Thai restaurants in Asia
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A
Blue Elephant
The Blue Elephant got its start in Brussels more than two decades ago as an exotic outpost of royal Thai cuisine. After spreading to other cities, the owners boldly chose Bangkok, the cuisine’s birth mother, as its ninth location. Set in a stunning Sino-Portuguese colonial building with service fit for royalty, the restaurant also features an impressive cooking school.
reviewed
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B
MBK Food Court
The granddaddy of Bangkok food courts offers dozens of vendors selling dishes from virtually every corner of Thailand and beyond. It's a great introduction to Thai food, and standouts include an excellent vegetarian food stall (stall C8) and a very decent Isan food vendor (C22). To pay you must first exchange your cash for a temporary credit card at one of several counters; your change is refunded at the same desk.
reviewed
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C
Taling Pling
You know you've picked well when Thai families outnumber expats. And you get a stylish setting, pretty enough for Bangkok gays. A few menu standouts include yam plaa salid taling pling (a fried fish salad with the namesake sour vegetable), chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves and phàk dam lung (stir-fried gourd leaves).
reviewed
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D
Jasmine Kitchen
The Thai fare at this elegant two-level restaurant lives up to the promise of the trays of chillies drying out front: it's excellent. The menu is long and authentic and the staff gracious. While soft jazz plays, try the homemade ice cream for dessert. You can refill water bottles here for 2000Rp.
reviewed
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E
Thài Zhēn Cow & Bridge
For the best Thai fare in Guǎngzhōu, head to this bizarrely named restaurant on Shāmiàn. The menu boasts the most extensive choices of curries and the desserts are superb.
reviewed
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F
Cabbages & Condoms
‘Be fed and be sheathed’ is the motto of the restaurant outreach program of the Population & Community Development Association (PDA), a sex education/AIDS prevention organisation. And likewise, for many visitors to Bangkok, this quirky garden restaurant has served as an equally ‘safe’ introduction to Thai food. Thankfully it’s done relatively well. This is a good place to gauge the Thai staples, such as the rich green curry, or the briny pàt pàk bûng fai daang (flash-fried water spinach). Instead of after-meal mints, diners receive packaged condoms, and all proceeds go towards PDA educational programs in Thailand.
reviewed
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G
Or Tor Kor Market
Or Tor Kor is Bangkok’s highest-quality fruit and agricultural market, and sights such as toddler-sized mangoes and dozens of pots full of curries are reason enough to visit. The vast majority of vendors’ goods are takeaway only, but a small food court and a few informal restaurants exist, including Rot Det, which does excellent stir-fries and curries, and Sut Jai Kai Yaang, just south of the market, which does sublime Isan. To get here, take the MRT to Kampheng Phet station and exit on the side opposite Chatuchak (the exit says ‘Marketing Organization for Farmers’).
reviewed
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H
Ruen Mallika
Thai restaurateurs have tourists figured out: convert an old teak house into a restaurant and they will come, regardless of the food. Ruen Mallika ups the ante by offering exquisite dishes, like dizzyingly spicy nám prík (a thick dipping sauce with vegetables and herbs) and soulful chicken wrapped in banana leaves. The surrounding garden supplies the ingredients for the deep-fried flower dish, a house speciality. The restaurant is a little tricky to find; approach from Soi 22 off Th Ratchadapisek.
reviewed
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I
Hemlock
Taking full advantage of its cosy shophouse setting, this white-tablecloth local is an excellent intro to Thai food. The vast menu has the usual suspects, but also includes some dishes you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere, as well as a strong vegie section.
reviewed
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J
Chatchai Market
The city's day market resides in an historic building built in 1926 with a distinctive seven-eaved roof in honour of Rama VII. There are the usual market refreshments: morning vendors selling Ъah·tôrng·gŏh (Chinese-style doughnuts) and gah·faa boh·rahn (ancient-style coffee spiked with sweetened condensed milk); as well as all-day noodles with freshly made wontons; and the full assortment of fresh tropical fruit.
reviewed
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K
BKK
The card proclaims ‘trendy Thai restaurant’ and it’s damn right. A lot of thought has gone into the dining experience here, and whether you eat inside the lovely, carefully restored old townhouse or outside on the little front patio, it’s the perfect setting for a memorable meal. Authentic Thai dishes are beautifully prepared and presented – try the lab moo or pepper squid – and there are good vegie options too.
reviewed
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L
Savoey
On an island packed with weighed-to-order fish grills, this is one of the best. Its huge ice shelf is packed with lobsters, prawns, grouper, red snapper, sole, trevally and barracuda. It also has live lobsters. It has one menu and four dining rooms – two of them on the sand. The food is always great, and the prices are quite reasonable.
reviewed
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M
Tom Yum Kung
We don't make a habit of recommending restaurants on Th Khao San; it is just too easy to get caught in a tourist trap. But Tom Yum Kung is better known among Thais than foreigners and the dishes prove it. No silly pineapple curries here.
reviewed
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Twins Restaurant
Don’t let the frump factor deter you from this eager-to-please Thai restaurant. The food-phobic Europeans get plenty of hand-holding, but the food-flexible can get fresh and fabulous Thai meals in an oh-so pretty setting.
reviewed
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Apple Guest House
This guesthouse restaurant introduces newcomers to Thai food without being condescending. Both the kaeng mátsàmàn (Muslim-style curry) and phàt thai are highly recommended.
reviewed
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N
Benjarong Royal Thai Restaurant
Manila's best Thai restaurant is hidden away on the second level of the Dusit Hotel Nikko. The dining room is elegant, befitting the 'royal' moniker. The cuisine is both lavish and inventive.
reviewed
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O
Rang Yen Garden
This lush garden restaurant is a cosy and friendly spot to feel at home after a day of feeling like a foreigner. It serves up Thai favourites and is only open in the high season.
reviewed
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P
Kowloon City Thai Restaurants
Kai Tak airport may have shut down in 1998, but the neighbourhood of Kowloon City to the northeast of Tsim Sha Tsui is still worth a journey. This is Hong Kong's Thai quarter, and the area's restaurants are the place for a tom yum and green-curry fix. Kowloon City, packed with herbalists, jewellers, tea merchants and bird shops, is worth a postprandial look around.
One of the most authentic Thai restaurants in the area, Friendship Thai Food (2382 8671; 38 Kai Tak Rd; dishes around HK$32-138; ;10:30-15:00 & 18:00-24:30) is always full of Thai domestics. Golden Orchid Thai (2716 1269, 2383 3076; 12 Lung Kong Rd; dishes around HK$35-65; ;noon-01:00) is slightly more expensiv…
reviewed
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Golden Mile Complex
This is Singapore’s mini-Thailand, full of Thai shops, grocers, butchers and eateries. The signs are in Thai, the customers are mostly Thai and the food, clustered on the ground floor, is 100% magnificent like-mother-makes Thai. The atmosphere is often boisterous and drunken and a little rough-house for some. The Isan (northeast) food is best – try the Nong Khai Food & Beer Garden on the ground floor (with the orange sign in Thai and tiny lettering in English), then once you’re fed and boozed up, head for Thai Disco 1 or 2 to complete the evening.
reviewed
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Khao-Mao Khao-Fang
Like dining in a gentrified jungle, this place, designed by a Thai botanist, replaces chandeliers with hanging vines, orchids and lots of running water. It also has one of the more interesting Thai menus you'll find anywhere, with dishes featuring local ingredients such as fish from the Mae Nam Moei or local herbs and veggies. Try one of the several delicious-sounding yam (Thai-style spicy salads), featuring ingredients ranging from white turmeric to local mushrooms. The restaurant is north of town between the Km 1 and Km 2 markers on the road to Mae Ramat.
reviewed
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Krua Medsai
This fantastic local haunt rarely registers on Cha-am's tourism radar because it sits just north of the beachside burg. Try succulent Ъoo nim (soft-shell crab) and order a bowl of spicy đôm yam gûng (prawn and lemongrass soup) with coconut. To find Krua Medsai, go north along the main ocean road until the rows of accommodation end; you'll pass over a small bridge and a few hundred metres later there's a large blue billboard pointing to the restaurant on the right-hand side of the road.
reviewed
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Q
Little Face
Little Face is a daring fusion of what were once two separate restaurants (Lan Na Thai and Hazara). With other cuisines it could be a slightly schizophrenic experience, but the Thai-Indian combination works: you can pair samosas (Y40) with a green curry (Y75) or papaya salad (Y45) with Tandoori lamb kebabs (Y80) and flavours are mostly complementary. Ochre-coloured walls, candle-lit tables and a collection of Asian antiques set the scene for intimate dining. Stop off at the trendy 2nd-floor bar for drinks.
reviewed
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R
Thip Samai
Brace yourself, but you should be aware that the fried noodles sold from carts along Th Khao San have nothing to do with the dish known as pàt tai. Luckily, less than a five-minute túk-túk ride away lies Thip Samai, also known by locals as pàt tai Ъràđoo pĕe, and home to the most legendary pàt tai in town. For something a bit different, try the delicate egg-wrapped version, or the pàt tai fried with man gûng (decadent shrimp fat).
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Night Markets
The most popular and pleasant place for an evening meal is at the night market near the Khong Kha pier. The menus are in English but the food is authentic and excellent. Stalls here sell papaya salad, fried noodles, đôm yam gûng (prawn and lemon grass soup with mushrooms), fresh seafood and all manner of things on satay sticks, plus sweet milky Thai desserts. There's a similar market just north on Th Sukhon that's open day and night and caters to a more local crowd.
reviewed
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S
Sabeinglae
‘Everything there is delicious, ’ said our cab driver as he dropped us off. And indeed this rustic seafood shack, known for its Samui cuisine, delivered a table full of intensely delicious creations, like wai kôo·a (a coconut milk curry with octopus), yam tá-lair sà·mŭi (a zesty local-style salad) and a seaweed dish whose name has been forgotten. The Samui dishes appear in the menu in Thai only, so ask your server for recommendations. It’s south of Hin Ta Hin Yai.
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