The best Thai restaurants in London are unusually hard to get into, and not for the reason you would guess. It is not that they are expensive. Most of them are not. It is that almost every one of them has an unusual rule about when you can come, how many of you there can be, and whether they will speak to you at all.
One takes no bookings and will text you when a table frees. One has no telephone number and runs a virtual queue that reaches three hours. One opens four days a week. One will not seat a child after seven in the evening.
Every rule below is published by the restaurant itself, and together they matter more than any ranking.
The no booking ones
Kiln, Brewer Street
A counter over a wood fire in Soho, clay pots, and the restaurant most Londoners name first.
Kiln
- Address
- 58 Brewer Street, Soho, W1F 9TL
- Nearest
- Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square
- Hours
- Kitchen Monday to Saturday midday to 11pm, Sunday midday to 9pm
- Booking
- No online system. The only route they publish is an email enquiry to bookings@kilnsoho.com, and they keep counter space for walk ins
- Price
- Thai grill, seafood and claypots
- Standing
- A wood fired counter on Brewer Street, part of the Super 8 group
How to get in
The part nobody repeats: they will take your number and send you a message when your table is ready, so the wait does not have to be spent standing on Brewer Street. You can also have a drink while you wait if there is room. Between those two, an hour at Kiln is a considerably better proposition than an hour outside most no booking restaurants. The kitchen runs to eleven Monday to Saturday, which is late for the quality.
Speedboat Bar, Rupert Street
A Thai Chinese drinking and eating room modelled on a Bangkok snooker club, and the latest Thai kitchen in central London.
Speedboat Bar
- Address
- 30 Rupert Street, Soho, W1D 6DL. A second site at 191 Portobello Road, W11 2ED
- Nearest
- Piccadilly Circus for Soho, Ladbroke Grove for Notting Hill
- Hours
- Soho Monday to Thursday midday to midnight with last food orders at 10.45pm, Friday and Saturday midday to 1am with last food at 12.15am, Sunday midday to 11pm with last food at 9.45pm
- Booking
- Online only, for up to 12 people, up to three months ahead. They state plainly that they have no telephone contact. Walk in space is first come first served and then a virtual queue
- Price
- Corkage 35 pounds per 750ml bottle, or 50 for sparkling
- Standing
- Thai Chinese cooking from Luke Farrell, with a sister restaurant in Plaza Khao Gaeng
How to get in
Food until a quarter past midnight on a Friday and Saturday makes this the answer when everything else has stopped. Four published rules to read first. There is no phone number, so email or nothing. The walk in queue can run to three hours at peak times. Children are welcome before seven in the evening and not after it, and prams cannot be accommodated. And there is no step free access at the Soho site, though there is at Notting Hill. They also cannot cater for allium allergies.
The ones that take bookings, and their limits
Som Saa, Spitalfields
Regional Thai cooking off Commercial Street, and the most systematic booking policy of any restaurant on this page.
Som Saa
- Address
- 43A Commercial Street, Spitalfields, E1 6BD
- Nearest
- Aldgate East, two minutes, or Liverpool Street, six
- Hours
- Kitchen Monday to Wednesday 12pm to 2.30pm and 5.45pm to 10pm, Thursday to Saturday until 10.30pm, Sunday 12pm to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm
- Booking
- 020 7324 7790, or online. Three separate routes: up to 6 guests, 7 to 12 guests, and a group booking page above that
- Price
- Set lunch and set dinner menus, plus a full vegan menu
- Standing
- Regional Thai food, one minute south of Spitalfields Market
How to get in
Book through the right door or the system will tell you there is nothing free. Parties of up to six, of seven to twelve, and larger groups each have their own booking route, and using the wrong one is the usual reason people conclude it is full. The hours they publish are kitchen hours, and the kitchen shuts between half two and a quarter to six every day. There is a dedicated vegan menu rather than a couple of marked dishes.
Plaza Khao Gaeng, three sites
Southern Thai curry over rice, and the one to use when there are a lot of you.
Plaza Khao Gaeng
- Address
- 6 Bedford Street, WC2E 9HZ. Also Arch 207, 18 Stoney Street, SE1 9AD and 103 to 105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB
- Nearest
- Covent Garden, London Bridge or Tottenham Court Road
- Hours
- Monday to Saturday midday to 10.30pm, Sunday midday to 8.30pm
- Booking
- Online, for groups of up to 22 guests
- Standing
- Southern Thai raan khao gaeng, modelled on a Bangkok curry shop in an old cinema
How to get in
Twenty two people bookable online is the headline and it is unusual: its sister restaurant Speedboat caps at twelve and has no phone, so if your group is large this is the one from that kitchen to use. Khao gaeng means curry over rice and the format is informal and fast rather than a tasting menu. Sunday is the short day, closing two hours earlier than the rest of the week.
The four day week
Farang, Highbury Park
A Michelin Bib Gourmand five years running in a neighbourhood room in Highbury, open Wednesday to Saturday and no other day.
Farang
- Address
- 72 Highbury Park, N5 2XE
- Nearest
- Highbury and Islington, Arsenal or Finsbury Park
- Hours
- Lunch Thursday to Saturday only, midday to 2.30pm. Dinner Wednesday to Saturday only, 5pm to 9pm. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
- Booking
- reservations@faranglondon.co.uk or 020 7226 1609, answered Wednesday to Saturday midday to 9pm. Groups of six or more need a £20 a head deposit and must take the tasting or feasting menu
- Price
- Set lunch on Thursdays and Fridays, four courses for £35
- Standing
- Michelin Bib Gourmand five years running, and a Thai Select award from the Thai Embassy four years running
How to get in
Book Wednesday or Thursday. Their published supply chain explains why: fresh Asian produce leaves Bangkok on a Sunday, clears Heathrow on a Tuesday and reaches the kitchen on the Wednesday, to be prepared immediately for dinner service. Dinner service begins the same day the produce lands. Note how narrow the week is: four days for dinner, three for lunch, and dinner stops at nine, so a late table here does not exist. Chef Sebby Holmes started in 2015 selling from the back of a car at street markets.
Practical notes
Work out the booking route before you decide you cannot get in. Som Saa has three separate ones by party size. Speedboat is online only with no phone. Kiln has none at all. Plaza takes twenty two. More people give up on these restaurants over the mechanics than over availability.
Late means Speedboat and nothing else. Food until a quarter past midnight on a Friday and Saturday. Kiln stops at eleven, Plaza at half ten, Farang at nine.
Read the kitchen hours, not the opening hours. Som Saa publishes kitchen times and shuts the kitchen for three hours every afternoon. Speedboat publishes last food orders separately from closing and the gap is over an hour.
Bring the group to Plaza and the children before seven. Speedboat will not seat a child after 7pm and cannot take prams at all. Plaza takes parties of twenty two online.
Soho holds two of these within four minutes of each other. If Kiln has an hour on the door, Speedboat is on Rupert Street, and the walk between them is shorter than either queue.
Everything here was taken from each restaurant’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. These are the five whose own rules could be read in full. Confirm before you travel.
Where to go next
The nearest neighbours on this site: Vietnamese, which is concentrated almost entirely on Kingsland Road, and Chinese.
The restaurants guide holds the wider list. Japanese and Chinese are the two nearest pages in method, both built from what the kitchens publish themselves.
By neighbourhood: Soho for Kiln and Speedboat, Islington for Farang, Covent Garden and Borough Market for Plaza.
Malaysian restaurants run the tightest hours of any cuisine on this site: the best rooms open four or five days a week for about four hours a night.
For eating after the kitchens close, London after dark.
Questions we get asked
What are the best Thai restaurants in London?
Kiln on Brewer Street for the wood fired counter, which has no online booking system but takes enquiries by email and will text you when a table is ready. Som Saa in Spitalfields for regional cooking and the most organised booking system. Speedboat Bar on Rupert Street for Thai Chinese food served until a quarter past midnight at weekends. Farang in Highbury has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for five years running.
Which Thai restaurant in London has a Michelin award?
Farang on Highbury Park publishes a Michelin Bib Gourmand held five years in a row, along with a Thai Select award from the UK Thai Embassy for four consecutive years and a place in the National Restaurant Awards top 100. Bib Gourmand recognises good cooking at moderate prices rather than a star, and it is the level at which London Thai cooking is generally recognised.
Can you book Thai restaurants in London?
It depends which, and the mechanics catch people out. Kiln publishes no online booking system, only an email address for enquiries, and seats walk ins, though they will take your number and message you. Speedboat Bar books online only for up to twelve and has no telephone number whatsoever. Som Saa runs three separate booking routes by party size. Plaza Khao Gaeng takes groups of up to twenty two online.
Where can you eat Thai food late in London?
Speedboat Bar on Rupert Street, which runs to one in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays with last food orders at a quarter past midnight. On other nights it closes at midnight with last food at a quarter to eleven. Kiln in Soho runs its kitchen to eleven Monday to Saturday. Everything else in this guide has stopped serving by half past ten.
Which London Thai restaurant is best for a large group?
Plaza Khao Gaeng, which takes online bookings for groups of up to twenty two across its Covent Garden, Borough Yards and Tottenham Court Road sites. Its sister restaurant Speedboat Bar caps at twelve outside private hire, only has large party availability in the early evening, and states that it cannot seat separate bookings together.
What night should you book a Thai restaurant in London?
Wednesday or Thursday at Farang, for a published reason: their fresh Asian produce leaves Bangkok on a Sunday, clears Heathrow on a Tuesday and arrives in the kitchen on the Wednesday to be prepared immediately. Farang is also closed Sunday to Tuesday entirely, so the week is short. Elsewhere, midweek simply means shorter queues at the no booking rooms.
Is there vegan Thai food in London?
Yes, and Som Saa in Spitalfields publishes a full separate vegan menu rather than a few marked dishes, which is rare in Thai cooking because fish sauce and shrimp paste are foundational. Speedboat Bar has a vegan menu available on request from your server. Ask when you book rather than when you sit down.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 97 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
