The 2025 eating trends among Thais reveal an interesting picture: they are willing to pay for premium indulgence like "matcha," but in everyday life still rely on "rice and curry" as affordable daily food, with orders exceeding 65 million dishes within a year.
The latest data from LINE MAN, Thailand's top food delivery platform, summarizes Thai eating trends in 2025 based on over 10 million users and more than 700,000 restaurants nationwide, finding that this year "matcha" has surged to become the hottest drink menu, with orders exceeding 6.5 million cups, growing over 300% compared to the previous year, making it the fastest-growing drink on the platform. This reflects health trends and marks it as the new Affordable Luxury drink of the year.
Additionally, within the drink category, the matcha trend has propelled "iced green milk tea" to claim the top spot as the most ordered menu on LINE MAN, overtaking black coffee, which held the position last year. This change of champion reflects the strong and ongoing popularity of matcha. However, due to its higher price, iced green milk tea serves as a perfect substitute, offering a similar tea flavor and color at a more affordable and accessible price.
The next most popular drinks are black coffee, iced espresso, milk tea, and Thai tea respectively, reflecting urban lifestyles relying on coffee and sweet drinks for energy throughout the day.
Besides matcha, other fast-growing menu items include "shio bread" or salted bread, which gained popularity for its buttery aroma and simple taste. Over the past year, more than 2,000 shio bread shops have opened on LINE MAN.
"sundae ice cream" is another high-growth item, boosted by accessible pricing strategies from major franchise stores. "fried chicken balls" are a dark horse rising sharply in orders due to their convenience as quick snacks, followed by "specialty Thai tea and premium Thai tea" which have elevated regular Thai tea to specialty coffee level by focusing on selected growing regions and distinctive aroma and taste. This has drawn mainstream consumers to higher-quality Thai tea this year.
Meanwhile, the menu Thais consume repeatedly every day remains "rice and curry" with orders reaching 65 million dishes in a year, growing 8% annually. This underscores that in times of budget control, rice and curry is Thai fast food with affordable prices. Popular dishes remain fried pork, fried meatballs, stewed eggs, curry stew, stir-fried curry paste, and green curry.
The main reason rice and curry remains strong is its convenience, speed, and affordability, allowing Thais to consume it every meal, every day. It meets consumer needs during periods of cost control very well. It also reflects food vendors adapting to delivery systems, as rice and curry shops now make up more than 10% of all restaurants on the platform.
In the single-dish category, "spicy papaya salad with fermented crab" claimed first place with over 8 million orders, far surpassing fried chicken. Searches for spicy dishes like papaya salad, spicy salad, and mala have surged to 16 million this year, reflecting the deep-rooted Thai love for bold flavors. Other top ordered dishes include fried rice, fried chicken, Hainanese chicken rice, and crispy pork basil stir-fry. The most searched categories following are noodles, made-to-order food, single dishes, and rice and curry.
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