Thai Noodle Etc. is a stalwart of the Beaverton restaurant row at Cedar Hills, a homey space with a stacked menu offering every Thai dish imaginable. It’ll be easy to please a large group of diners thanks to the massive array of recognizable stir-fried noodles and curries, most of which are available with cheaper lunchtime pricing. However, those hunting for something special should opt for various boat noodles and ba mhees, hot-and-sour soups that come with thinly sliced meats, noodles, and colorful fresh garnishes that offer a contrasting crunch. The pumpkin curry is also a neighborhood staple.

Akkapong Earl Ninsom, arguably Portland’s most beloved Thai restaurateur, owns several of the restaurants on this map, and Phuket Cafe — his youngest — is yet another jewel in his crown. With his more recent restaurants, Ninsom has become more freewheeling in his approach to food, serving dishes like “Thai paella” with manila clams and flavors reminiscent of tom yum. Thinly sliced albacore, accompanied by peanut brittle crumble and mint, may be the breakout hit on the menu, but any meal at Phuket Cafe must end with the restaurant’s elaborate shaved ice desserts.

Ninsom’s Phuket Cafe now houses the outstanding Thai supper club Langbaan, which previously hid in a back room behind a bookcase at his other restaurant, Paadee. Menus change frequently, pulling inspiration from historic menus and regions of Thailand. That being said, a few of its greatest hits remain on the menu year-round, including the miang som, dots of cara cara jewels and shrimp sitting on a betel leaf with fish sauce caramel, or the kanom krok, Hokkaido scallop swimming in a coconut cream sauce within a crispy rice cup. The full tasting menu is $125 per person, with reservations available via Resy.

This South Corbett Thai restaurant specializes in what’s known as “royal Thai cuisine,” including intricately folded dumplings and cracker cups filled with sauteed vegetables. That being said, many dishes at Siam Umami are ones distinct to the restaurant — corn salads wrapped in a ring of thinly sliced cucumber, or Anaheim chiles lounging in a pool of green curry. The highlights include violet-hued chor muang, dumplings stuffed with ground pork and peanuts, and the coconut-water-braised pork belly, paired with a swirl of coconut-whipped potatoes.

A quick stroll down Mississippi will reveal Mee Sen, a casual restaurant with plenty of patio space out front and a cozy wood-paneled interior. Here, meals start with char-grilled meats on skewers alongside tamarind-laced cocktails, followed by Thai salads like the glass noodle yum woon sen. The best move is to get one of the restaurant’s customizable soup options, which come with a choice of noodle and deeply exuberant and acidic broths.

Zaap Thai’s cozy MLK storefront became a takeout stalwart as soon as it opened in 2019. The menu covers an array of Thai dishes from throughout the country, but the restaurant’s khao soi, a Northern Thai noodle soup in a curry broth with pickled mustard greens, is the absolute standout, deeply layered with spice and the gentle funk of the pickled greens. Zaap is open for takeout and dine-in.

One of Portland’s iconic chefs, owner Nong Poonsukwattana is a Bangkok native who arrived in America with $70 in her pocket and somehow still managed to open a food cart in 2009. The khao man gai is the thing to order, a deceptively simple dish of poached free-range Mary’s chicken, flavorful broth, aromatic jasmine rice, and its ginger-y sauce. Pros know to order their KMG with livers and crispy-fried skins, but going classic certainly doesn’t hurt. While the food cart has closed, there are now restaurant locations in downtown and inner Southeast, both with onsite seating, takeout, and delivery.

Inspired by traditional fried chicken from Southern Thailand, Ninsom’s truly unforgettable shallot-fried thighs and drumsticks are the things of local legend, thanks to a coating of rice flour, peppercorns, and fried shallots. Locals know to get the combo with the dippable curry and roti, though sleeper hits like the restaurant’s wicked-spicy Southern Thai ground pork are worthy add-ons. Both the Belmont and Killingsworth locations are open for onsite dining, delivery, and takeout.

Ninsom’s Paadee puts the spotlight on regional Thai comfort food and Isan food, including its Northeastern Thai plates and fleet of larbs. During the pandemic, Paadee’s takeout has been some of the city’s best, from the restaurant’s exceptional som tum dotted with dried shrimp, to the must-order at the restaurant at any given time, its tangy, porky noodle soup, ba mhee phitsanulok. It’d be criminal to skip the restaurant’s mango sticky rice, when it’s in season.

Chalunthorn “Yui” Schaeffer opened this tiny Thai restaurant off Killingsworth, where she makes pad kee mao with squid ink noodles and a version of krapao with wagyu beef. The must-order item at Yui, when available, is most certainly its sakoo, a plump tapioca dumpling filled with a crumble of peanuts, radish, and crispy garlic.

Located on Southeast Division, Kati is a leader in vegetarian and vegan Thai food in Portland. The restaurant creates flavorful, fish-sauce free dishes, thanks to the clever use of soy sauce and other salts to create new umami flavors. Though pad thai is a staple around these parts, it’s worth it to check out the nam kao tod, a crispy rice appetizer with herbs and glass noodles.

Khun Pic’s is a silly, magical place, an ornate and faded converted house-turned-Thai restaurant with colorful characters and celebratory flavors. No, the restaurant doesn’t take cards, and it’s only open for about three hours for half the week; still, the restaurant’s lightly battered, deep fried catfish, delicate in a chile garlic sauce, is a lovely companion to a lively som tum.

From the folks at Mestizo comes Norah, a vegan restaurant bringing a vegetable-packed approach to the cuisine. While not explicitly a Thai restaurant, Norah serves many classic Bangkok-style dishes with alternative meats, along with several eclectic plates that offer subtle-yet-creative twists on the originals. Drunken noodles come with linguine pasta and soy curls, while larb arrives encased in breaded crispy rice croquettes. Although there’s no liquor license here yet, Norah has a handful of mocktails that emphasize fresh and summery ingredients regardless of the season. The Norah Sour incorporates pomegranate and pineapple, and Find Me in the Garden combines a medley of green herbs, whose vessel gets rimmed in Sweet Creature’s chamoy chile syrup.

Like many Thai food carts in Portland, the chefs working out of this unassuming spot in a Woodstock gas station parking lot prepare some of the most flavorful food in town. Chef Mana Duangphumma, along with co-owners Sureerat and Jaturong Piraban, serve street food-style barbecued pork and chicken on skewers alongside bubble teas, as well as fried chicken smothered in well-known curries, complexly flavored papaya or mushroom salads, and other inventive dishes. Take your food to the nearby Woodstock Park on a nice day for a picnic.

For anyone who loves the ability to get Thai and Lao takeout while also stocking their pantry with Asian goods, Gateway’s Lily Market is a must-try hybrid operation. Visit the deli counter near the Halsey Street entrance for a rotating selection of steam tray curries, stir-fries, and grilled Thai sausages. The deli’s funky Lao papaya salad, fresh salad rolls, or rice-based sweets are all must-orders.

Tucked into a suburban plaza, the Chef Thai Cuisine adds to the diversity of dining options within the stretch of Vancouver’s Mill Plain Boulevard — pho, Sichuan, and sushi businesses are neighbors. In this modern-yet-approachable restaurant, expect to find familiar fried rice variations, stir fries, and curries, but be on the lookout for other dishes that would be difficult to find stateside. The Hoi Tod is a crispy egg-seafood pancake served with a sweet chili sauce. The Tom Leng is an Isan-style braised pork spare rib soup — hot and sour, and brightly colored green thanks to a heaping amount of cilantro, makrut lime leaves, and lemongrass.