London’s best Thai restaurants

The decor may be slinky and contemporary, but Isarn’s menu can be surprisingly wallet-friendly – bento box lunches including spring rolls or fishcakes, curry, rice and fruit are particularly good value. Don’t expect authentic Thai fire or top-of-the-range cooking but do sample some of the restaurant’s more unusual dishes, alongside its stylishly presented curries and pad thai. Isarn is still a cut above the local norm, and the narrow dining room is often packed.

KaoSarn has always been one of the crowd-pullers in Brixton Village Market and quite rightly so; the food is not only cheap, but is also bursting with authentic Thai flavours. The menu is pared down to a handful of classic curries, noodle dishes and stir-fries, although everything is up to standard. Soft drinks include fragrant homemade lemongrass or ginger tea, and you can also BYO. Service can be a little matter of fact, but staff are unfailingly friendly.

For intense, edgy and exciting Thai food, head to the ground floor of chef Ben Chapman’s Soho barnstormer, where a stainless-steel counter (for walk-ins only) gives terrific views of the theatrical open kitchen. Stripped-back dishes – mostly cooked on the chargrill or over coals in the ceramic charcoal burner – are inspired by rural Thailand, but much of the produce comes from the UK. To drink, you can choose from spice-friendly wines, cool cocktails and eastern-flavoured iced teas.

As a modern Thai restaurant, Kin + Deum (literally ‘eat + drink’) is the full shebang: a laidback, minimalist space serving up big helpings of thrilling, Bangkok-inspired food with the help of some genuinely lovely staff. Our top picks? The crunchy, chewy ‘red rice curry salad’, the soft aubergine with a tangy tamarind dip, the pitch-perfect som tam and the eye-wateringly fiery pad spaghetti prawn kee mao (spiked with ferocious bird’s eye chillies). 

Squirrelled away in the Lancaster London hotel, Nipa Thai is plush and polished – note the waitresses in traditional attire and immaculately laid white-clothed tables. Grab a window spot for views of Hyde Park across the road. The menu offers classic Thai cooking (including a few less-familiar dishes), everything is attractively presented, and chilli is used in moderation, so as not to offend the well-turned-out international patrons. For smart dining at relatively affordable prices, opt for the set menu.

It may be part of an international chain, but Patara still feels distinctive: the low-lit wood-panelled dining room exudes an air of confident sophistication, staff are polite, and the cooking is a refined take on generic Thai cuisine overlaid with westernised ideas – think osso bucco braised in massaman curry sauce with lotus seeds. With a zesty cocktail list added to the mix, Patara is great for a night on the town. There are branches across the capital.   

A veteran of the Leytonstone scene (and still something of a local secret), this tiny family-run Thai café scores in every department. The BYO policy is definitely key to its boozy appeal, but the food is also a blast – staunchly traditional, potently spiced and delivered without ceremony from the open kitchen. Prices are fair, service is matter of fact and the place is rampantly popular – despite the hassle of booking a table over the phone.  

The brazen Shoreditch reincarnation of Soho’s teeny-weeny Smoking Goat promises smack-in-the-face Thai BBQ in a jam-packed industrial-meets-rustic setting – all smoke, loud music and high-strength alcohol. The food is laced with volcanically hot ‘mouse-dropping’ chillies, and the flavours will hit you for six (try the lardo-fried rice or the signature fish-sauce chicken wings) – although your wallet won’t be seriously dented, even if you go heavy on the booze. This is really ‘drinking food’ at its best.

With full-frontal, never-dumbed-down flavours from Thailand’s north-eastern provinces, the cooking at Som Saa is guaranteed to blow you away. Unforgettable dishes include deep-fried sea bass with regional herbs and a dry jungle curry made with guinea fowl – but don’t miss the silky palm-sugar ice cream (think burnt toffee and salt), matched with grilled turmeric-tinged banana. Bookings are limited to groups, but a reservation will guarantee you some of the better seats in the house.

A spicy favourite in Parsons Green, Sukho exudes Thai elegance and charm. The dining room is tailor-made for a romantic meal, while the menu offers some good-looking dishes for sharing and ogling – we’re thinking of the sea bass marinated in red curry paste, which arrives attractively presented on a banana leaf. To drink, there’s plenty for wine lovers, plus Thai beer and a sweet, herbal chrysanthemum infusion. Related to Suksan in Chelsea.