Top 5 Thai Restaurants in Adelaide

Nu Thai has taken the food in Central Thailand to a different level by adding their own modern twist.

The restaurant first started in 2004 on Gouger Street. Due to growing demands, Thomas Ng moved the restaurant to a bigger space on Morphett Street in 2014.

When you ask locals which Thai restaurant they can recommend, Nu Thai is always almost among the suggestions. This reputation helped them move to a bigger place on Morphett Street.

After taking the first bite of their chicken satay skewers, we easily understood why the restaurant is so popular. The modern take on the skewers and flat prawn spring rolls is amazing and fits well with the Australian palette. 

Nu Thai also takes pride in their curries and noodles. The spicy fish curry and the pad see-ew (fried rice noodle dish) were our favorites among the mains.

The bright warm decorations and earthy timber tones in the restaurant provide a very cozy and welcoming ambiance to diners. The Thai artworks displayed on the walls add value to the entire dining experience.

The place fills up quickly though, even after moving to a bigger place. So, if you want to dine here, it is advised to book early.

Because of the number of people in the restaurant, it can also get very noisy. The bare wooden floor also adds to the noise.

The busy nights can also cause the service to be slow at times, and the servers and managers can get more sensitive due to fatigue. They still try to remain as accommodating as possible, which is still a great thing.

Overall, we recommend Nu Thai to those who want to try street foods from Central Thailand and are looking for a casual dining spot.

If you want to have Instagram-worthy food with equally amazing taste but don’t want to break the bank, you can drop by Social Street S2 in Hutt Street.

The restaurant serves beautifully plated dishes, decorated with colorful vegetables and appetizing sauces. The seaflower dumpling, a flower-shaped dumpling, is the most popular dish on the menu because of its unique shape.

Among the food on the menu, we especially liked the Sarawak laksa, the roast duck curry, and the pla salad. 

We appreciate that gluten-free and plant-based options are posted on the wall. The staff also ask about your dietary requirements so they can inform the chef and have the food complement your diet.

We also like that the price of the dishes is reasonable, making the street food experience more realistic and authentic. We even felt like we were paying less for the quality of food we were served. 

The place looks equally Instagrammable as the food. Although small, the decorations on the wall, like the colorful artwork, photographs, lights, and writings, make the place look more fashionable.

But the small and narrow space can still hinder the amazing dining experience the restaurant can offer. It can get hard to move and noisy when it gets crowded.

It is also not recommended for people who are looking for a sophisticated dinner experience, as the place is too small to accommodate such an experience. The decorations are also more casual than sophisticated.

Soi.38 started serving Thai street food and dishes that are not available in other restaurants in Adelaide in 2014. Because of its dedication to serving authentic Thai street food, it is named after the famous street food market in Bangkok.

Today, the restaurant serves not just street food but also dishes from different regions in Thailand and ethnic minority groups. This sets Soi.38 apart from other Thai restaurants in Adelaide.

What impressed us is their dedication to serving authentic and fresh Thai food. The executive chef gathered the recipe from remote parts of Thailand, hill tribes, and ethnic minority groups.

As it is a family-owned business, some of the recipes are also handed down from older generations. This must be why some of the menus tasted and felt like premium home-cooked meals.

However, the food can be too spicy for others. Even when the chili level is lowered, it can still be pretty spicy, as traditional Thai food is really spicy.

The food also comes with a hefty price, but the quality of the food makes up for it.

The wine and cocktails presented by the restaurant also make up for the price. It presents an extensive list of great wines that are not available in some of the restaurants that we’ve tried, which is a great advantage for the restaurant.

Overall, we believe that Soi.38 is perfect for those looking for Thai food from different regions of Thailand.

Golden Boy’s dining experience is made golden by the fragrant herbs billowing out of the kitchen and swirling around the dining hall, the tasty food, and the great service.

The black sticky rice caught us off guard the most out of all the dishes on the menu. This modern take is just as tasty as the classic mango sticky rice dessert.

The Tuk-tuk menu was also amazing. The staff knows the food really well and make great choices for the meal.

We also appreciate that the staff immediately asks for any allergies or dietary requirements before even receiving the orders. The changes made to accommodate the dietary requirements also don’t make the meal less valuable.

Another advantage of Golden Boy is the list of beers from Thailand available in the restaurant. Most of their competitors only offer wine and beers from Australia.

However, one thing we didn’t like is that they only offer banquets. This makes it hard for people who want to eat alone or those who are in a group of two.

Another thing that we didn’t like is the hefty price that comes with each dish. The portion seems to be too small for the price.

Nonetheless, we still recommend this place to those looking for a place to eat with their friends, family, or coworkers.

A lunch at Star of Siam has become a tradition for some of the locals of Adelaide. After running their errands in the Central Market, they often walk to the restaurant to eat.

The restaurant has been serving Thai food in Adelaide since 1987 and became known for its sea stars dish, which still remains one of its most popular dishes today.

What we liked the most about the menu are the Skillogalee Shiraz Cabernet and the pad-kee-mao. The Shiraz perfectly compliments the spotless and flavourful pad-kee-mao.

Almost everything on the menu is also authentic. Out of all the entries in this list, the dishes served in Star of Siam are the most authentic.

However, the place is too gloomy and narrow. Most diners are close to each other, and the windows are small, so not much light gets inside.

Because the place is filled almost every day, the place can get noisy too.

Considering all these, we believe that Star of Siam is perfect for those looking for authentic Thai food.