The best halal Thai food in London

Thai is one of the trickier cuisines to eat halal, and the reason is pork. It runs quietly through a lot of the classics — the crispy belly, the sausage tucked into a papaya salad, and sometimes the stock a curry is built on. So while a Thai menu looks welcoming, the safe move has always been to find the kitchens that have consciously left the pork out rather than to pick around it dish by dish.

The halal Thai spots rebuild the menu around chicken, beef, prawns and tofu, and the good ones lose nothing for it. A halal pad kra pao with minced beef, a green or massaman curry rich with coconut, a proper pad thai, a bowl of tom yum — all of it works without the pork, and these kitchens have had years to prove it.

Two things beyond the meat are worth knowing. Some Thai dishes are finished with rice wine or Shaoxing, and fish sauce is in nearly everything — the latter is halal but worth a heads-up if you're avoiding seafood. Where a kitchen has confirmed its curry pastes and sauces, we log it; where it's unclear, we mark it ask-before. Each venue's status sits on our ladder, sourced and dated.

Here are the halal Thai spots we're tracking across London, best-rated first:

A practical note: ask whether the curry pastes are made in-house, because that's where a kitchen can tell you exactly what's in them. Shrimp paste is standard and fine; it's the pork stock and the splash of wine you want ruled out. Heat levels run hot at the authentic places, so pace yourself, and check the date on our status line before you go.

Spotted a halal Thai place we haven't logged? Send it over — we verify every submission before it lands on the map.