Thai food in Toronto: how to order past pad thai and where to go
How to order real Thai food in Toronto, what to ask for beyond pad thai, and the kitchens worth going to. Every place with its own phone number.
Pad thai is the training-wheels order, and there is nothing wrong with it, but a good Thai kitchen can do a lot more and most people never ask. The food is built on a balance of hot, sour, salty and sweet, and a kitchen that gets that balance right is worth keeping.
How to order well
- Say your heat level and mean it. Thai kitchens often dial the spice down for a room they do not know. If you want it as they would eat it, say Thai hot, and start one notch below that the first time.
- Get a curry and a stir-fry, not two curries. A green or red curry with rice, plus something dry like pad kra pao (holy basil stir-fry with a fried egg on top), covers more ground and is how a table is meant to eat.
- Som tum is the green papaya salad, pounded to order, sour and sharp and hot. It is a test of a kitchen and a good one is a revelation.
- Boat noodles and tom yum are the soups to know. Tom yum is the hot-and-sour one; a proper bowl smells of lemongrass and lime leaf before you taste it.
- Sticky rice goes with the grilled and the spicy dishes. Eat it with your hands, in small balls, to scoop.
The kitchens
These are the Thai restaurants in the directory, most of them downtown.
Before you go
Ring first if you are going out of your way, and if you want it cooked the way the kitchen eats, tell them on the phone. The number on each page is the restaurant's own.
Written by See The Six · kept current from the directory, last checked 2026-08-24
