Hong Kong’s culinary landscape has never been more vibrant for Thai food enthusiasts, with a wave of new openings and longstanding institutions offering everything from rare street snacks to waterfront dining. UFood has curated a definitive list of 13 essential Thai restaurants across the city, featuring venues helmed by Thai-born chefs, Michelin-recommended kitchens, and hidden gems serving dishes seldom seen outside Bangkok’s bustling markets. Whether you crave the comforting tang of tom yum or the fiery kick of a proper pad kra pao, this guide maps out where to find authentic flavours right now.
New Kids on the Block
The most anticipated debut belongs to Siaw, which opened its doors in Tsim Sha Tsui in July 2025. This spot brings several street foods previously unavailable in Hong Kong, including Thai coconut pancakes that are crisp outside and custardy within. The menu draws from floating market traditions: chef staff rise at dawn to prepare broth for small-bowl boat noodles, available with either wagyu or black pork. The deep-fried catfish floss salad with green mango achieves that elusive balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy that defines superior Thai cooking.
Equally noteworthy is O’Thai in Hung Hom, where a Thai chef with over three decades of experience and a Michelin recommendation crafts modern interpretations of street classics. The restaurant’s main draw is its 180-degree harbour view, complemented by outdoor seating perfect for sunset dining. Signature dishes include crab meat cream curry served with baguette, slow-braised wagyu in red or green curry, and Iberian pork neck with spicy tamarind sauce. The tom yum kung here uses head-on prawns that have absorbed the broth’s full depth of flavour.
Ros Jad in Mong Kok takes a laser-focused approach: it is a pad kra pao specialist run by Chef Gigg, winner of Thailand’s Iron Chef competition. Beyond the classic minced pork version, the restaurant offers inventive variations featuring Chinese sausage, century egg, and pork belly—all topped with a crispy-edged, runny-yolked fried egg.
Kowloon City’s Thai Heartbeat
The district remains Hong Kong’s unofficial Thai food capital, anchored by several long-standing establishments. Kam Po Thai Restaurant, operational since 1991, built its reputation on seafood: chilli paste clams, raw shrimp, and its legendary “exploding” shrimp balls that burst with filling. Golden Orchid (established 1993) still draws crowds for its massive round French bread served with yellow curry chicken, and notably charges no service fee.
Royal Thai Pavilion, also run by Thai owners, sees queues form daily for its chargrilled Angus beef, curry soft-shell crab, and deep-fried pork knuckle. The restaurant’s stone-brick walls and wooden furnishings create a distinctly Thai atmosphere.
BTS Food Station adopts Bangkok’s metro system as its theme, with menus designed like MRT route maps. It stays open until 1:00 AM—rare among district Thai restaurants—making it a prime late-night destination. The signature crispy pork knuckle, Hainanese chicken rice, and suki-style seafood hotpot offer both traditional and fusion options.
Specialists Worth Seeking Out
Tai Pai Dong in Jordan channels the energy of a Bangkok street stall with neon signage and vintage posters. The chef, formerly of the acclaimed Samsen in Wan Chai, produces a wagyu beef boat noodle (HK$98 dinner) where the broth is thickened with beef blood for remarkable richness. The drunken tiger prawn stir-fried noodles and crab meat fried rice showcase his wok skills.
Red Ant Thai in Ngau Tau Kok is a family-run operation where staff speak both Cantonese and Thai. The grilled chicken wings and tom yum soup deliver straightforward, reliable comfort food. Soi.29, with branches in Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai, serves a popular dried-style pad thai with prawns (HK$88) alongside crispy millennium egg shrimp cakes that combine springy shrimp paste with molten egg centres.
Milu Thai in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui recently introduced a “viral” seafood mama noodle bowl (HK$178) available in suki or tom yum broth, generous enough for two to three diners. Their Thai volcano pork ribs (HK$228) replicate Bangkok’s night market spectacle, with meat slow-cooked until tender then drenched in spicy lime dressing.
Samsen Thai Noodles in Central has expanded lunch service, offering its famous wagyu beef noodle soup (HK$158) and crab fried rice (HK$168) alongside new additions like crispy oyster omelette and chilli paste stir-fried clams. The interior faithfully recreates a Bangkok Chinatown atmosphere with vintage tiles and hanging plants.
Late-Night Options and Hidden Gems
Thai Fat Thai Restaurant in Kowloon City opens from 3:00 PM to 3:30 AM, catering to the after-hours crowd. The all-Thai team makes sauces in-house and adjusts spice levels on request. Specialities include northern-style dishes and traditional raw shrimp.
What This Means for Diners
This surge in Thai dining options signals a maturation of Hong Kong’s Thai food scene beyond the familiar pad thai and green curry. Chefs are bringing regional specialities, from Isaan-style salads to southern coconut-based curries, while maintaining the street-level authenticity that defines the cuisine’s soul. For anyone serious about Thai food, the message is clear: Hong Kong now offers a breadth of options that rivals Bangkok’s own dining landscape, and these 13 restaurants represent the vanguard. Book ahead, bring appetite, and explore.