Tides change for London’s Thai restaurants
Thai food is fast-developing in London, with a flurry of new eateries spotlighting the diversity and complexity of the cuisine outside of Pad Thai and green curry. The latest is Soho’s Khao Bird, launched in October and inspired by Bangkok spots like Rangoon Tea House and the Haawn supper club. GM Flora McTeare walks Amelie Maurice-Jones through a cocktail list built on Southeast Asian flavours (plus a not-so-traditional hit of Lidl vodka) and shares why she’s surprised that “we’re selling loads of wine.”
In November, Northern Thai restaurant Khao Bird officially opened the doors to its first permanent spot in Soho. Crowned the world’s top food destination Condé Nast Traveller’s 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards, Thailand welcomed a record one-million UK tourists in 2025 – a 13% uptick from 2024. “These flavours are taking off,” enthuses Khao Bird general manager Flora McTeare. “Thai food is booming, and it is accessible for lots of people, and loads of people now go to Thailand on holiday.”
She’s right. And while Britain still holds Pad Thai and green curries dear, Thai cuisine in London is fast outpacing the perimeters of what it’s been known for in the UK. Wichet Khongphoon, chef-patron of southern Thai restaurant Supawan, recently told CN Traveller: “The definition of flavours is deeper, richer – there’s more complexity and great understanding of how we cook.”
2025 has seen a storm of Thai openings across the city, reflecting the diversity, nuance and complexity of Thai cuisine. Luke Farrell is bringing the second Plaza Khao Gaeng to Borough Yards, Som Saa has relaunched in Shoreditch after a fire, and Sirichai Kularbwong’s Singburi 2.0 also made its grand arrival to Shoreditch, to name a few. What’s more, Win Srinavakool chose London for the first international launch of his noodle soup restaurant chain, Khao-Sō-i.
‘We’re selling loads of wine’
And for the past year, Khao Bird, which originally began as a Brighton pop-up, has enjoyed a residency above The Globe Tavern in London Bridge. But in October, the eatery put down permanent roots in the West End on the site of what was allegedly Soho’s last adult cinema. Head chef Luke Larsson and restaurateur Mike Palmer are at the helm, spotlighting hyper-regional, live-fire and BBQ-style cooking in the kitchen, and wine consultant Zeren Wilson is the guy behind the wine list.
“When we were in Borough, we didn’t sell very much wine at all, and we were like, ‘we’re probably not gonna sell that much wine here’, but we’re selling loads of wine,” says McTeare. She thinks this is a testament to having a much more interesting list, with Soho’s customer base having a greater thirst for wine and a broader palette.
The wine list spans five suppliers, with Bermondsey Dynamic Vines – the UK’s leading premium importer of organic and biodynamic wine – playing a big role. “It’s really important for us that we have a really well-rounded and interesting list, but with a purpose, so it’s not just that we’ve thrown it together,” explains McTeare. The restaurant’s sold more red than expected, too. “The Pinot Noir is a lovely light red, and so is the Beaujolais,” she adds.
Cocktail list
Would Khao Bird ever serve up Southeast Asian wine? There’s Thailand’s Monsoon Vineyard, for instance, producing a range of Shiraz. “It does exist,” says McTeare, “but one of the problems is importing it.” However, she suggests, “it’s something we could definitely think about in the future”.
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Several drinks do, however, spotlight flavours from Thailand and surrounding areas. There’s a frozen lemongrass and lychee margarita dubbed the White Lotus, and then the Mango Sticky – a jasmine vodka, rum, mango and coconut cream concoction. Of course there is Chang beer, and also Burmese Milk Tea: “It uses grass jelly, which is a really interesting flavour, and that’s with pandan. It is a key ingredient in Thai cooking, and goes really well mixed with coconut.”
McTeare discloses that the team are working on a Chiang Mai Milk Punch: “That’s a take on a traditional milk punch, which is from the days of sailors on boats, but we are doing it with Mekhong – a Thai rum – then washing it with coconut milk to get fat-washed rum, mixing it with pandan, then filtering it through milk.”
Bangkok inspiration
And for just £7.90, there’s the aptly named cocktail, I Am Broke, made with Lidl double vodka, lime and soda. While we’re not sure Lidl’s quintessentially Thai (perhaps 7/11 has a budget vodka offering to explore), McTeare says it was created after speaking to young members of the team, who attested that vodka from the UK supermarket was all they could afford. “It’s a nod to yesteryears, it’s tongue in cheek.”
McTerae has spent time touring Bangkok’s bar circuit, all in the name of research, which is brimming with creativity and setting global standards for mixology. Take STØCKHØLME Sober Bar, for instance, pouring exclusively non-alcoholic serves, or Nuss Bar, where award-winning bartender Ronnaporn Kanivichaporn artfully stirs local spirits in inventive cocktails. There’s also plenty of stylish skyscraper spots, including State Tower’s Sky Bar and Hotel Muse’s The Speakeasy.
McTeare cites the modern Burmese eatery Rangoon Tea House – with sites in Myanmar and Bangkok – as a key influence for Khao Bird. And in terms of Thai restaurants, she’s visited her fare share, but Larsson has spent time working in more: he cites Samuay & Sons, Haawn supperclub, 100 Mahaseth and Bo.lan as specific inspirations.
A new era
That’s evident on the menu, where dishes span from Khao Soi with smoked beef brisket, lemongrass-marinated, charcoal-grilled BBQ Chicken and Onglet Steak with white curry, rose water, flowers and paan leaf. There’s also steak tartare larb – bonded uniquely with Campari – and Shan BBQ meatballs, curiously described as ‘Ikea-style’ but, unlike Ikea, ‘wrapped in caul fat’.
“Luke has worked among the youngest, hippest chefs in Thailand, who are deviating away from traditional methods of cooking but are still using original flavours,” according to McTeare, “they’re guys who have worked in the Western world and are merging those palettes to bring in a new style of Thai cooking.”
But, she attests, “we’re not trying to be your typical anglicised Thai restaurant.” When asked what that means exactly, she says the chefs refuse to tone down the spice to suit the Western palette. Khao Bird has been operating in various forms since 2018 – from pub kitchen to pop ups, so the menu’s a tried-and-tested machine. “But,” admits McTeare, “the challenge is to make it 10 times better, keep progressing and make the menu more interesting, difficult and complex”. Spice levels, however, will remain high.
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