that pluck from every corner of Thailand (as well as Great Britain’s larder) to arrive at something that’s simply utterly delicious.
“Thai food is so complex and deep,” says SongSoo Kim, Kiln’s Head of Sourcing & Development. “Each time we go to Thailand, we learn again what Thai food is.”
Laap Dip of Wild Deer (left) and Chak Sohm Sour Curry of Grey Mullet (right). Courtesy of Kiln
These lessons are manifest in dishes such as a peppery, herbaceous Pad Ped of Cull Yaw with Nettles & Alexander, a pleasantly mouth-puckering Lanna Sour Curry of Cockles, Mussels & Rhubarb, and Grilled Rump Cap with Ubon Relish, a dish that somehow manages to bring together England, Brazil and Thailand.
@kilnsoho; 58 Brewer St; mains from GPB 7.20
Speedboat Bar
Tom Yam Mama (left) and Chicken Skins with Zaep seasoning (right). Courtesy of Speedboat Bar
If it’s the streets of Bangkok you miss, Speedboat Bar just might scratch that itch. Run by the team behind Plaza Khao Gaeng, the emphasis here is on casual, full-flavored, often Chinese-influenced bites and plates.
An actual speedboat hanging from the ceiling, Thai pop music and a pool table set the vibe here. Order a three-liter tower of Singha and focus on the Salad section of the menu: the Prawn Ceviche with Seafood Dressing gets a secondary level of spiciness from wasabi, and Fried Fish Fillet, Shallot, Lime & Chilli transported me to a plastic stool on the side of the road in Bangkok’s Chinatown.
@speedboatbar; 30 Rupert Street; mains from £10.
Kolae
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Kolae prawns with calamansi lime. Courtesy of Kolae
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The fire station (left) and kolae chicken at a tiny back yard stall in Phattalung, Thailand (right). Courtesy of Kolae
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Dining room on the top floor of the Borough Market site (left) and kolae beef skewers with dried spice and fried shallots (right). Courtesy of Kolae
After nearly a decade, the guys behind Som Saa decided to branch out, and to do so, they looked south. Specifically, to the cuisine of Thailand’s southernmost, predominantly Muslim-inhabited provinces. The restaurant’s namesake dish stems from this region and takes the form of grilled chicken brushed with layers of curry until rich, fragrant and smokey.
Based in Borough Market, Kolae has expanded beyond grilled dishes, and when I visited, I was given a taste of a special-in-progress, a salad of raw fish and herbs in a shrimp paste-based dressing, something the team picked up on a research trip to Ko Samui that was almost certainly the single most delicious bite I had in London.
@kolae_london; 6 Park Street; mains from £14.
Plaza Khao Gaeng
Curry on Rice (left) and Cha Yen — Thai Iced Tea (right). Courtesy of Plaza Khao Gaeng
Regional Thai is also the emphasis at Plaza Khao Gaeng, which claims to be London’s first restaurant serving dishes exclusively from Thailand’s south.
“Basically, what we do is copy shamelessly from southern Thailand,” says co-owner Luke Farrell. This takes the form of the type of turmeric-, chili- and pepper-forward curries, soups and stir-fries that rarely make it outside of the region, as well as an aesthetic that plucks from the southern Thai curry stall (the eponymous khao gaeng) via campy tablecloths, melamine plates and tin flatware.
@plazakhaogaeng; 103-105 New Oxford Street; mains from £9.5.
Long Chim
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Courtesy of Long Chim
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Courtesy of Long Chim
London’s Thai scene has seemingly come full circle with the 2024 opening of Long Chim. The restaurant is the export wing of David Thompson’s Thai food empire, with outlets in Australia and the Middle East.
The interior of the London branch feels like a chic Chinese medicine shop – one that blends glass cabinets with pieces by Thai street artists Alex Face and Sath. The kitchen is helmed by British chef Ben Spalding, and the menu is self-professed “Modern Bangkok,” a shift away from Thompson’s repertoire that typically plucks from the past, and that takes the form of tart bites such as Spicy Pork in Betel Leaves, and rich, refined curries such as Panaeng Curry of Beef Rib.
@longchim_london; 36-40 Rupert Street; mains from GBP 13.
Coming Soon: Singburi
For those willing to schlep to far northeastern London, family-run Singburi was considered one of the city’s best Thai restaurants. Unfortunately, in 2024 the Thai couple that ran the restaurant finally hung up their aprons. The good news is that their son, Sirichai Kularbwong, is bringing Singburi to life again. Collaborating with two other members of London’s hospitality industry, Kularbwong is bringing Singburi to London’s Shoreditch area. The restaurant is set to open sometime this spring.
@singburi_e1; Unit 7 Montacute Yards, Shoreditch High Street
BOOK YOUR STAY AT COMO THE HALKIN, LONDON VIA BOOKING.COM
Lede and hero images courtesy of Kolae; courtesy of AngloThai; courtesy of Speedboat Bar.
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The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
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Written By
Austin Bush