Very Thai, a popular Taiwanese chain known for its “most confusing culture restaurant” reputation, opened its first U.S. location at Westfield Century City earlier this March. Despite its name, the restaurant isn’t as simple as being just Thai. Instead, Very Thai serves a Taiwanese-style take on Thai cuisine that is also influenced by flavors from Yunnan and Myanmar. Having never tried this kind of fusion before, we went in with curiosity and an appetite to match.
Wrapped around an expansive corner on the upper level of the mall, Very Thai makes an immediate impression with its floor-to-ceiling windows and warm, modern interior that feels equally suited for a casual dinner or a more elevated night out.
Then, you open the menu. There’s a solid lineup of recognizable Thai staples — papaya salad, pad thai, tom yum goong, green curry — alongside more unexpected, not traditionally Thai offerings like shrimp mooncakes and fusions like green curry pad thai. But then your eyes land on the prices and it’s hard to look past them. Even for Century City, they feel steep, with most dishes ranging from $16 to as high as $39.
For appetizers, we ordered the Very Thai Shrimp Mooncakes, a classic Taiwanese snack. They arrive as golden-brown, triangular wedges, with shrimp filling sandwiched between thin layers of spring roll wrapper. Expecting that signature crisp these mooncakes are known for, I was quite caught off guard when the first bite was met with a soft, almost pliable texture instead. The shrimp filling makes up for it though — bouncy, well-seasoned and generously packed. Dipped in the sweet and sour plum sauce, the tang cuts through nicely and balances the richness. It’s not the texture you might expect, but still an easy, shareable starter — though at $24, it feels a bit pricey for a dish that isn’t all that mind-blowing.
Next up came the Master Chef Pad Thai, a benchmark dish that usually sets the tone for whether a Thai restaurant delivers. Here, the stir-fried rice noodles were paired with chewy tofu, minced pork and shrimp, coated in a tamarind-based sauce and topped with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and a wedge of lime to cut through. At first glance, it looks like an authentic serving of pad thai. Texture-wise, the rice noodles were soft and chewy, while the peanuts and bean sprouts added a satisfying crunch. Flavor-wise, though, the profile felt more rounded and less sharp, almost softened, devoid of that distinctive nutty depth that characterizes pad thai. The tamarind comes through almost too strongly, tipping the dish slightly sweet, which reads as a more Taiwanese-style interpretation. And at $25, the portion also feels a little underwhelming, with just four shrimp on top that acted more like decoration than a real component of the dish. It’s definitely approachable and easy to eat, but if you’re going in expecting something bold and distinctly Thai, it might feel like it’s missing that edge.
The one dish that really had us scraping the bowl clean was the wagyu with basil on rice. A rendition of pad krapow, the traditional Thai stir-fry, Very Thai’s version features wok-fried beef drenched in fragrant basil and chilies over rice, topped with a runny fried egg just waiting to be popped. The beef itself is incredibly tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth and unlike the pad thai, this dish doesn’t hold back on spice. It leaves a lingering, slightly numbing heat on your tongue that keeps you going back for more. Mixing everything together with the silky richness of the egg yolk, each bite was coated with garlicky goodness, a perfect balance between subtle sweetness and peppery heat. Although this was the most expensive of the three dishes at $36, it was also the easiest to justify, especially given the use of high-quality Snake River Farms wagyu. Out of everything we tried, this one actually felt very Thai.
Very Thai is, at its core, exactly what it claims to be — an intentional blurring of cultures. It doesn’t try to be strictly authentic Thai, nor does it fully lean into being strictly Taiwanese. If you’re after authenticity, there are definitely stronger options elsewhere in Los Angeles. But if you’re open to something a little different — and don’t mind paying a premium — Very Thai offers an experience that’s less about defining itself and more about embracing that in-between space.
