We fell in love with Thai cuisine even before we went to Thailand. It was 2010 and then 2011 when we had our first pad thai, satay chicken with creamy peanut sauce, Łukasz had red curry with beef and I loved Pad See Ew fried noodles with pork in Suparom Thaifood – a little barack on ul. Wałbrzyska. We visited our barack or ordered Thai takeaways. When I was pregnant I ate them like mad which may be the explanation why Maks likes pad thai now as well 🙂 Back then the choice of Thai restaurants in Warsaw was quite limited and when we discovered Thai Thai in Sopot in 2011 we couldn’t be happier! Finally Thai food in a cool place where you can have lunch in the summer or a romantic dinner with your loved one. I wrote about it ages ago – HERE 😉
And then there was our trip to Thailand (all posts from Thailand can be found a href=”https://www.tasteaway.pl/category/podroze/tajlandia/” target=”_blank”>HERE). First one, then the second and third one. Bangkok almost every year, 2 weeks of travelling around the country with emphasis on the North of Thailand, 2 weeks of beaching on Krabi and Phuket, little family restaurants, pad thais from a stand for PLN 2, but also great restaurants where Thai cuisine got a new, better dimension. We love it and every time we’re in Asia we try to visit Bangkok at least for a moment in order to find our beloved flavours.
We’ve got our three favourite places in Warsaw. Places we return to more or less frequently. Places where we find our favourite Thai flavours. And even though each of this places let us down at least once and the food was not perfect (we suspect absence of the chef in most cases), we still come back. As usual: it’s our own SUBJECTIVE list. We adopted several rules while making our Thai TOP:
– we do not accept places that use Polish replacements for ingredients used in Thailand (i.e. lemon instead of a lime, button mushrooms instead of shiitake mushrooms)
– we do not count places that serve pho, Chinese rice or chicken tikka masala apart from Thai food – we do not believe in pizza-kebab-sushi mixed altogether kind of places
– we avoid places that use Thai cuisine to make a weird kind of fusion by serving Thai dishes with corn salad and tomatoes salad (there are places like this, but shhh…;)).
Our TOP3 of THAI CUISINE IN WARSAW:
1)BASIL & LIME – ul. Puławska 27
It’s definitely a place we eat in the most often. We tried most of the meals from their menu sometimes becoming addicted like with Pad Kee Mao – fried noodles with beef and peppers, aubergine and Thai basil. Great and very authentic pad thai – so good that when we had a mediocre one in Bangkok we said to ourselves – ‘don’t worry, we’ll have a better one in Basil’ (it’s the one on cover photo!). We love it and Maks loves it too so it’s children-friendly as well. Their Tom Ka Gai is perfect – no tricks, but with coconut milk, chicken, Thai mushrooms (not button mushrooms!), lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal. Fragrant and warming. When it comes to vegetarian dishes they have a cool crispy tofu with vegetables and cashews.
I have to admit that we’ve been going to Basil & Lime even more ever since they opened the kids’ corner. On one hand I prefer bright places and like sitting right by the window but on the other when I come with Maks we sit in the cellars – he plays in the kids’ corner (sometimes there are organised activities too!) and we can talk with our friends 😉 And if your little one does not like pad thai, they also have kids’ menu – a Thai one and a not so Thai one!
We’ve been to Basil a lot of times and there were some bummer… sometimes with service (fortunately it’s getting better), sometimes with an inferior version of a specific meal. However when the chef is cooking – a Thai man from Bangkok you can rest assured – it’s going to be great!
2) THAISTY – pl. Bankowy 4
Thaisty is lively and crowded from lunch till late in the night and it’s definitely the loudest liveliest and most charismatic Thai place in Warsaw. We weren’t impressed the first time we went there but after the second one we couldn’t stop praising the place. Thai flavours and lots of intriguing menu items – something that I miss i.e. in Basil & Lime.
I love their starters. I really liked plah joh – fish rolls with dried tofu, roast Thai basil and sweet chilli sauce, pekin bun with duck and plum sauce or a rice steamed pancake vege roll. It’s surely one of the few places in Warsaw where you can have morning glory straight from the wok and feel like on a Thai island. And there’s the famous duck soup of course which was first served by the chef in Naam in Saska Kępa and then she took it here. Seasonal menu items are a great thing too – you can find something interesting every time!
Lately the pad thai was a bit less tasty and the chicken seemed not as fresh as it should be. But we’re giving them credit and counting on it being just a minor accident, especially with the place being a great location for lunch or a cool evening with friends and Thai food! 🙂
3) NAAM THAI – ul. Saska 16
Naam is a classic. A first Thai place loved so much in Warsaw wit people declaring ‘I love Naam. Naam’s the best!’. We first got there in June 2014. A bit late, but in a good moment to fall in love. For while I could not pass through Warsaw without eating their pad thai and the famed duck soup the chef made.
When the chef opened her own Thaisty we got a bit worried about Naam. Fortunately the place maintains its high level (however there are lows – both in terms of flavours and service), but we still visit them for the duck soup. Ul. Saska is quite close from Deseo so we often come for lunch. Not only do they have delicious lunches but also great seasonal menu items such as a delicious yellow curry with pumpkin I had in autumn. Tapioca pudding works great as a dessert! And the duck soup is still addictive. I lately heard rumours that there’s going to be a second Naam in Warsaw? Wonder if it’s true? 😛
Looking for best Thai places we also checked Thai Thai on pl. Teatralny but a combination of the highest prices in town and a mix-up in the ingredient area (lemon instead of a lime, button mushrooms in Tom Ka Gai) was enough to discourage us. We believe that when you pay PLN 42 or 46 for a pad thai (chicken or shrimps) you can expect ingredients like in Thailand. Especially with limes not being a particularly luxurious and unavailable ingredient. Just check Lidl 🙂
On Saturday we also checked Suparom Thaifood near pl. Zbawiciela (ul. Marszałkowska 45/49). You can say the tradition has been done. The food was tasty, but once again we got a lemon and Pad See Ew (fried noodles with pork and vegetables) was served so untidily that it looked like from a Chinese booth from long time ago. For us Suparom is long after its golden years (at least the one on ul. Marszałkowska) and the place looks a bit dusty. Not enough to get to the TOP…
We used to love Why Thai on ul. Wiejska 13 too, but during our last visit a while ago the meals weren’t as full of flavour as we expected and I have to admit that we got discouraged and decided not to come back. Especially with the close vicinity of parliament affecting the vibe heavily. We prefer Thai places with light and casual atmosphere 😉
Your suggestions on Facebook included Horapa in Ursynów too. We haven’t been there but since the place serves pho, miso, wonton, bun salads and a lot more apart from Thai food, we do not believe it can be the best Thai food in Warsaw since you cannot say whether it is a Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese or Japanes(miso!) restaurant. These cuisines have so much good in them that it’s not worth mixing them in one pot and one restaurant! 😉
So what?:) What’s your favourite? Maybe we forgot something? 🙂
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