Best Pad Thai in Bangkok: 12 Places Ranked, from Thip Samai to Michelin Plates and Vegan Versions

What good pad thai is

A good plate is dry, not wet. The thin rice noodles should be soft but separate and coated rather than swimming in sauce, with a sweet-sour balance from tamarind and palm sugar, salt from fish sauce, and smoke from a very hot wok. Egg, firm tofu, dried shrimp, chives and bean sprouts go in the pan; crushed peanuts, chilli flakes, sugar and lime come on the side so you finish it yourself. Pad thai cooked in big batches and portioned out tends to turn soft and clumped. The shops below each take the same base somewhere different: Thipsamai adds shrimp fat and an omelette wrap, Baan Phadthai swaps shrimp stock for crab stock, Thep PadThai fries its dried shrimp separately so they stay crisp, and Fai Ta Lu serves on banana leaf with the topping as the point.

Thip Samai vs Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu vs Thep Pad Thai

These three are the names that come up most often. Thipsamai is the history: started in 1939 as Pad Thai Pratu Phi by the shop’s own account, renamed in 1966, and still cooking omelette-wrapped pad thai with shrimp fat on Maha Chai Road. It closes on Tuesdays, and the mall branches at ICONSIAM and Siam Paragon skip the queue at higher prices; Eat and Travel With Us recorded the Superb Pad Thai at 129 baht at ICONSIAM in 2019.

Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu is the technique: chef Andy Yang’s wok work and char-grilled Berkshire pork, recognised with a Bib Gourmand since 2022. Michelin’s page lists daily hours of 10:00 to midnight, matching Google, though Time Out’s 2019 listing is marked closed, so check the map before travelling. Thep PadThai is the modern take on Sukhumvit Soi 28, from a founder of Phed Mark, with a fried egg on every plate and four heat levels. It is the easiest of the three to reach from the BTS. The shop’s Instagram lists it open every day from 10:00 to 20:30, while Daniel Food Diary’s February 2025 review had it closed on Sundays.

Michelin and Bib Gourmand pad thai in Bangkok

Two pad thais carry Michelin recognition confirmed on guide.michelin.com for the 2026 edition. Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu has held a Bib Gourmand since the Michelin Guide Thailand 2022 and is on the 2026 list, and Potong, with one star in 2026, includes a layered phat thai with tiger prawn on its tasting menu in a century-old Chinatown pharmacy building; it opens 15:30 to 23:00 and closes on Wednesdays. Baan Phadthai was named in the Michelin Guide Thailand 2021 Bib Gourmand list and featured in a 2019 Michelin article on Charoen Krung, but it no longer has its own page on guide.michelin.com, so this list cites only the 2021 edition. Jay Fai, the city’s starred street-food cook, is known for crab omelette and drunken noodles rather than pad thai. More in Michelin restaurants in Bangkok.

Best pad thai in Chinatown and the Old Town

The Old Town is the pad thai district. Thipsamai and Jay Fai sit on the same stretch of Maha Chai Road, and Fai Ta Lu is on Dinso Road near the Giant Swing. Time Out’s 2018 review described Thipsamai’s queue forming before opening. In Chinatown itself, pad thai is not the local speciality; Potong’s tasting-menu version is the one Michelin mentions, and the street trade is noodles, dim sum and seafood, covered in Chinatown Bangkok restaurants and street food in Bangkok.

Pad thai near Sukhumvit and Silom

For people staying on Sukhumvit, Thep PadThai on Soi 28 is the best daytime choice, and Padthai Ekkamai on Soi 63 is the late one, open until 04:00. Heng Hoi Thod on Ekkamai 14 adds an oyster omelette at the same table. LukKaiThong on floor 6 of EmQuartier serves pad thai in a mall, and May Veggie Home on Soi 23 and Mercy Republic on Sukhumvit Road cook vegan versions; see Sukhumvit restaurants and vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Bangkok. Mercy Republic’s hours conflict: Google lists 11:00 to midnight daily, while HappyCow says closed Monday. On the Silom side, Baan Phadthai on Charoen Krung 44 is eight minutes on foot from BTS Saphan Taksin, and Broccoli Revolution on Charoen Krung 42/1 does a vegan plate on chia-seed noodles; its website lists 11:00 to 21:30 daily, while Time Out’s 2020 review had it closed on Mondays, so call 097 201 2492 first. For the wider picture, see best restaurants in Bangkok.

Prices, queues and what to order with it

At Thipsamai, order the fresh orange juice too, and ask the price first, because the shop says it changes with the season. Baan Phadthai serves every plate without chilli unless you ask for prik. At Thep PadThai, medium heat is what both reviewers settled on, and extra eggs cost 25 baht each. Time Out’s 2018 review describes Thipsamai’s queue forming before opening; remember it is closed on Tuesdays. Padthai Ekkamai’s hours come from Time Out’s 2017 review (04:00) and Lub d’s guide (24 hours), and Thipsamai’s prices date from 2018, so budget a little more and check the map before a late run. A som tam or a plate of hoi thod alongside makes it a meal for two.