Titaya's Thai Cuisine.

Titaya's Thai Cuisine

Titaya Timrerk's dining room on North Lamar is where Tyson Cole goes for made-to-order tom yum and Thai iced tea, and Nicolai McCrary scores it 8.0 with a crowd waiting by the door at dinner.61

Why go

Matthew Odam calls it one of Austin's most popular Thai restaurants, on the strength of coconut-milk curries, cheap lunch specials and the basil talay, in which hot chili and garlic buzz the shrimp, squid and green mussels.2 The soup is the reason the chefs come. Cole named the tom yum here in the Chronicle in 2011 and again to the James Beard Foundation in 2016, Paul Qui listed the room the same year Cole first did, and Jessi Cape's verdict on the tom yum gai after the 2014 reopening was that it was still one of the best in town: truly robust and craveworthy.73 The room shut for a remodel on 23 December 2012 and did not reopen until 4 February 2014, after a run of missed inspection deadlines, and Titaya's brother Ek Timrerk helped rework the menu for the reopening.3 The menu now runs from the classics to fried polenta crab cakes with sweet corn, and McCrary's advice is to stay with the classics.1

Order this / avoid

• Order: the tom yum, in whichever form you take it. Cole's is the tofu tom yum; Cape's is the tom yum gai.73
• Odam's list: Polenta crab cake, tom zap (pork in Thai herb broth), gang massaman (Thai coconut curry with carrots, potatoes, onions and peanuts), pad cha (spicy catfish with bamboo shoots, young green peppers and bell peppers in a very hot and spicy herb garlic sauce).2
• McCrary's table: a fire pot of tom kha, pad see ew with large, perfectly cooked shrimp, and a fried rice to share.1
• The Chronicle staff's two: the pork garlic mixed peppercorn with its spinach salad, and the Ta-lay Dancing, seafood, mushroom, tomato and onion in tom yum sauce at three-chile heat.4
• Dessert: the fried banana roll in tempura batter with whipped cream, or the house coconut ice cream with palm seeds and peanuts.3
• Avoid: the pla sum rod to go. Cape's takeout order arrived too sweet, with a batter she compared to Dairy Queen chicken strips.3

What locals & experts say

• Two chefs, three pages. Tyson Cole in the Austin Chronicle, 2011: Thai iced tea and tofu tom yum at Titaya's. Paul Qui, on the same page, listed Titaya's among the Asian rooms he eats in.7 Cole again in 2016, under Quick Snack, for the tom yum and the iced tea.6
• The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 19 March 2024, 8.0: It's that reliable Thai spot that everybody wishes was in their neighborhood, and Titaya's is at its best with the classics.1
• The Austin Chronicle, Jessi Cape, 24 July 2014, after the year-long remodel: one of Austin's shining stars of reliably delicious Thai food, with the pad thai and green curry everything we'd hoped for, but neither was singularly mind-blowing.3
• The Chronicle's First Plates, June 2019: a selection of curry that has no equal, and a waitstaff that works the room with an ease that mimics a flawless dance routine.4
• CultureMap, July 2016: the red, green and yellow curries and the traditional tom yum are the standouts, and the portions are sized for sharing.5

Good to know

• Come early for dinner. McCrary found a small crowd waiting by the door, and Odam calls the dining room always packed.12
• Lunch specials are the cheap way in, per Odam; a takeout menu runs alongside the dining room.25
• Prices, the last a critic printed: pad thai US$8.50, green curry US$9.95 and a bowl of tom yum gai US$3.95 in 2014. I have not read a current menu.3
• Where it is: 5501 North Lamar, Suite C101, a plain building in the stretch below Koenig.1
• The room: semi-dark and cozy, black beams overhead, a bar along the back wall with wine, beer and sake; McCrary rates it fine for a casual date and not for sweats.13
• Hygiene: Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 88 on 12 May 2026 under its current permit, facility 178308, on a scale where 70 fails. The prior permit for the same address, marked out of business, carried 95, 87 and 85, the last in February 2025.8

Verdict

should-visit — Order the tom yum first, the soup Tyson Cole has sent people here for since 2011 and the Chronicle called one of the best in town, then a curry and the basil talay for the table. Come early for dinner, because the crowd waits by the door.