Best Chinese and Thai Restaurants in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle's Chinatown is small but it is the real thing: a short run of restaurants, supermarkets and bakeries along Stowell Street, framed by the ornamental arch on the Gallowgate end and backed by the best surviving stretch of the medieval town walls. It has been feeding the city for decades, and most of the centre's Chinese cooking still happens within a few minutes' walk of it. Thai food is more spread out, from a rooftop dining room in Eldon Square to a family kitchen near the Cathedral, but everything here sits inside the city centre and works as a walk from Monument or Central Station.

Chinese restaurants in Chinatown

King Neptune

King Neptune has traded at 34-36 Stowell Street since 1986 and calls itself the longest-running Chinese restaurant in Newcastle. The kitchen leans on seafood, with lobster, crab, scallops and squid on the menu alongside Peking-style spare ribs, crispy duck with pancakes and chicken in Szechuan sauce. It is a spacious, licensed room with an a la carte and banquet menu and a function room for hire, which makes it the default choice for family celebrations and work dinners in Chinatown.

It opens for lunch as well as dinner every day, and the last dinner booking is at nine, so phone ahead on a Friday or Saturday.

Best for: A big-table Chinatown banquet with seafood at the centre of it.

Sky Chinese Cuisine

A few doors along at 20 Stowell Street, Sky Chinese Cuisine sits upstairs rather than at street level, which is easy to walk past if you are not looking for it. The menu runs through soups, noodles and seafood dishes, and regulars point to the early-afternoon dim sum as the thing to come for. Visitors who use a wheelchair have reported a step-free route in by lift, though it is worth calling ahead to check if access matters to you.

Best for: Dim sum for a long lunch in the middle of Chinatown.

Chinatown Express

For something faster, Chinatown Express on St Andrew's Street, on the fringe of Chinatown just off Gallowgate, turns out salt and pepper dishes, crispy chilli beef, roast meats, noodles and rice boxes at a pace that suits a quick collection. It is covered in more detail in our guide to the best takeaways in Newcastle city centre, and stays open into the evening when the Stowell Street dining rooms are full.

Best for: The quick, dependable option when you want to eat and go.

Thai restaurants in the city centre

Chaophraya

Chaophraya occupies the top level of Grey's Quarter at Eldon Square, directly facing Grey's Monument, and is the most occasion-friendly Thai restaurant in town. The menu mixes classic Thai dishes with the kitchen's own signatures, with separate vegan and gluten-free options, and the rooftop terrace looks straight out over the monument. There is a private dining room for groups, a weekend bottomless brunch, and even a cookery school if you want to learn to make it yourself.

Best for: A Thai dinner with a view, for birthdays and nights out.

Zaap Thai

Zaap Thai at 117 Newgate Street is part of a small northern chain modelled on a Bangkok street food market, all neon, graffiti and lanterns, with tuk-tuks and a converted bus to sit in and an open kitchen working through a menu of more than 80 dishes. It is loud, colourful and walk-in only, with no bookings, so it suits groups and families who want to share a spread of plates rather than a quiet evening for two. Weekends add a bottomless brunch.

It is a short walk from both Chinatown and Central Station, which makes it an easy pre-match or pre-train stop.

Best for: Lively street food for groups, no booking needed.

Nadon Thai

Nadon Thai on Mosley Street, a couple of minutes from the Cathedral and Grey Street, is a family-run restaurant that has been serving the North East since 2010, with sister branches in Durham and Morpeth. The menu covers the dishes most people come for, from pad Thai to curries, stir-fries and seafood, with a good range of vegetarian and vegan choices. It opens for lunch and dinner, splitting the day with a mid-afternoon break, and also does collection and delivery.

Best for: A dependable, good-value Thai dinner in the heart of Grainger Town.

Thai House Café

Thai House Café on Clayton Street is the smallest place on this list and, to its fans, the most authentic. It is a cosy, closely packed room with a short menu built on traditional family recipes, cooked in a home style rather than a restaurant one. The tom yum soup is the dish most often recommended. Tables are few, so it is better for two or three than a big group.

Best for: Home-style Thai cooking in a tiny, informal café.

Planning your visit

Chinatown and the Thai restaurants above all sit within a fifteen-minute walk of each other, so it is easy to compare. A few practical points:

• Booking: King Neptune, Chaophraya and Nadon Thai take reservations and are worth booking for Friday and Saturday evenings. Zaap does not take bookings at all, so arrive early at weekends.
• Match days: Stowell Street and Gallowgate are on the walking route to St James' Park, so Chinatown is busy before and after Newcastle United home games.
• Lunar New Year: Chinese New Year is Chinatown's busiest time, so book well ahead if you want a table on the weekend nearest to it.
• Make an afternoon of it: the Chinese supermarkets and bakeries on and around Stowell Street are worth a browse after lunch, and our guide to bakeries in Newcastle city centre covers the custard tarts and pork buns nearby.

For the wider picture of eating out in the centre, from Michelin-starred tasting menus to independent cafés, see our guide to the best restaurants in Newcastle city centre.

Is there a Chinese or Thai restaurant in the city centre we have missed? Tell us via our contact page.