251 Best Restaurants in Thailand

Roofed with leaves of Nipa palms, this hippie-chic café is set in an idyllic shaded courtyard with casual teak furniture, sheer curtains, stained glass windows, and religious sculptures. The food is healthy, hearty, and wholesome.

Built on a rock overlooking Karon Beach, this restaurant has great views of the water. Seafood is the specialty, but well-made Italian and traditional Thai dishes are also on the menu. Book in advance to ensure you get a table with a view.

This is a great option for tasty vegetarian and vegan specialties from the northeast of Thailand, including curries that pack a fiery kick. The eponymous owner also offers cooking classes and it's clear from the punchy dishes that she has plenty of wisdom to pass on. Desserts of mango or jackfruit with sticky rice provide a toothsome finale to any meal. 

The chefs at this Thai-French restaurant acknowledge its Asian influences while relying mainly on French technique. Prawns might come, for instance, Thai-style in a curry with fresh coriander in coconut milk or with echoes of France in a vermouth sauce.

Owned by a Thai-Aussie couple, this cool little café in the Thapae Gate area serves excellent coffee sourced from local roasters, along with hearty breakfasts and healthy Aussie-style sandwiches and salads made with organic ingredients. The breakfast pizza paired with an iced coconut espresso is a treat for those up early with jet lag. There are always several vegetarian and gluten-free options. The café closes at 3:30 pm but occasionally reopens in the evenings for special events such as craft-beer, cocktail, or wine tastings.

There's also a branch on Nimmanhaemin Rd.

An appealing mélange of local flora and traditional Thai decor greets patrons as they enter this charming bar and restaurant on the bank of the Pa Sak River. The visual delights continue in the low-ceilinged dining areas, which are packed with collectibles, from old bottles to timepieces, and half the restaurant sits on a pontoon floating on the water. Try the grilled river prawns: an Ayutthaya signature.

Stick to the fun and interesting cocktails at the Library's popular restaurant—it claims to make 101 different kinds—and after a few sips you'll feel as hip as the surroundings. The menu is mostly Thai, featuring contemporary takes on traditional favorites like prawns with garlic and pepper, and sea bass with chili and basil.

Outside the gates that lead to the Bangpae Waterfall are two picturesque wooden pavilions nestled in the jungle that serve up stellar versions of Phuket specialties, like spicy stir-fried clams. This is home cooking that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

It's all in the name at this tiny roadside eatery presided over by a talented musician-owner who also plays local gigs. There are several varieties of delicious pad Thai.

Ask the owner when his next gig is. His band, Why Not, attracts huge crowds of locals, expats, and tourists alike and guarantees a rocking night out.

An extensive menu in English makes this teak pontoon eatery on the Nan the most comfortable riverside experience. The emphasis is on fresh seafood—the pla taptim (St. Peter's fish, a delicious freshwater variety found everywhere in Thailand), served steamed with a spicy lemon-and-lime sauce, is a good choice.

Note and El, a Thai couple, run this lovely breakfast spot on the way from Thong Sala to Srithanu. The two of them specialize in home-made dim sum and Chinese herbs soup, but also serve steamed dumplings or rice soups with egg, fish, or pork. The teak interior of this open-sided Thai restaurant creates a homey atmosphere that locals appreciate, and traditional Thai coffee and tea invite you to linger. Prices are very reasonable, and the owners are always happy to chat. 

If you've been craving fresh-baked doughnuts, croissants, mouthwatering eggs Benedict, and real coffee rather than the instant stuff, you'll fall in love with the family-run Phi Phi Bakery, which serves American, continental, and Thai breakfast and brunch specials and freshly baked pastries (the cinnamon buns are especially good). They also serve Thai and Western standards for lunch (it closes at 5 pm).

This delightful sea view restaurant in Lanta Old Town is known for its fresh seafood and Thai cuisine, but also serves great burgers and has a separate vegetarian menu. The staff are quick to recommend favorite Thai dishes, in particular the tamarind prawns and the tart pomelo salad. Great atmosphere and wonderful location. 

This legendary restaurant has been delighting diners with its fried chicken seasoned with black pepper and plenty of golden-brown garlic for more than 50 years. The restaurant is a bit hard to find—as you enter Soi Polo (Soi Sanam Khli), it's about 50 yards in on your left.

A favorite in the area for 20 years, Khun Pat's offers Thai staples and simple Western dishes at reasonable prices. Nothing is too spicy, the menu in English has illustrations, and guests are allowed to write on the walls.

The steady stream of locals is one clue that the seafood here ranks among the town's best. Try the charcoal-grilled whole fish, large prawns, crab, and squid—all fresh and accompanied by a delicious chili sauce.

This little place with bare walls and a tile floor is beloved by locals for its juicy pet (roast duck) and moo daeng (red pork). Getting here early is a good idea—by 6 pm there's often little duck left—and allow yourself time to find the entrance, which is easy to miss on busy Charoen Krung Road.

Although it doesn't look like much from the Promthep Cape parking lot, views from the tables out back are hard to beat. The restaurant serves Thai food, specializing in fresh seafood, and some Western fare. 

For authentic Lanna cuisine, you can't do better than this simple but superb restaurant, with an extensive menu. Try the kanom jeen (Chinese noodles) served with a spicy meat sauce, raw and pickled cabbage, and various condiments; or the satay moo, thin slices of lean pork on wooden skewers, served with a peanut sauce dip. In the evening every table has its own steam pot and barbecue for preparing the popular northern specialty moo kata, a kind of pork stew. The open-sided, teak-floor dining area is shaded by ancient acacia trees, making it a cool retreat on warm evenings.

In a wooden house by the river, this family-run restaurant attached to Rabieng Guesthouse serves many classic Thai dishes and a few Western ones for very reasonable prices. It opens at 10 am but is one of just a few places in the area that stays open after sunset (until midnight daily).

The dining menu at this tranquil teahouse is fairly short, with light breakfast bites, curries, and sandwiches, but the cool interior of this exquisitely restored century-old Chinese merchant's house is a wonderful respite from the bustle of the city. It doubles as a showroom of fine celadon pottery and has an adjoining courtyard, with a shop selling Lanna fabric and the pottery used in the restaurant. There are indigo dyeing, textile weaving, and ceramic painting workshops available here, too.

Serving Thai and European fusion food in an atmospheric garden setting, with a compact menu that creative chef Ed Qarré renews every six weeks, Red Snapper, unsurprisingly, has become one of the island's most happening restaurants. If you're hungry order one of their large platters, or opt for a wonderful selection of tapas dishes if your palate is yearning for adventure; the eponymous red snapper is always succulent and fresh. Cocktails, too, are innovative; try the Thaipiroska for a locally inspired alcoholic kick.

Well-known for its views of the Mekong River and Laos beyond, this old family-run restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere and quality Thai food. You can sit on the teak terrace and fuel up with Thai staples like stir-fried chicken rice with cashew nuts, or order a more adventurous dish like fried frog seasoned with garlic and pepper.

Lovers of Italian food are particularly well-served on the island, with several stellar options. One of the most memorable is where chef-proprietor Alessandro Paterno presides (usually with cigarette fixed to mouth) over a daily-changing selection of fish and seafood creations.

Follow the crowds to this open-air floating restaurant in the shadow of the railway bridge, where the offering includes aromatic Thai favorites and seafood freshly caught in the Kwai Yai and Kwai Noi rivers. The chefs tone down the food considerably for foreigners, so if you want yours spicy, you’ll have to say so.

Hidden in a quiet alley outside the buzzy town center, this roastery serves fresh coffee from Mae Hong Son, including 90Plus---signature beans known for their bergamot, ginger, and lemongrass tasting notes. The industrial design is hardly surprising given that RoastBarn used to be a coffee factory until 2023, but cozy jazz tunes, jasmine trees, and hanging plants have transformed the space into a relaxing place for your morning elixir, accompanied by a fragrant selection of pastries for sale.

The name of this riverside restaurant means "Crystal House," which is rather fitting, since it's such a gem. Pass through a profusion of bougainvillea flowers to find a wooden deck overlooking the Nan River, the perfect vantage point for taking in the lush scenery and enjoying the Thai menu with some original touches. The crispy chicken in a sweet pickled-plum sauce, for instance, is a rare delight.

The menu at Saffron mixes creative modern Thai with classic dishes, and the food is just as exciting as the stunning views from the 52nd floor of the Banyan Tree Bangkok. Even if you don't come for dinner, stop by the adjoining bar on the balcony for a cocktail or some street food–inspired snacks—the comfy seating, cool breeze, and vistas are superb.