Long before Pan Thai Noodles found its home in Auckland, the recipe lived in the waterways of Thailand. Boat noodles — or kuay teow reua — were born on the canals of Bangkok, served from wooden boats rocking gently on the Chao Phraya River. Vendors would ladle rich, dark broth into small bowls, passing them up to hungry customers on the riverbanks.

The broth was the secret. Simmered for hours with pork blood, cinnamon, star anise, and a carefully guarded blend of spices, each bowl was intense and deeply flavourful — designed to be consumed in just a few bites, then refilled again and again.

Our founder grew up eating boat noodles in Thailand — not as a weekend treat, but as an everyday ritual. The broth was a constant: warm, grounding, and unmistakably home. When life brought them to New Zealand, that bowl came with them, first as a memory, then as a mission.

The idea was simple: Auckland deserved the real thing. Not an approximation, not a fusion, but the authentic flavour of Thai boat noodles — unchanged from the way it had been made for generations.

Pan Thai Noodles opened its first location on Dominion Road — Auckland's famous food street — and quickly became a destination for Thai food lovers and curious first-timers alike. Word spread through the community: this was something different. This was the real thing.

Today, with two locations across Auckland, the mission remains the same. Every bowl of broth is still made from scratch. The spice blend is still the same one carried over from Thailand. And every dish that leaves our kitchen is made with the same care and honesty that started it all.

Pan Thai is not just a restaurant. It is a tradition — kept alive, one bowl at a time.