"Thailand-Loving" Affordable Thai Cuisine – Enjoy Authentic Thai Flavors

Text & Photos byMi’er

How popular is Thai cuisine in Taiwan? It’s arguably the most beloved among all international cuisines. Many years ago, the Thai restaurant at the Chung-Shan Hotel pioneered “royal Thai cuisine” in Taiwan. At that time, it was not only the most expensive but also the most highly praised Thai food in the country. Sadly, when the Chung-Shan Hotel closed its doors, that authentic royal Thai flavor became a thing of the past.

It wasn’t until Sheraton Hotel brought Chef Li Ming from Thailand to Taiwan to open SUKHOTHAI that traditional and creative Thai dishes, along with street foods from northern, central, and southern Thailand—including royal northern Thai meals, one-bite leaves, and Thai-style jellies—were introduced. Chef Ah-Ming’s skills quickly made SUKHOTHAI one of Mi’er’s favorite Thai restaurants.

But to be honest, SUKHOTHAI, located on the second floor of Sheraton Hotel, isn’t cheap, so the opportunities to dine there were quite limited. Later, the Siamese Kitchen endorsed by Chef Ah-Ming opened and quickly became a favorite among our group of foodies.

Recently, I heard that Sheraton’s externally invested restaurant, "Thailand-Loving A ROY DEE by SUKHOTHAI," finally grandly opened on the B1 floor of Taipei’s Breeze Center. As a sister brand to SUKHOTHAI, it is naturally managed by Thai chefs and maintains a certain standard. However, it differentiates itself from SUKHOTHAI by targeting a more affordable market segment (with prices roughly 30% lower than those at SUKHOTHAI).

In terms of the menu, in addition to the highly praised signature Thai dishes, the focus is on Chef Ah-Ming’s northeastern hometown specialties and local national dishes, resulting in more rustic Thai flavors. Each dish starts at just NT$220. To make ordering easier for guests, they also offer sharing sets for 4/6/8 people at NT$599 per person.

To maintain the authenticity of Thai flavors, the restaurant uses plenty of spices such as galangal, lemongrass, and krachai root, as well as aromatic and slightly spicy green peppercorns and the medicinal herb ka-paw leaf (also known as kaffir lime leaf). Chef Ah-Ming personally prepares over 20 different types of Thai sauces, offering varying levels of spiciness and richness that cater to different palates.

I heard Chef Ah-Ming is also planning another externally invested restaurant that will take a more upscale route, with a menu that differs from the current offerings—something Mi’er is very much looking forward to. What delicious dishes will Chef Ah-Ming come up with next?


Lemongrass Prawns – This is a special dish prepared by Chef Ah-Ming, said to be exclusive to the new restaurant. Mi’er got to try it first this time, and unexpectedly, it became my favorite dish of the day.

It features South African prawns that are first blanched and then charcoal-grilled, paired with a generous amount of tangy and spicy Southeast Asian sauce. The sauce is made with shredded lemongrass and shallots, mixed with spring onions, kaffir lime leaves, cilantro, chili paste, and a specially blended dipping sauce made with fish sauce, lemon juice, pickled garlic, cilantro roots, and sugar. This chunky sauce is not only tangy and spicy but also incredibly flavorful when eaten with the prawns. After finishing the prawns, I even wanted to take the sauce home.


Thai Iced Tea Here Isn’t Orange – Because orange is just food coloring. To offer a more natural option, they specially import red tea leaves without any artificial coloring. Without the orange hue, the tea remains just as fragrant and delicious—sweet and delightful.


One-Bite Leaf – This is another special treat prepared by Chef Ah-Ming. While the menu does feature a similar item called Southeast Asian raw leaf rolls, those require self-assembly. Chef Ah-Ming, considerate as always, pre-rolled them for Mi’er, making them ready to eat in one bite.

Inside, you’ll find crispy fried cashews, anchovies, pumpkin seeds, shallot crisps, taro, diced apples, ginger, chili, and lemon. The sauce is a specially blended mix of coconut sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind. Everything is wrapped in spinach leaves and eaten in one go—it’s tangy, crisp, and super appetizing.

Northeastern Crispy Shrimp Chips – NT$380. These towering shrimp chips are made using imported Thai fried shrimp chips, which are naturally salty, crispy, and full of shrimp flavor. The tomatoes on the side hold a rich dipping sauce made from dried shrimp, minced pork, shallots, coconut milk, cashews, coconut sugar, cilantro roots, and a touch of red curry. The sauce is served in hollowed-out, oiled, and peeled tomato bowls.

It looks quite unique—the aroma of Thai shrimp chips is strong, and when dipped in the chef’s special sauce with its hint of coconut milk fragrance and curry notes, it’s irresistible. Even without the sauce, it’s still delicious.

Northeastern Tuna Roll – NT$380. This dish resembles a Vietnamese spring roll and is made using rice paper (similar to Vietnamese spring roll wrappers) to wrap cilantro, alfalfa sprouts, purple kale, romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, shredded cucumber, shredded carrots, and the chef’s special tuna mixture.

It’s served with a dipping sauce made from chili flakes, garlic crisps, peanut powder, sugar, and vinegar. The tuna paste inside is incredibly smooth, complementing the crunchy vegetables and chewy rice paper perfectly. The texture is fantastic—I highly recommend it.


Northeastern Grilled Sausage – NT$350. This is a dish that was previously featured during a SUKHOTHAI food festival and left a lasting impression. The sausage is made from ground pork thigh mixed with lemongrass, galangal, turmeric root, shallots, onions, purple onions, garlic, chili flakes, cilantro leaves, and lard. It’s then stuffed into pork casings and grilled until slightly charred on the outside—very aromatic.

Similar to how Taiwanese sausages are often eaten with garlic, northeastern sausages are best enjoyed with slices of ginger, shallots, and garlic. Eating it wrapped in lettuce gives off a Korean BBQ vibe, but the taste is distinctly Thai—tangy and fragrant, refreshing and unique.

Pumpkin Curry Beef – NT$500. This is Mi’er’s favorite dish. Inside a steamed Japanese pumpkin bowl is a rich beef curry made with yellow turmeric root, chili, galangal, curry powder, crunchy peanut powder, and coconut sugar, stir-fried together and then simmered with coconut milk. The sweet flesh of the Japanese pumpkin makes scooping out the tender pumpkin while eating the curry especially enjoyable.

Additionally, the plate comes with green mint pancakes and plain white wheat pancakes for dipping. But personally, I felt this version wasn’t as good as the one at Siamese Kitchen—haha.


Northeastern Beef Noodles – NT$380. A huge bowl that could easily fill you up on its own. The dish features large slices of beef shank and tendon that are first blanched, then braised, and later cooked with tomatoes, red curry, lemongrass, cilantro leaves, shallots, onions, coconut milk, coconut cream, and a touch of basil in chicken stock until the beef and tendon are tender. It’s then served with noodles.

The flavor is mildly spicy with a hint of coconut cream aroma, quite different from Taiwanese beef noodles. But personally, I still prefer the Taiwanese version—maybe I’m just not used to the Thai-style beef noodle taste—haha.


Four-Flavor Dipping Sauce: White vinegar, fish sauce with chili, peanut powder, and sugar—add these to your beef noodles according to your preference.


Chef Ah-Ming is a man of many stories. He left home to learn cooking at age 13, overcoming many hardships to achieve what he has today. Yet, he quietly donates money to help children in orphanages, even visiting and encouraging them personally. He’s truly an angelic figure.






Thai Frog Leg Clay Pot – NT$420. Frog legs are first deep-fried, then stir-fried with garlic and chili before adding spring onion, chili slices, onion slices, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chili paste, and cooking until done. Before serving, fried basil and small chilies are added for extra aroma.

For some reason, this dish feels familiar—perhaps because aside from the Southeast Asian spices, its seasoning is somewhat reminiscent of Taiwanese three-cup frog legs.


Coconut chicken soup, 360 TWD. This is Mi’er’s favorite Thai soup, primarily made with chicken broth and flavored with cherry tomatoes, onion slices, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, chili peppers, straw mushrooms, and button mushrooms, then finished with coconut milk, a splash of lemon juice, a bit of cilantro, and chili oil. It should taste tangy, aromatic, and spicy, but this time it wasn’t sour enough and didn’t quite hit the mark. Adjusting the flavors would make it better.


Pumpkin custard pudding, 120 TWD. Made with 100% fresh pumpkin, duck eggs (dyed red from the yolk) that have been debittered by hand-pounding with pandan leaves, coconut sugar, and coconut milk, this pumpkin pudding is soft, fragrant, and lightly infused with the unique freshness of pandan. It’s one of Mi’er’s favorite desserts and is served warm. With its comforting warmth, she can easily finish a big piece every time.


Taro coconut cake, 120 TWD. Just looking at it, you can tell it’s made with a generous amount of freshly grated taro. It’s served with a brown sugar syrup made from strawberries and coconut milk, and the coconut crisps at the bottom are the highlight of the flavor—I actually prefer those coconut crisps more!!


Mango sago pudding, 120 TWD. A popular Thai dessert, this version here is packed with ingredients: tapioca pearls, jelly, rambutan, jackfruit, atap seeds, red beans, taro, grass jelly... Such a small bowl gives huge satisfaction.



Thai coconut dumplings, 180 TWD. This is a traditional Thai snack wrapped in banana leaves and pandan leaves. It tastes a bit like... (text cut off)

The space was designed by Master Ye Yuching... Unfortunately, Mi’er’s camera isn’t great, so the photos didn’t turn out well.


The snack dining area mostly has booth seating, but there are also private rooms.


The entrance is quite hidden and a bit hard to find. Right across the street is the famous honey toast shop.

Author of this article: Mi’erGraduated from National Chengchi University’s Department of Chinese Literature and went into food journalism. Coupled with being raised under the guidance of her chef mom, she has a very keen sense for food—not only does she love eating, but she also enjoys cooking. Due to her work, she frequently travels around the country in search of delicious food, sharing her culinary experiences on her blog and often organizing group dining events. She is the author of the book “Group Food Tasting Reports.”

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【I Really Like A ROY DEE by SUKHOTHAI】

Address:Breeze Center Fuxing Branch (No. 39, Section 1, Fuxing South Road, Songshan District, Taipei City, G/F)
Contact number:02-6606-5511
Business hours:11:30 AM – 2:30 PM, 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM (extended to 10:00 PM on Thursdays–Saturdays)