Chinatown, Thai Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

2021 Review: Pan Serirak and Mike Asavarut created this duo of Thai-influenced, late-2018 yearlings in Soho: Wild Rice is on the ground floor, and focuses on small plates to share (Thai flavours with seasonal British ingredients). Mamasan is the basement restaurant, offering street food dishes. Early feedback suggests it’s finding its feet, but worth a go: “we went and it was empty – I’m not sure why it wasn’t packed as it deserved to be”.

“Addictive! Watching the chefs fire the meat whets the appetite” at Ben Chapman’s “boundary-pushing classic” in Soho: a “unique and amazing” Thai BBQ whose “visceral cooking over flames provides a sensory experience, with food that’s also exceptional”. “And it’s such a cool place”, if “crowded” – “lovely sitting at the bar, enjoying the ordered chaos of the kitchen, having a drink and sampling all the different dishes; and the committed front of house team make this a very special meal”. Food quality is “holding up well: they don’t seem to have downgraded their offerings to make them more ‘accessible’”; although they are “able to satisfy a chilli-phobe as well as a spice seeker”. Top Menu Tips – “their pork chop haunts me with its fatty char and savoury flesh”; and “the Chicken & Soy is still an all-time favourite”.

For “a more upmarket Thai experience”, head to the branches of Khun Patara Sila-On’s “very pleasant” group (which is over 30 years old, with branches from Asia to Europe). “Well-presented flavoursome dishes” from “good-quality ingredients” are provided by staff who “always seem happy to see you”.

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

2023 Review: This “modest but terrific” former pop-up near Trafalgar Square, from entrepreneurial Lao-Thai chef Saiphin Moore (of Rosa’s Thai), is “well worth the visit” for “good-sized portions” of “authentic” Laotian food – a lesser-known Asian cuisine with meals revolving around the staple of sticky rice.

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

For “a more upmarket Thai experience”, head to the branches of Khun Patara Sila-On’s “very pleasant” group (which is over 30 years old, with branches from Asia to Europe). “Well-presented flavoursome dishes” from “good-quality ingredients” are provided by staff who “always seem happy to see you”.

“Chaotic” and “a bit mad”, but “actually brilliant” – JKS Restaurants’s genius if gaudy Chinatown two-year-old is inspired by Bangkok sports bars and hits the spot with a vibrant menu of “really good-value” morsels plus funky cocktails that go down a treat. It’s like being in Bangkok… it “just needs to be about 20 degrees warmer outside!”

2023 Review: Chef David Thompson has built international renown for his Thai cuisine, although his previous London venture of over a decade ago – Nahm (long RIP), in Belgravia’s swanky Halkin Hotel – never quite hit the mark (despite achieving a Michelin star). This Chinatown newcomer joins branches in Sydney, Perth and Dubai and incorporates a big basement, with a small ground-floor mezzanine and sizable exterior courtyard for outside dining. As you’d expect, this is a more down-to-earth formula than Belgravia’s was, with a more casual, street-food-style menu.

“Slightly frenetic, great fun, always packed and rightly so” – this “kick-ass” two-year-old from chef Luke Farrell (the flagship of JKS Restaurants’ Arcade Food Hall in Centrepoint) is for fans “the one and only Thai in London”, whose “elevated street food” “takes you back to Thailand” and whose “hot and cramped atmosphere fits the vibe”.