Best Butter Chicken in Bangkok

Butter Chicken (murgh makhani) is the most-ordered Indian dish on the planet — and one of the most often gotten wrong in Bangkok. At BHARAT Flavours Of India in Huai Khwang we cook it the original way: real charcoal-tandoor chicken, slow-simmered tomato-cream gravy, finished with crushed kasoori methi and a small handful of fresh cream. Five things separate ours from the average Bangkok version — and you can taste each one.

How real butter chicken should be made

Butter chicken was invented at Moti Mahal in Delhi in the late 1940s as a way to use up leftover tandoori chicken. The technique has not changed in 75 years:

1. Tandoori chicken first. Chicken marinated overnight in yogurt, ginger, garlic, garam masala, Kashmiri chili, then cooked in a tandoor at 480°C until the outside is charred and the inside just past pink.
2. Makhani gravy built separately. Ripe tomatoes (not paste) simmered with whole spices — cardamom, clove, cinnamon, bay — until they break down into a deep red base. Strained and returned to heat.
3. Finished with butter, cream, and kasoori methi. The butter rounds out the tomato acidity. The cream softens the colour. The kasoori methi (crushed dried fenugreek) adds the signature herbal aroma that no other ingredient produces.
4. Tandoori chicken folded in. Pre-cooked chicken pieces, broken down from the bone, simmered in the gravy for 5-7 minutes so they absorb the makhani flavour.
5. Served immediately with garlic naan or jeera rice.

Five ways most Bangkok butter chicken goes wrong

1. The chicken was not actually tandoori

The first test. Real butter chicken uses chicken that was cooked in a tandoor first — the smoke is part of the dish. If your butter chicken tastes purely creamy with no underlying char or smokiness, the chicken was probably pan-grilled or cubed and stir-fried then dropped in the gravy. That gives you a dish; it does not give you butter chicken.

Our chicken comes off our real charcoal tandoor at 480°C. The smoke shows up in every bite.

2. The tandoor was gas, not charcoal

Gas tandoors are common in Bangkok because they are cheaper, safer, and easier to permit. They cook chicken; they do not produce charcoal smoke. We wrote a full post on this → Short version: charcoal smoke molecules cling to the wet marinade in the first 30 seconds of cooking. By the time the meat is done, the smoke is locked into the outer 1mm. A gas tandoor produces zero smoke.

3. The kasoori methi was skipped

Crushed dried fenugreek leaves are non-negotiable. They show up in two places: a small handful crumbled into the gravy near the end of cooking, and a final dusting on top before serving. If you sniff your butter chicken and it smells like cream and tomato but nothing else, the methi was skipped.

4. The cream is doing all the work

Cheap butter chicken hides bad gravy under a flood of cream. The dish is heavy, slightly sweet, lacking depth. Good butter chicken uses cream like seasoning — enough to round out tomato sharpness, not enough to mute every other flavour. Our ratio: roughly 4-5 spoons of cream per portion. Heavy enough to be rich, light enough that you can taste the tomato, butter, and methi.

5. The colour is wrong

Real makhani is deep orange with a hint of red — the colour of a sunset over the Yamuna. If your butter chicken arrives bright cherry-red, the kitchen added food colouring or tomato paste straight from a can. If it arrives pale pink and creamy with barely any tomato character, the gravy was thinned with too much cream too early.

Why we are confident saying "best in Bangkok"

"Best" is always subjective. What we can say honestly:

• Our chef is from Uttarakhand, has cooked this dish thousands of times, and refuses to use pre-made gravies or shortcuts.
• Our tandoor is real charcoal at 480°C — one of the few in the Sukhumvit corridor.
• Our masalas are ground fresh every morning.
• We are 5.0★ on Google across 24+ verified reviews, and Butter Chicken is the most-mentioned dish in those reviews.
• The kitchen is halal-friendly — halal-marked CP / Betagro chicken sourced daily from Makro. No pork. No alcohol in cooking. Halal page →

If your "best butter chicken in Bangkok" candidate is not doing all of the above, it is hard to argue ours is not better. Come test it.

What goes with our butter chicken

The classic pairing:

• Butter Naan + Garlic Naan — from our charcoal tandoor, slap-cooked on the inside wall.
• Jeera Rice — for diners who want to mop up the gravy with rice.
• Dal Makhani — slow-cooked overnight, the perfect companion. See on menu →
• Mango Lassi — to cut the richness.

For a table of 2: one Butter Chicken + one Dal Makhani + two Garlic Naan + one Jeera Rice is the perfect first-visit order.

Where we are

BHARAT is at 2055 New Phetchaburi Road, Huai Khwang, Bangkok 10310 — a 2-minute walk from Grand Mercure Bangkok Atrium and Lancaster Hotel. Open daily 12 noon to 12 midnight. Free parking at the Bangchak gas station next door.

Frequently asked

What is the difference between butter chicken and chicken tikka masala?

Butter chicken (murgh makhani) was invented at Moti Mahal in Delhi in the late 1940s and uses tandoor-cooked chicken in a tomato-butter-cream gravy finished with kasoori methi. Chicken tikka masala is a UK adaptation, usually with a thinner gravy and pre-cooked tikka pieces. The two share an ancestor but taste different. The real test is the smoke — butter chicken should taste of charcoal because the chicken came from a real tandoor.

Is your chicken cooked in a real tandoor before going into the gravy?

Yes. Our chicken comes off a real charcoal-fired clay tandoor at 480°C before being folded into the makhani gravy — that smoke flavour in the outer 1mm of the chicken is what carries through to the gravy. Gas tandoors (common in Bangkok) produce zero smoke and cannot replicate this. We wrote a separate post on charcoal vs gas tandoors explaining the difference.

Is your butter chicken halal?

Yes — halal-friendly. Our chicken is bought daily from Makro from halal-marked product lines (most often CP Foods and Betagro). No pork in the kitchen. No alcohol in cooking. We are not formally CICOT restaurant-certified at the restaurant level; full detail on our halal page.

How spicy is your butter chicken?

Default is mild-to-medium — the dish is more about creamy depth than chili heat. Tell your server if you want it milder or spicier. The chef rebuilds it accordingly.

Do you really take it off the bill if it is not the best?

Yes — first-visit lunch combo (half-portion Butter Chicken + Garlic Naan + Jeera Rice, around ฿430). If you tell us honestly it is not the best butter chicken you have had in Bangkok, we take it off the bill. We make the offer because we are confident in how we cook the dish — real tandoor chicken, slow-cooked makhani, kasoori methi finish — and we would rather you walk away happy than charge you for something you did not love.

Who cooks the food?

Our chef is from Uttarakhand in northern India and has cooked this dish thousands of times in Indian kitchens before moving to Bangkok. Masalas are ground fresh every morning in our kitchen, not bought as pre-mixed pastes. Read more on our chefs page.

Can I order it for delivery?

Yes — via GrabFood, LINE MAN, foodpanda, or WhatsApp. We pack extra gravy by default so it stays moist in transit. See delivery options →

How much does it cost?

฿280 for a half-portion, ฿520 for a full portion. Comes with raw onion and a wedge of lime on the side. Add a Garlic Naan (฿70) or Jeera Rice (฿80) to complete the order.