Pai Thai Dubai: Delectable Thai on the riverside

Pai Thai Dubai is one of the best Thai restaurants in Dubai. I highly recommend it whether you are staying in Dubai or visiting Dubai, for the multi sensory experience it has to offer: be it the view, the ambience, the service, vegetarian options or some of the best Thai food in Dubai.

Pai thai Dubai is consistently rated as one of the best Thai restaurants in Dubai and I can say for all the right reasons. from my own experience. Along with serving the best thai food in Dubai, it is also one of the most popular restaurants in this side of town and hence a reservation is recommended as you will find it almost impossible to get a seating without one especially on a weekend. A week in advance is ideal as that way you get to choose the time too.

1. Cuisine: Authentic Thai as they like to call it and this is where you will find the best Thai food in Dubai. On weekends, Pai Thai Dubai organizes a feast every weekend for lunch where guests are invited to enjoy a diverse selection of innovative dishes representing the best of Thai flavours.
   The restaurant opens at 6pm on weekdays (and hence only for dinner) and at 12:30pm (to 2:45pm) on weekends when it serves the feast and a-la-carte lunch too.
2. Location: Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
   Within Madinat Jumeirah, it is located on the waterfront and the only way to access the restaurant is by a traditional abra (wooden small boat in Arabic). The journey from the hotel to Pai Thai is as blissful as the food at the restaurant. This journey is part of the reason for it being one of the best Thai restaurants in Dubai.
   There are no other branches or chain of this restaurant currently.

Our Order:
Rice crackers/ cakes along with sweet chilly sauce and a thai tamarind sauce were served as soon as we were comfortably seated. My children quite liked them and we requested them for one more serving.

• Som Tam Je: Green papaya salad with apple, cashew nuts and tamarind dressing. Absolutely delectable. Highly recommended. We polished off the dish so quickly (including the kids liked it) that I just couldn’t manage a picture.
• Tom Khar Phak: Tangy vegetable clear soup with flavours of galangal and lemongrass. It can be made mild spicy or more spicy on request. This broth is highly recommended for flavours and for its appetizing effect.
• Vegetable spring rolls: Spring rolls have never been my favourite and so I find it very hard to comment on, especially when they are eclipsed by the other fresh, not fried and flavourful dishes. Spring rolls were perfectly crispy without too much oil visible on the surface with a tasty filling.
• Vegetarian Thai green curry with Jasmine steam rice: Flavourful, a lot of vegetables and a very generous portion. One portion is enough for 4 people if this is all you order in the main course. Both my kids are fond of the Thai green curry and rice and they finished off one whole serving of steam rice (a generous portion again) between them.
• Pad Thai noodles (vegetarian): perfectly measured flavours of peanuts, thai tamarind and palm sugar with just the right blend of vegetables for the health quotient and the taste quotient. Made without the fish sauce for vegetarians!

I would highly recommend all the dishes that we ordered for their perfection in authentic taste (atleast of all the Thai places I have eaten) as good as it can be for vegetarians (with no fish sauce et al)

4. Service:
   Easy going, non-intervening, at the pace of a fine dine. One is not wanting to rush through the experience and they pretty much let the diners do that. They provide crayons, color pencils and markers with coloring sheets on request thus catering as much to families with children as to couples hoping for a quiet time.
5. Ambience:
   The ambience is a blend of both: where the restaurant is located – which is a hotel built to give an oasis in the desert feel, and cuisine which is Thai. A Thai tuktuk placed in the corridor as one moves from the outdoor seating to the inside seating, symbolizes very subtly the move from desert oasis to Thai. Mild lights add to the charm of dining at the waterfront while the quirky glasses add the colour.
6. Cost for 4 (including 2 kids): AED 700
   We did not order any drinks or desserts.
7. Rating on Zomato: