Thai Food Restaurants: Thai Town in Taipei, Taiwan

Since we’ve been without AC for two days now in our apartment, we decided to go grab a quick lunch while waiting for the repairman to show.  Although a chain restaurant, Thai Town has received a number of positive reviews and comments from various sources in Taiwan so we decided to try them out.

We arrived around 12:30pm and the place was pretty busy.  I loved the interior and decor – very chic and classy.  In true Taiwan fashion, the restaurant is multi-level and the location we visited had a cute little outdoor patio area (although we were certainly not the least bit interested in sitting out in the 100F heat after no AC at home!)

Their menu selection was pretty extensive and had a number of delicious sounding items, but seeing as there were only 2 of us, we decided to be smart and only order a couple items. 

I had been craving shrimp pancakes so that was my first search on the menu. Normally, I just see “shrimp pancake” on the menu but Thai Town had regular, spicy, lemongrass, and even wheat! We opted to try the Spicy Shrimp Pancake(NT320).  Overall, it was excellent and not nearly as spicy as I expected (thankfully).   

Next we tried the Green Curry Chicken in a Coconut Sauce (NT280).  I was very excited to see so many curries on their menu, and I remember reading this one came highly recommended.  The chicken curry had small green chile peppers throughout and fortunately they were not overpowering (heatwise) and really complemented the dish well. 

We also tried the Deep Fried Softshell Crab with Thai Sauce (NT380), which is a newer menu item.  This was absolutely amazing! The dipping sauce is similar to the sweet sauce typically served with shrimp pancakes, but it had a bit of finely chopped scallion and cilantro mixed in.  The crab was delicately fried, minus the usual heavy tempura type batter I am used to.  It was not the least bit greasy either, which was surprising. 

The last item we tried was the Mussaman Beef Curry (NT320).  This is one of usual must order dishes if I see it on a menu somewhere.  This was rather tasty and still had the nutty element I like, but no actual whole peanuts in the sauce itself.  Filled with onions, green peppers, and fresh Kaffir lime leaves, this was a delicious mussaman curry. 

Even though we were both completely stuffed, had polished off our Chang beers, I still wanted dessert!  I’ve figured out that Asian style desserts are some of the best I’ve ever had as they are so light and usually more healthy (justification) since they are filled with fresh fruits.  We opted for the Tapioca & Exotic Fruits Juice in Coconut Milk (NT100).  This was served in a tall ice cream sundae style glass.  Wow….this was excellent.  It still had the consistency and flavor of tapioca, but with lots of great fruit flavors, including mango, pineapple, and topped with green and red jelly pieces. 

Thai Town has been around in Taiwan since 1990.  They are under the same ownership as Very Thai, another great Thai place in Taipei.  Apparently when Thai Town opened, they hired imperial chefs from Thailand to develop the signature menu items.  They have been very popular with locals and since then, opened a number of other locations around the island.  There are about 12 locations in the greater Taipei area – the location we went to was a stand alone restaurant in the western/expat area called Tianmu. 

As far as prices go, it is one of the more expensive places for Thai food, but the quality is excellent and the service is superb.  The average price of each dish is around $10 USD (currently exchange rate is about NT33 to 1 USD) and the 10% service charge is included on the bill.  

One other bonus we were thrilled to find out as we were leaving is they have a separate take-out menu.  We have found it difficult to find places with good take-out food.  Since most food around us is more food stalls and night markets, there are not a lot of options if you want to pick something up on the way home from work, especially where you can park easily.  This location has an underground parking lot right next door which is great.

Thai Town Locations in Taipei

7F, 9 Songhou Road, Taipei   02-2723-9987

133 Anhe Raod, Sec 2, Taipei  02-2735-9638

7F, 15 Nanjing W, Road, Taipei  02-2542-7277

49 Ren-ai Road, Sec 2, Taipei  02-2351-0960

7F, 68 Tianmu East Road, Taipei  02-2873-6680

116 Tianmu West Road, Taipei  02-2826-4852

2F, 22 Jingye 3rd Road, Taipei  02-2175-3355

2F, 128 Beixin Road, Sec 2, Xindian  02-8913-5153

659 Zhongzheng Road, Yungho  02-2831-1257

4F, 122 Zhongshan Road, Sec 3, Zhonghe  02-7731-7778

65 Wenhua Road, Sec 1, Panchiao  02-8965-1155

95 Zhengyi North Road, Sanchung 02-2989-8088

Thai Town Locations Outside of Taipei

8F, 357 Yuahua Road, Zhongli City, Taoyuan  03-422-1599

4F, 509 Zhongyuan Road, Sec 2, Zhongli City  03-468-0488

12F, 2 Minzu Road, Hsinchu City   03-522-6789