Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Thai tasting menu done with Japanese precision.
A husband-and-wife Thai tasting menu in Kanda Jinbocho, KHAO earns a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.8 Google rating by interpreting Thai regional cuisine through Japanese ingredients. At ¥¥¥, it sits below Tokyo's ¥¥¥¥ tasting menu tier and books more easily than most. The right call for a special occasion dinner that goes beyond Tokyo's standard sushi and kaiseki circuit.
KHAO holds a 4.8 on Google (across 50 reviews) — a strong signal for a restaurant at ¥¥¥ price point that sits comfortably below the ¥¥¥¥ tier occupied by Tokyo's Michelin-starred heavyweights. That gap matters. You get a carefully constructed tasting menu rooted in serious Thai culinary research, priced more accessibly than the French and kaiseki competition nearby, and with a 2025 Michelin Plate to its name. If you are looking for a special-occasion dinner that offers something genuinely different from Tokyo's dominant sushi, French, and kaiseki formats, KHAO is worth booking.
KHAO is a prix fixe Thai restaurant in Kanda Jinbocho, run by a husband-and-wife team who each spent time living and cooking in Bangkok before returning to Japan. The premise is specific and thoughtful: Thai culinary culture interpreted through Japanese ingredients. That is not fusion in the lazy sense. The approach draws on regional Thai cuisines — royal court dishes, Bangkok street food, and provincial cooking traditions , and reconstructs them using fermented and matured homemade seasonings alongside Japanese produce. The result is a tasting menu with a clear narrative arc: it moves between the formal register of royal court cuisine and the vernacular of street-level Bangkok cooking, all while staying grounded in Japanese ingredient quality.
Two dishes in the Michelin documentation give a useful sense of the progression. A chopped pomelo and seafood mix references the Thai royal table , composed, precise, restrained. Rice vermicelli yakisoba takes its cue from Bangkok street food , looser, more immediate in flavour. That movement between register is the menu's structural intelligence. Curries are prepared with fresh-pressed coconut milk, which signals a commitment to process over convenience. The homemade fermented seasonings compound that commitment: these are not shortcuts, and the menu's flavour profile reflects the depth that comes from that kind of preparation lead time.
For a diner who has eaten through Bangkok's serious restaurant scene , at places like Nahm or Samrub Samrub Thai , KHAO will read as an earnest and technically grounded interpretation rather than a simplified export. For a diner new to Thai cuisine at this level, the prix fixe format is the right delivery mechanism: it sequences the cuisine so you receive it in an order that builds understanding rather than asking you to navigate a menu cold.
At ¥¥¥, KHAO occupies a position where the price signals occasion dining without reaching the financial commitment of a ¥¥¥¥ tasting menu. That makes it a practical choice for a date or a celebration where you want the full tasting menu experience , structured courses, a clear through-line, a kitchen with genuine point of view , without the pressure that comes with spending at the leading of the market. The Michelin Plate (2025) provides external validation without inflating expectations to Michelin-star levels, which is actually a useful place to be: the kitchen is recognised but not yet under the scrutiny that changes how a room feels.
Kanda Jinbocho is a low-key neighbourhood by Tokyo standards , known more for its second-hand bookshops than its restaurant concentration. That relative quietness works in KHAO's favour for occasion dining: you are not competing with the noise and foot traffic of Ginza or Nishi-Azabu, and the neighbourhood gives the meal a slightly more intimate frame. For a date night or a birthday dinner where the setting matters as much as the food, that context is worth factoring in.
KHAO runs a prix fixe format, so walk-in dining is unlikely to be viable in the conventional sense , tasting menus require advance booking to manage preparation. Given the 50-review count on Google (respectable but not yet a mass-market venue), booking difficulty is rated Easy, which means you are unlikely to be locked out weeks in advance the way you would be at a heavily sought-after Michelin-starred restaurant. That said, for a specific date , especially a weekend or a celebration , booking ahead is sensible.
No phone number or website is confirmed in current data. The restaurant is located at 2 Chome-12-2 Kanda Jinbocho, Chiyoda City, Tokyo. Confirm booking channels directly when you visit the venue or check listings.
Quick reference: Prix fixe format, ¥¥¥ price tier, Kanda Jinbocho (Chiyoda), 4.8 Google rating (50 reviews), Michelin Plate 2025, booking difficulty Easy.
KHAO is one of a small number of Tokyo restaurants making a serious argument for non-Japanese Asian cuisines within a tasting menu format. For broader Tokyo dining context, see our full Tokyo restaurants guide, Tokyo hotels guide, Tokyo bars guide, Tokyo wineries guide, and Tokyo experiences guide. If you are building a broader Japan itinerary, the tasting menu format also shows up at HAJIME in Osaka, Gion Sasaki in Kyoto, akordu in Nara, Goh in Fukuoka, 1000 in Yokohama, and 6 in Okinawa.
KHAO runs a prix fixe format in what appears to be a compact Kanda Jinbocho space, which limits large-group viability. The format suits parties of two to four better than larger bookings. check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity before planning a group visit.
Yes — prix fixe counters in Tokyo regularly seat solo diners, and a tasting menu format removes the pressure of ordering or splitting dishes. At ¥¥¥, KHAO is a reasonable solo splurge for anyone interested in Thai cuisine interpreted through Japanese ingredients, without pushing into ¥¥¥¥ territory.
For its specific category, yes. KHAO holds a 2025 Michelin Plate and a 4.8 Google rating, which is a credible signal at the ¥¥¥ price point. The menu draws on royal Thai court cooking alongside Bangkok street food references, using house-fermented seasonings and fresh-pressed coconut milk — a level of technique that justifies prix fixe pricing. If you want straightforward Thai without the tasting format, this is not the right room.
KHAO works well for a considered occasion dinner — the prix fixe format and Michelin Plate recognition give the meal structure and credibility, and ¥¥¥ sits at a price point that feels deliberate without the anxiety of a ¥¥¥¥ commitment. It is a better fit for a dinner-for-two occasion than a large celebration.
Bar seating is not confirmed in available data for KHAO. Given the prix fixe format and the small-scale address in Kanda Jinbocho, a counter is plausible, but walk-in bar dining is unlikely to be an option. Book in advance and confirm seating preferences directly with the restaurant.
At ¥¥¥, KHAO is priced below Tokyo's ¥¥¥¥ tasting menu circuit while delivering a Michelin Plate-recognised menu with a clear point of view: Thai cuisine rebuilt using Japanese ingredients and house-made fermented seasonings. For Tokyo diners curious about serious non-Japanese Asian cooking in a tasting menu setting, it offers strong value. If Thai tasting menus are not your format, the price does not translate.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
