If you're looking for Thai food in Leiden, Buddha's is the spot. We visited our expat friends who live there now and all four of us decided to come here on a whim on our last night in town. I wish we'd discovered it sooner!
We managed to get a 4-top around 7 PM on a Wednesday night, but I would otherwise make a reservation, which you can easily do on their website. The site has a great English translation as well. Buddha's prices seemed a little steep at first, BUT they offer a 2-course and 3-course option as well as an early bird option if you're dining before 6 PM. The portions are large (by US standards) and easily shareable or you can take the leftovers home.
We started out with drinks, and my friends had beers. I had a Buddha's mule, which was similar to a Moscow Mule in the US, and I really enjoyed it. One friend had the pornstar martini and I tasted hers- it was strong and sweet. The Pandan Sour was incredibly strong.
I had the Choe Chi Koeng- large shrimp in spicy red curry with coconut milk, pepper, long beans, mushrooms, lemon leaves and basil leaves. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and large, and the broth was rich and spicy. I didn't eat much seafood in The Netherlands, but these shrimp were larger than the other shrimp I saw and large compared to what I'm used to in American Thai restaurants. My husband had the Phad Gee Mauw, which has three kinds of meat. The servers brought a large bowl of rice out for all of us at the table to share, and we also ordered extra as my friends were big fans of the rice.
We're big fans of Thai food in the US and eat it often, but we were glad to try it in The Netherlands, and this ended up being one of our favorite meals of the trip. You can request spicy food here, and the food is spicier than the other dishes we had.
If you visit Leiden- perhaps for the university or the museums- check out Buddha's! We were certainly impressed. read more