Best red curry in Ljubljana

Red curry (Gaeng Ped) is one of the most famous dishes coming from Thailand. It has tender meat, silky/creamy structure from coconut milk to balance out spiciness and still crunchy vegetables. In the last 15+ years, you can find Thai cuisine in Ljubljana. Below you will find a recipe on how to prepare this dish, and then a list of 8 places that serve Red curry in order, as I rate them. Here I took into account just experience, not the price.  At all restaurants, I ordered red curry with chicken.

Basics recipe

This simple dish can be prepared in 40 min (15 min preparation and 25 min cooking). Below is a recipe for 2-3 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 400 ml (1 can full-fat; Aroy-D) coconut milk
• 200–300 g protein (chicken, shrimp, beef, or tofu)
• 1 cup vegetables (eggplant, bamboo shoots, green beans)
• 1–2 tbsp fish sauce (optional soy sauce for vegetarians)
• 1–2 tsp palm sugar (optional brown sugar)
• 3–4 kaffir lime leaves (optional but authentic)
• 1 tsp grated galangal (optional ginger)
• 1/2 cup water or stock
• Fresh Thai basil leaves
• 1 red chili (optional, sliced)
• 1 cup jasmine rice

Instructions

• Heat the curry paste (dried red chilies, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, and galangal)
  • Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.
  • Add red curry paste and cook for 1–2 minutes until fragrant.
• Add coconut milk
  • Pour in about half of the coconut milk.
  • Stir until the paste dissolves and the sauce becomes creamy.
• Cook protein
  • Add your boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks (or chosen protein).
  • Cook until it starts to turn opaque.
• Add the remaining liquid
  • Add remaining coconut milk + water/stock.
  • Bring to a gentle simmer.
• Add vegetables & seasoning
  • Add vegetables, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger.
  • Season with fish sauce and sugar.
  • Simmer 5–10 minutes until everything is cooked.
• Finish & serve
  • Stir in Thai basil and chili slices.
  • Taste and adjust seasoning (salty, sweet, spicy balance).
• Serve with Steamed jasmine rice (Rice noodles optional alternative)

Variations

• Richer curry: Use all coconut milk, no water.
• Curry paste: homemade, or bought (Mae Ploy or Maesri)
• Vegetable: alternatives bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, or pumpkin
• Vegetarian: Use tofu + soy sauce instead of fish sauce.
• Spice level: Add fresh chilies or more curry paste.
• Zesty finish: Add a squeeze of lime juice before serving.

Shambala

Shambala is a high-end Asian restaurant in Ljubljana. It is located in the old town with a great garden. Their signature dish is red curry. One of the reasons for their popularity is that they prepare daily in-house curry paste. Curry is fresh, spicy, and creamy with vegetables (Thai eggplant, pumpkin, broccoli) still crunchy. Also, jasmine rice is well prepared and in good quantity. This meal is at the top of the list as a winner because of great food, location, and service. But it comes with a price (20€).

Roza slon

At Roza Slon, you can find red curry at the best price-performance ratio. You get a big portion, and you pay only 8.4€. And still it is creamy, and the vegetables are crunchy (bell peppers, bamboo shoots) in a quirky environment.

THAInita

Here, they serve red curry as well. You pay 9.6€. Portion is big, evan rice. Curry is spicy, creamy and tasty. Vegetables are crunchy (thai egg plant!, bell pepper, bamboo shoots, carrot?). I even gotr som echilli to spicy it to my taste.

Thai Zone

In Thai Zone you can find similar dish to Roza slon, big portion, similar taste, maybe little bit creamier. You pay here 10€.

Chuty’s

Out of many of their places, I went to a location on Slovenska Street. I sat in a garden. Soon, I was served red curry. It was pale compared to others, less creamy, vegetables were still crunchy (zucchini, peas), and it had the biggest portion of chicken. I paid 13.9€.

TLOFT

Red curry in TLOFT was my popular meal while I worked in Nomago. Portion is big, creaminess is great, but vegetables are not just traditional ones (besides bell peppers and zucchini, they put in onion, meat quality is also decreasing). Last visit was disappointing, the curry was too dry. You pay 11 € for this meal.

Let’s Wok

Red curry at Let’s wok was 12.9€. You can sit outside by busy road or inside on first floor made for little people. Overpriced for what they ofer. There you get big portion of rice. As for curry, it was spicy and creamy, but I didn’t like vegetables there (mushroom, salad?).

MomenThai only delivers

This place has just a delivery option. I didn’t try their red curry. For food, you will pay 11.2€.

Kratochwill

This brewery/beer garden offers a wide range of meals. Among others, also a few from Thai cuisine. I tried their red curry. I paid for a meal 11.4€, with dessert included. It was creamy, a big portion, but a bit watery, and the vegetables (zucchini, eggplant) were overcooked.

Summary

All dishes were hot and spicy, portions were big enough. As for ingredients Shambala has best ones and Chuty’s has most meat. General observation, most places could add more rice. Overall experienceis best in Shambala. Also they are most expensive and Roza slon cheapest. So first place is reserved for Shambala, but if I take into account price/performance, it would be Roza slon. Thainita and Thai Zone are similar, just a bit more expensive. As for lower end of table are Let’s Wok (strange ingredients), Kratochvill with watery curry and overcooked vegetables and TLOFT quality deteriorated as seen in pics, I hope it was just one time mistake.