How to order Jain at a Thai restaurant

Thai food is built on garlic, shallot and fish sauce, so it looks like a dead end. It isn't. Jain diners in this directory have eaten well at Thai restaurants from Manhattan to Maui. The trick is knowing which dishes are cooked to order and which come from a pre-made base.

Compiled from Jain diners' reports at 33 restaurants in the JainFoodMap directory · Updated September 23, 2026 · 7 min read

The short version

Easiest orders:pad thai, drunken noodles (pad kee mao), pad see ew and basil fried rice. They're stir-fried one plate at a time, so the kitchen can simply leave things out.
Always remove: onion, garlic, shallot, egg, bean sprouts, carrot, and the fried shallot or garlic sprinkled on top.
Ask before ordering curry: is the curry paste made with garlic or shallot? Is there shrimp paste in it?
Swap the protein for tofu, and ask for soy sauce instead of fish sauce or oyster sauce.

Where the non-Jain ingredients hide

Removing the obvious onion isn't enough. In a Thai kitchen, most of what Jains avoid is already inside a sauce, a paste or a garnish before the cook starts:

Curry paste

Red, green, yellow, panang and massaman pastes are traditionally pounded from garlic, shallot, galangal (a rhizome, like ginger) and shrimp paste. A kitchen that buys paste in can't make it without them.

Fish sauce & oyster sauce

The default seasoning in stir-fries, dressings and dipping sauces, including papaya salad. Ask for soy sauce instead.

Egg

Pad thai and most fried rice are made with egg scrambled into the wok. Diners at Bangkok Thai in Champaign asked for tofu fried rice without the egg and green onion.

Soups

Tom yum and tom kha are simmered with galangal and often shallot, usually in chicken stock. Only order them where the kitchen confirms a vegetable stock and a Jain version.

Garnishes

Bean sprouts, spring onion, chives and crispy fried shallot or garlic get added at the end, often automatically. Say no to each.

Noodles

Some wide or thin noodles contain egg. At Chai Yo Thai in San Mateo, a diner asked for eggless noodles for pad thai and drunken noodles.

What Jain diners actually ordered

Across the 33 Thai restaurants in the directory with a report, the same few dishes come up again and again:

1. Pad thai
Tied with basil fried rice as the most-reported dish. At Araya's Place in Bellevue, a diner had pad thai and mango salad made with no onion, garlic or mushroom. At Chai Yo Thai, the kitchen used eggless noodles and left out the sprouts and carrots.
2. Basil fried rice
One of the simplest to customize: rice, Thai basil, chilli and vegetables. Ask for it with no egg and no onion. Pineapple fried rice works the same way; My Thai Vegan Cafe in Boston, a diner's advice is to ask for it with no onion and no garlic.
3. Drunken noodles (pad kee mao)
Wide rice noodles with basil and chilli. At Tiki Gardenin Washington, D.C., a diner asked for the vegan menu, specified no onion and no garlic, and got drunken noodles with tofu. Their tip: ask for “no sweetness” too.
4. Curries, with a big caveat
Curries appear in more reports than any single dish, and they're also where reports disagree most. See below.

The curry question

Some diners were told every curry could be made Jain. Others at a different restaurant were told none could. Both were right, because it depends on one thing: whether that kitchen makes its own curry paste, and what goes in it.

Curries worked

Sabai Thai, New York: “All curries are Jain, ask for substitution of meat with tofu.” Khao soi can be made Jain too, with rice noodles instead of egg noodles.
May Kaidee, New York: green, red and other curries. “They understand Jain very well.”
TikiThaiToGo, Maui: a Jain green curry.

Curries didn't

Thai Sapa, Springdale: “No curries, but noodles and a few entrées can be made Jain.”
Veganic Thai Cafe, San Diego: “Curries are not Jain. Rice and noodles can be made Jain.”

Both are vegetarian-friendly places, which shows that a vegan kitchen isn't automatically a Jain one.

So ask about the paste itself, not about the dish:

“Is your curry paste made with garlic or shallots? Does it have shrimp paste?”

“Can you make it with tofu, coconut milk and vegetables, with no onion, no garlic, no potato and no carrot?”

Massaman and yellow curries usually come with potato and onion in the pot, so they're harder to fix than green or red. If the answer about the paste is vague, order noodles.

What to say

“I'm Jain: no meat, fish, egg, onion, garlic, shallot, or root vegetables like potato, carrot and ginger. Can you make this with tofu and soy sauce?”

“No onion, no garlic, no egg.”Thai: mai sai hua hom, mai sai kratiam, mai sai khai

Two practical tips from diners. If you order through a delivery app, call the restaurant too. A diner at Chai Yo Thai, who had eaten Jain there in person, suggests phoning in the request with a DoorDash order. And take spice levels seriously. The same diner warned that 5 out of 5 is “actually 🥵”.

Travelling in Thailand: look for “jay”

In Thailand, the word to know is jay (เจ), usually on a yellow flag with red lettering. Jay food comes from a Chinese-Buddhist tradition and contains no meat, fish, egg or dairy, and none of the pungent vegetables: garlic, onion, shallot, chives and leeks. That removes most of the problem in one word.

It isn't Jain, though. Jay cooking happily uses potato, carrot, taro and mushrooms, so you still need to say what you don't eat. It's the best starting point in the country, especially during the nine-day vegetarian festival (late September or October, following the lunar calendar), when jay stalls appear everywhere.

A note on vegan Thai restaurants

Vegan places are a good bet, since there's no fish sauce or egg to remove, and many of the successful reports come from them. But vegan cooking relies heavily on garlic, and some vegan kitchens don't customize at all. Green Elephants in Watkins Glen had only three appetizers and salads that were Jain, and made no changes to anything else. Ask before you sit down.

Thai restaurants where Jain diners ate

What diners reported ordering, most detail first. Kitchens change their recipes, so say “Jain” every time.

May KaideeNew York, USA
green curry · Green Mango Salad · Pad Thai · Tom Saap · Tom Yam · Tom Kha · +4 more
“Most of the things on the menu can be made Jain. They understand Jain very well. The green curry is amazing. Also tried Green Mango Salad, Pad Thai, Tom Saap, Tom Yam, Tom Kha, Red curry, Basil Friend Rice”
Araya's Place Vegan Thai BellevueBellevue, USA
Thai Tofu · Pad Thai · Mango Salad · Tofu cream cheese · Veggie tempura · Spicy noodle · +1 more
“We ordered Pad Thai and Mango Salad. Both were made with no onion or garlic or mushroom.”
the AM-THAI WilliamsburgBrooklyn, USA
Fried Tofu · Green curry · Drunken noodles · Basil rice · Pad se eu · Pad ki mao
“Vegan Menu - Fried Tofu Green curry Drunken noodles Basil rice Pad se eu Pad ki mao”
Nicky's Thai KitchenPittsburgh, USA
Tom Yum Soup · Spicy Basil Fried Rice · Noodles · Curry
“Tom Yum Soup Spicy Basil Fried Rice Noodles and Curry as well”
45th Vegetarian ThaiSeattle, USA
Pad kee mao · Panang curry · Hawaiian cream cheese
Arches ThaiMoab, USA
Pad Thai · Veggie Delight · Thai iced tea
“Can make Jain, but need to specify everything No carrot, onion, garlic, potato, beet, radish - I had Pad Thai, Veggie Delight, Thai iced tea”
Crying ThaigerMalden, USA
Basil fried rice · Fried tofu · Pad See Eaw
“-Basil fried rice -Fried tofu -Pad See Eaw — Delicious! Very accommodating.”
Mitr Thai RestaurantNew York, USA
Basil fried rice · masaman curry · drunken noodles
“Basil fried rice, masaman curry , drunken noodles n few more options”
Red Basil Thai CuisineRutherford, USA
Pad Thai · Red Curry · Basil Rice
“Pad Thai, red curry and basil rice — Street parking available, Lunch special Mon to Friday, vegan options available.”
RYNN Thai Restaurant & BarNew York, USA
Masaman Curry · Strawberry salad · Dumplings
Thai PalaceSevierville, USA
Drunken Noodles · masaman curry · basil fried rice
Bangkok Thai Restaurant & Pho 911Champaign, USA
Red curry · Tofu fried rice
“Red curry - remove eggplant Tofu fried rice - remove green onion and egg”
Chai Yo Thai CuisineSan Mateo, USA
Pad Thai · Drunken Noodles
“When I visited they made custom Jain & Vegan preparation for Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles. You can also ask for that on Call if you order via doordash.”
Green Elephants Thai Vegan RestaurantWatkins Glen, USA
Appetizers · Salads
“Visited Aug 2025 and they only have 3 appetizers and salads in Jain. No customization to make dishes Jain.”
My Thai Vegan CafeBoston, USA
Pineapple Fried Rice · Miso Soup
Red OrchidPittsburgh, USA
Red Curry · Green Curry
Sabai ThaiNew York, USA
Thai green curry · Khao soi
“Order Thai green curry and replace the any kind of meat with tofu - costs around $21 All curries are jain, ask for substitution of meat with tofu Khao soi can also be made jain, skip onions and replace egg noodles with…”
Thai by TrioLos Angeles, USA
Pad Thai · Spicy Noodle
Thai KitchenBridgewater, USA
Pad Thai · Curries
Thai LadaAustin, USA
Basil fried rice · curries
Thai SapaSpringdale, USA
Pad Thai · orange seitan stir fry
“No curries, but noodles and few entrees can be made Jain. Had Pad Thai and orange seitan stir fry”
TikiThaiToGoKihei, USA
Jain green curry · Fried rice
“Amazing jain green curry and fried rice (they are very accommodating with dietary restrictions)”
Veganic Thai CafeSan Diego, USA
Rice · Noodles
Bai TongSaratoga, USA
Tom Kha soup
“Can Make Jain Customizations. Had Tom Kha soup here, super good!”

And 9 more on the map.

Looking for somewhere specific? Search Thai on the map, or read the general guide to ordering Jain anywhere.

Quick answers

Can Thai food be made Jain?

Often, yes. Noodle dishes and fried rice are the easiest because they're cooked to order in a wok: ask for no onion, no garlic, no egg, no bean sprouts and no carrot. Curries depend on whether the kitchen's curry paste contains garlic and shallot, which many do.

Is pad thai Jain?

Not as served. Pad thai normally has egg, bean sprouts, garlic or shallot, and often fish sauce. Jain diners have had it made without those at several restaurants; ask for it Jain, with tofu and without egg, sprouts or carrot.

What does 'jay' (เจ) mean on a Thai menu?

Jay food follows a Chinese-Buddhist tradition: no meat, fish, egg or dairy, and none of the pungent vegetables — garlic, onion, shallot, chives and leeks. It's the closest thing to Jain food in Thailand, but it can still include potato, carrot and other root vegetables.