Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

We live in the Age of Enshittification. Improvement is increasingly rare and when it happens, it does so slowly and discretely. But there are exceptions: The transformation of Thai food in Orlando has been both meteoric and widespread. And with any movement there are originators — with any renaissance, shining lights. But like Michelangelo and Machiavelli, the luminaries of Orlando’s Thai renaissance are far from monolithic. 

Talay is not Tuun. Lim Ros is not Noods. Sabai is not Mee Thai, which is not O.G. SEA Thai. I’ve eaten at them all, and each delivers distinctive flair and flavor. But with any thriving scene, there is interplay; patronage and incestuousness, mirroring and mentoring. Lert Thai Street Food is not Isan Zaap, but does play Da Vinci to Isan Zaap’s Verrocchio: Owners Timmy Peengoen and his wife, chef Anna Nilkooha, sharpened their chops at the Michelin Bib Gourmander before going solo with their own finely honed brand of street cuisine at Lert. 

Lert loosely translates to “excellent” and Lert Thai Street Food is as advertised. In its spartan sliver of a space near UCF, wandering foodies and college kids mine laminated menus for treasures like grilled pork skewers with sticky rice ($16.95) or spring rolls ($8.95) that scream TLC through crisp, paper-thin wrappers. There is the textural perfection of crispy rice salad with fermented Thai sausage ($16.95) and Lao-style papaya salad with salted crab ($16.95) that’s as fresh and funky as Bootsy Collins. A trove of temptation, all of it solid gold.

Bigger bites began with our ritualistic ordering of khao soi ($18.95), crispy chicken and egg noodles in coconut curry. Lert’s is mellower and more harmonized than a wonderfully punchy version enjoyed recently at equally excellent Noods, but accoutrements like red onion and pickled greens allow you to take it in any of many delicious directions. Equally delish was gaeng kiew waan, green curry studded with squid, shrimp and mussels ($21.95), a verdant bowl of silk and aromatics. 

Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

Chinese broccoli with pork belly ($19.95) highlights the broader influences of Thai street food. Inspiration for Lert’s rendition seems to be China by way of heaven — wonderfully intense with fish, oyster and soy sauces clinging to rich, crackle-crisp pork offset by the bounce of vibrantly colored greens. Color has meaning at Lert; a treacle-hued plate of shrimp pad Thai ($18.95) crossing the dining room meant good things headed our way. Lacquered with fish sauce, tamarind and caramelized palm sugar, it was the color of done right; ordered as obligatory ode to tradition, but freely and hungrily enjoyed.

Chef Nilkooha’s pad krapow with minced pork ($18.95) is among the best versions of this salty, savory and spicy street food staple I’ve ever eaten. OK, “among the best” is a hedge. I can’t recall any better. Served with a runny-yolked fried egg browned and bubbled at its edges, and with just the right amount of holy basil (a lot), this explosion of tightly orchestrated flavors is everything pad krapow should be. It’s truth. A star of a standard from a star of a restaurant that’s far from standard. 

It’s clear from the quality of its food and hospitality of its owners, Lert is yet another twinkling light in a constellation of Orlando Thai restaurants shining ever brighter. Decades ago, we were introduced to what Thai food is. Today, in Orlando, at places like Lert Thai Street Food, we are being shown what Thai food can be.

Lert Thai Street Food, 12094 Collegiate Way, 407-340-7102, instagram.com/lertthai.2026

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This article appears in Sept. 9-15, 2026.

Michael Murphy scribbles and thinks too much about food.