The Best Thai Restaurants in Sydney

by Broadsheet Editors

Updated June 11th, 2024

What most of us think of as “Thai food” is better conceived as several regional cuisines that share common ingredients and techniques. We're lucky – Sydney is one of the few places outside Thailand where you can experience many of those cuisines distinctly.

From the grilled meats and eye-watering som tam salads endemic to Isan in the north-east, to the familiar curries and soups found in and around Bangkok, Sydney does real-deal Thai dishes that’ll transport your taste buds. Here are our favourite joints around town.

Porkfat
Restaurant
A Long Chim alumnus is behind this 30-seat Chinatown restaurant, where you’ll find punchy takes on classic Thai street food and home-style cooking. Think deep-fried barramundi with mango salad, Phuket-style curry with tiger prawns and betel leaves, and a refreshing coconut ice-cream with roasted peanuts and candied pumpkin.
Spice I Am
Restaurant
This slamming Thai institution has all the classics you know. Plus, a hardcore Thai following to rival the corporates and students dropping in for an affordable lunch and dinner.
Chat Thai Haymarket
Restaurant
A trailblazer in Sydney’s Thai restaurant scene. When the late, great Amy Chanta opened it in Darlinghurst in 1989, it brought Bankgok flavours that were then-unknown to Sydney diners. The Thai street food here is fine-dining quality, served at very reasonable price points. Today, it’s a super-popular chain with stores all over Sydney.
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Joe’s Table
Restaurant
Visit this flavour-punching Thai-ish diner and see why Joe Kitsana might be the hardest-working man in Sydney hospitality. The Hanoi-style spring rolls and dumplings swimming in chilli, ginger and soy sauce are both must-orders.
Viand
Restaurant
Thai-food legend David Thompson’s right-hand woman is behind this seductive eatery. From the theatrical open kitchen, she’s celebrating the nuances and beauty of Thai cuisine, with flavour-punching dishes you might not find anywhere else in Sydney.
Yok Yor Thai Food Factory
Restaurant
For fast-paced, real-deal Thai.
Dodee Paidang Haymarket
Restaurant
Thai food that pulls no punches.
Alphabet Street
Restaurant
Thai cuisine meets industrial aesthetic.
Khao Pla
Restaurant
Bangkok-inspired plates matched with 90s hip-hop.
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Caysorn
Restaurant
A restaurant in Haymarket specialising in southern Thai cuisine.
Boon Cafe and Jarern Chai
Cafe
Find this cavernous Thai grocer and cafe in the heart of Sydney’s Thai Town. Despite serving burgers, bowls and pasta, Boon doesn’t mix elements of Thai and western cuisine – it reimagines them like they always belonged together.