Where to Find the Best Thai Food in Portland, Oregon
A smattering of dishes from Som Tum Thai, clockwise from top: pork cartilage soup, moo ping, duck larb, sticky rice, field crab papaya salad, and raw salmon salad
From the breathless Pok Pok reviews of the early aughts to Langbaan’s outstanding restaurant win at last year’s James Beard Awards, Portland’s reputation as a national Thai food destination is well established. And our city’s scene is not just prolific, but varied: Unlike many parts of the country, the Thai restaurants here can be hyper-regional or dish-specific, focusing on the Thai-Chinese food found in Bangkok’s Yaowarat district or the crispy, shallot-fried chicken sold on the southern coast. The way most Portlanders interact with the cuisine turns the remarkable into the ubiquitous; the average neighborhood takeout is a few notches above what you’d find in other parts of the country, thanks to the city’s Tantalus-level thirst for khao soi and pad kee mao. Our Chef of the Year for 2019, Akkapong Earl Ninsom, could fill this entire list with his diverse range of restaurants that span the Isan region of northern Thailand to Hat Yai in the south, not to mention the three on this list.
Outside of Portland, compelling options abound: For Beaverton, Khamdee Thai Cookhouse and Lanna Thai are great places to start. Vancouverites love the Chef Thai Cuisine for citrusy squid salads and mussel-studded hoy tod, and Hillsboro residents flock to Nine Dang Fine Thai for familiar Thai dishes made with aplomb. Below, however, find the finest som tum, khao man gai, and mango sticky rice within city limits.
Ba Mee’s noodles with duck and dumplings.
Ba Mee Thai Noodle House
boise
At this relatively recent entrant to North Williams’s restaurant row, cooks busily feed springy dough into extruders to create Ba Mee’s house-made, tender-yet-chewy egg noodles. Inspired by street dining in the busy cities of Thailand, they appear in crystal-clear bowls of broth as islands balancing slices of juicy rare duck or fat wontons. They come slick with BBQ or garlic sauce, hunks of roast pork with crackly skin perched on top. They can even sneak into other Thai soups, like coconut-rich khao soi or tangy tom yum, if you ask nicely (and pay the surcharge). Take it to go or dine at the subway-tiled booths in the bright, window-lined dining room.
Lemongrass chicken at Chick & Pig.
Chick & Pig Thai
woodstock
This unassuming Thai food cart tucked away in a Woodstock neighborhood parking lot is a favorite for its BBQ and salad sets: grilled or fried meat skewers served with rice and vegetables, or tossed with fragrant alliums and sweet-tart vinaigrettes over mixed greens. Marinated pork skewers, or moo ping, get their hint of sweet brininess from fish sauce and palm sugar, fortified with cilantro and alliums; each skewer retains the char and smoke of the grill, well complemented by the piles of fresh herbs in the salad sets. Be sure to grab a side of the Chick & Pig Sauce, a sweet-and spicy chile sauce with green onions; it should be liberally applied to the sets, as well as any wings, skewers, or fried meatballs. Chick & Pig is also a favorite for its array of bubble teas, especially in the summer. Seating is limited to a single bench, so take it to go.
A full spread at Hat Yai.
Hat Yai
Vernon, buckman
Langbaan is ever shifting, always seasonal.
Langbaan
northwest district
For more than 10 years, Portland’s hottest Thai dining has been found within the tasting menu at Akkapong Earl Ninsom’s Langbaan, from its original clandestine dining room behind a bookcase at Paadee to its ring of a tasting counter within Phuket Café. Reservations open a month in advance and are often filled within days or even hours. The ever-shifting menu draws inspiration from specific aspects of Thailand’s history and culture—past menus have focused on specific regions of Thailand, neighborhoods in Bangkok, and 100-year-old royal Thai menus. Each meal opens with two bite-size dishes: the miang som is a vivid, intense bite of shrimp, citrus, and coconut in a betel leaf, and the kanom krok, a crispy rice cup cradling raw scallop, coconut cream, and lemongrass. Expect a soup and a few small courses before the main event, the table laden with platters of meats and seafood to share. In its newer space in NW Portland, Langbaan often uses its range of different grills for charred and smoked components, and executive chef Kitsanaruk Ketkuaviriyanont isn’t afraid to play with the true funk of fermentation often encountered in the cuisine’s birthplace. Star pastry chef Maya Erickson closes things out with innovative desserts that often incorporate seasonal fruits (think five-spice coconut custard with Mekhong apples in fall, or strawberry mochi with smoked jasmine ice cream in summer), and renowned sommelier Dana Frank picks out bottles that can stand up to the bold parade of courses in each meal.
Mee Sen Thai Eatery
MISSISSIPPI
On warm nights, the North Mississippi patio outside Mee Sen Thai can be a dreamy place to people watch while twirling citrusy glass noodle salad yum woo sen; in the winter, neighborhood locals crowd into the cozy dining room filled with exposed wood and brick, warming up with tamarind sours and tom yum. The expansive and colorful menu covers the length of the country, executing an astounding array of Thai noodle soups, skewers of marinated meats, regional fried chicken variations, and stalwarts like pad kee mao. Beginners should start with an order of Thai street food and one of the salads—the somtum Thai pairs slivered green papaya and crunchy peanuts in a savory fish-sauce dressing, brightened with plenty of lime. Mee Sen’s stable of soups battle the dreariness of Portland’s rainiest days, particularly the tom yum, which triples down on pork products (ground, chai siu, and meatballs) to balance the energetic acidity of the broth. Mee Sen is also a strong khao soi destination, delicate egg noodles and fall-apart tender chicken legs floating in a creamy curried coconut broth base, glistening with chile oil.
Lines move rapidly at the always-busy Nong’s.
Nong’s Khao Man Gai
Downtown, Buckman
Nong Poonsukwattana has achieved folklore status in Portland, arriving in town with $70 to her name and creating an empire of Thai-Chinese chicken and rice. Though her original food carts have closed, her two busy counter service restaurants serve hundreds of carefully wrapped paper parcels every day. Inside, the eponymous Nong’s Khao Man Gai: chicken and rice served with a cup of simmering broth, fresh cucumber and cilantro, and her now-legendary ginger sauce. The dish may seem simple, but it’s more than the sum of its parts. Nong’s chefs gently poach the chicken with pandan leaves and ginger, leaving the breast meat tender and the remaining stock profoundly flavorful and pristinely clear. They then toast the rice in chicken fat and steam it with pandan, creating a culinary tie to the chicken and broth. You can get the dish with peanut sauce and broccoli; swap out the chicken for tofu, vegetables, or pork; or enjoy the chicken and rice served as a soup. Still, the original khao man gai reigns supreme.
Larb croquettes make the perfect starter at Norah.
Norah
sunnyside, vernon
The tiny dining room at the corner of SE 38th and Belmont is packed to its bamboo-lined walls most nights, often with a line for takeout crowding the front door. Norah is the flagship venture from restaurateur powerhouse Nan Chaison, entirely vegan and incorporating Thai classics as well as dishes and cocktails from her world travels. Sidle up to the bar for the coconut pandan Negroni or the namesake tropical fruit tequila sour alongside starters like the larb croquettes: a crunchy exterior gives way to a deftly spiced interior of toasted rice, Thai chiles, and lime leaves, perched on cucumber and finished with a crispy fried basil leaf. Other dishes are similarly inventive—the volcano miso mala soup sees glass noodles swimming in a bright and peppery consommé, topped with a generous portion of fried mushroom and vegetable tempura—but takeout standbys like pad thai and pad see ew are also exceptionally well done here, packed with proteins like vegan eggs, fried tofu, tempeh, and soy curls.
Curries, noodles, and cocktails make Paadee a destination.
Paadee
kerns
Before he served his first miang som at Langbaan or fried his first chicken thigh at Hat Yai, chef Akkapong Earl Ninsom had Paadee. Compared to his other restaurants, the SE 28th Avenue OG churns out dialed-in classics that Portlanders often order from their neighborhood takeout joint: pad kee mao, massaman curry, pork belly fried rice. But the menu extends beyond these well-executed staples, with dishes like sai grog issan, a fermented pork sausage from northern Thailand, and ba mhee phitsanulok, a salty-sour egg noodle soup piled high with roasted pork, pork meatballs, and crispy pork belly. A wildly popular dish features chewy, chive-filled rice flour dumplings known as kanom gui chai steeped in a garlicky sweet-and-sour soy sauce. The restaurant’s lunch sets are midday meal MVPs, like the tamarind-glazed wings or pork belly noodles complemented by sticky rice, papaya salad, jammy soft-boiled egg, and a light and fragrant vegetable broth.
Fried trout elevates the pad thai at Rukdiew.
Rukdiew Café
buckman
With rose pink banquettes and a canopy of year-round Christmas baubles hanging from the ceiling, this Belmont Thai restaurant’s playful approach to the cuisine matches its bubbly dining room. Rukdiew’s specials and its takes on Thai staples are where it shines brightest—think pad thai topped with delicate soft-shell crab, fried rice served with crispy, flaky fried trout, and the mango paradise, where chunks of mango and crunchy cashews splash in a sweet and peppery chile jam. Rukdiew also serves an unimpeachable take on khao soi, a noodle soup from Northern Thailand: Its base is aromatic with spices like coriander and cardamom, mellowed with coconut milk, lime, and cilantro. It arrives with a tangle of supple, chewy egg noodles, plus a fried nest of them on top. Regulars know to get it with the added drumstick.
The raw salmon salad at Som Tum is a delight.
Som Tum Thai
downtown
Sirapob Chaiprathum—friends call him Q—runs this heat-seeker’s haven in downtown Portland, up a flight of stairs off SW Broadway. He specializes in the cuisine of Northeastern Thailand’s Isan region, which means its culinary headliners, including the restaurant’s namesake dish, hold much of the menu’s real estate. While many Thai restaurants offer one version of the green papaya salad, Som Tum serves at least seven different variations, ones packing the salty funk of dried shrimp, salted duck egg, or house-fermented fish sauce. Other papayaless salads and raw dishes impress, like the goong chae nam pla—raw shrimp, butterflied and creamy, encircling a shot glass of lip-tinglingly spicy lime and chile dressing. The best introduction to the restaurant comes in its Pa Khao Yai, named for a Buddhist temple in Nakhon Ratchasima, in which a bountiful selection of salads, fried meats, and sticky rice surrounds a pot of flavorful pork and galangal soup. Be warned: The spice levels here may surpass any other Thai restaurant in town, so stick to mild or medium if you’re easily burned out. The restaurant’s SE Belmont sibling, Kai Yang, offers easier entry points for those who generally stick to pad thai, without losing the tongue-searing, tear-jerker salads.
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