Som Saa

Som Saa, London: The Verdict

Som Saa is worth booking if you want seriously spiced, regionally authentic Thai food in a setting that has none of the clichés you would expect from a Shoreditch restaurant at this price point. The drinks list — cocktails from £9 and a wine programme built around spicy food pairing — makes it a sharper proposition than most Thai restaurants in London for a night out that extends beyond the food itself. Booking is easy, the format is shared plates, the atmosphere is energetic rather than refined. Come for a date or a low-key celebration; manage your expectations around service consistency.

The Restaurant

It has been close to a decade since Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver moved Som Saa out of its railway arch pop-up phase and into a former fabric warehouse on Commercial Street, E1. The room is post-industrial without being cold: bare brick arches, bare floorboards, rattan lighting and tropical foliage. The noise level is high. This is a place to talk over food and drinks, not to conduct a quiet business dinner.

The menu skips the Thai restaurant standards, no pad thai, no chicken satay as a headline act, instead presents regional dishes from across Thailand, served as small plates to share. The Tem Toh set menu is the most reliable route through the kitchen: it opens with hake and wild ginger fishcakes and moves into gaeng ped gung king orn, a red curry of minced prawns, young ginger and pea aubergine that has been described in inspection notes as very rich, smokey and moreish. The nahm dtok pla thort, whole sea bass with Isaan spices, is the dish people specifically travel to Commercial Street for; it gets picked to the bones at most tables. Gaeng om gai, a lighter chicken curry with young watermelon and turmeric, is worth ordering if you want contrast against the fiercer dishes. Sticky rice arrives in its own basket and is exactly what you want alongside anything from the spicier end of the menu. Kluey yaang, salted palm-sugar ice cream with turmeric-grilled banana, is the dessert to finish on.

The Drinks Programme

For a restaurant in this bracket, the drinks list at Som Saa pulls more weight than most. The wine programme has been put together specifically to match spiced food: lower-tannin reds, aromatic whites and bottles with enough acidity to hold their own against heat. This is a more considered approach than the token wine list you get at many restaurants in the same casual-Thai tier in London. Alongside the wines, a range of Thai-themed cocktails starts at £9, competitive for Shoreditch, the list is broad enough to take the drinks component seriously. If you are comparing Som Saa against Farang or AngloThai for a special occasion where the full meal-and-drinks experience matters, the drinks pairing logic at Som Saa gives it a practical edge.

Ratings and Recognition

On Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe ranking, it appeared at #225 in 2024 and #351 in 2025, with a Recommended listing in 2023. The slight drop in OAD ranking across the two years is worth noting alongside the inspection finding of service inconsistencies, but the food quality has not been the source of complaints. At its finest, it competes with London's most considered Thai restaurants. For comparison, Kolae and Plaza Khao Gaeng occupy the same London Thai tier and are worth considering depending on your neighbourhood and format preferences.

Booking and Practical Details

Booking is direct. Som Saa opens for lunch Tuesday through Saturday (12–2:30 pm) and Sunday (12–3 pm), with dinner service running from 5:45 pm on weekdays (10 pm close) and from 5 pm on Sundays (9 pm close). Thursday through Saturday dinner runs to 10:30 pm, which makes those evenings the better choice if you want a longer, unhurried meal. Monday is dinner-only. The address is 43A Commercial Street, E1 6BD, a short walk from Aldgate East and Liverpool Street stations. Dress is casual. The shared-plate format means groups of three or four eat more interestingly than couples who want to try the full range, though the set menu option addresses that for two.

Pearl Picks Nearby

If you are building a wider London itinerary around this area or exploring the Thai restaurant category further, the following are worth your time: Long Chim for a different format in the same cuisine tier; AngloThai if you want Thai-inflected cooking with a more tasting-menu-oriented structure; and Farang for northern Thai cooking in north London. For Thai food benchmarked against some of the leading in the world, Nahm in Bangkok and Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok are the reference points. For a full picture of eating and drinking in London, see our full London restaurants guide, our full London bars guide, and our full London hotels guide. If you are making a wider UK trip, The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood represent the wider fine-dining tier worth considering. See also our full London experiences guide and our full London wineries guide.