Recommended Thai supermarkets in London

Where to find Thai ingredients in London

In the UK, especially in London, most necessary Thai ingredients are accessible. The list of Thai grocery resources below is by no means comprehensive. My favourites are highlighted.

Thai supermarkets in London

The following are dedicated Thai supermarkets, where you will be more likely to have Thai staff who can answer questions and give you tips on Thai cooking.

Khun Ya in Bermondsey is my favourite shop in London for Thai ingredients. The owner is friendly, helpful, and has a strong Thai customer base. Consequently she stocks a lot of ingredients you'll struggle to find elsewhere. The best days to go are Monday and Tuesday, when new stock arrives. Stock shifts quickly, so if you wait until the weekend there may not be be much fresh stock left.
Sriracha supermarket (formerly Thai Smile), Hammersmith. I haven't been here since it became Sriracha supermarket. This shop focuses more on frozen and shelf stable foods than fresh items.
Art Muay Supermarket in South Kensington (Earls Court) has a decent stock of fresh ingredients. Prices are steep, but I'm sure their rent is too. If you're there, hit up Mali Vegan Thai for a meal.
Tawana Thai Supermarket in Bayswater is my second favourite Thai supermarket to Khun ya. They import some quite specialist products. I've even seen roti sai mai. Expect West London prices.
Paya Thai Market in Richmond is another quality shop, but I haven't visited in years so I'm unable to report much.
Taste of Siam Supermarket in Camden is small, with limited fresh offerings, but you'll find the basics here.

Chinese and other East Asian supermarkets with Thai foods

The following are non Thai supermarkets that stock some Thai items. Most larger Chinese supermarkets will, at the very least, stock the important items such as Thai soy sauces and palm sugar.

Xing Long Men Chinatown Supermarket (formerly New Loon Moon) on Gerrard Street in Chinatown has a decidely Thai produce section.
Loon Fung, also on Gerrard Street and also in Stratford (smaller store), have small shelf section for Thai products, with a few other Thai brands here and there around the shops. They also sell some Thai produce.
Hoo Hing stocks some Thai ingredients.
Wing Tai, Brixton. Ditto above.
Wing Yip (multiple locations). Ditto above.
Chuang Lee in Charlton maintains a reasonable stock of Thai ingredients (including, sometimes, wine imported from Thailand), both fresh and ambient.
Tazaki, also in Charlton, has a mainly Japanese focus, but you'll find the basics here.
Tian Tian Market (numerous locations in London) is a Korean supermarket where you can find some Thai brands (e.g. Healthy Boy). The produce is mainly Korean.

Vietnamese supermarkets with Thai offerings

Produce wise there is a fair amount of crossover, so you can find quite a few Thai ingredients in Vietnamese shops.

London Star Night in London Fields has a great selection of fresh herbs. There are a string of Vietnamese supermarkets along Mare Street, but this is the most reliably stocked of them all.
Longdan (multiple locations) is a Vietnamese chain supermarket with locations around London and the South of England. They have a large selection of vegan products and a decent stock of fresh produce (some locations are better than others).
Duc Tien Cash and Carry in Charlton.

If there's a particular ingredient you're looking for, feel free to get in touch and I'll let you know if I've seen it anywhere in particular.

Order Thai ingredients online in the UK

You can also order online from these UK Thai food retailers:

Many Thai books populate my cookbook shelf and some are more useful than others. Widely available vegan Thai friendly Thai cookbooks are limited. The following recommended books are nonvegan but they are accurate:

Thai Food by David Thompson. This is the number one English language Thai cookery book to own, a bible of Thai cookery.
Thai Street Food by David Thompson. A good complement to the above.
Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand by Andy Ricker. While some recipes are very meat centric, Andy knows his stuff and the detail he goes into when describing recipes and ingredients is inspiring.
Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu, who has also written Bangkok.
Hot Thai Kitchen is the name of a book by Pailin Chongchitnant, who also runs a YouTube channel showing viewers how to cook many Thai recipes.

While none of these resources are vegan, many have vegan friendly recipes or those that can be easily adjusted. The lack of rigidity and promise of flexibility and adaptation are some of the many things that make Thai food so special.