Ask any Indian living in Bangkok what they miss most about home, and food comes up almost immediately. And within that conversation, butter chicken — murgh makhani — almost always gets mentioned.
It’s not just nostalgia. Butter chicken is one of those dishes that carries a specific emotional weight. It’s what your mother made on weekends. It’s what you ordered at every family dinner in a good North Indian restaurant back home. It’s comfort in a bowl, and when you’re thousands of kilometres from India, finding a version that actually tastes right matters more than you’d expect.
This is why authentic butter chicken in Bangkok has become such a sought-after thing — and why Amritsr Restaurant, with its two Sukhumvit locations, keeps drawing crowds of Indian expats and well-traveled food lovers who know the difference between a real murgh makhani and a pale imitation.
The Story Behind Butter Chicken
Before we talk about where to find it in Bangkok, it’s worth understanding where butter chicken actually comes from — because the story makes the dish taste even better.
Butter chicken was created in Delhi in 1947, in the kitchen of a restaurant in the Daryaganj neighbourhood. The dish came about almost by accident — leftover tandoori chicken was tossed into a tomato-based sauce enriched with butter to prevent it from drying out. The result was something entirely new: tender, smoky chicken in a sauce that was rich without being heavy, spiced without being aggressive, and satisfying in a way that felt both indulgent and comforting at the same time.
It spread across North India, then across the world. Today it’s one of the most ordered Indian dishes globally. But here’s the thing — most versions of butter chicken outside India don’t taste like the original. They’re either too sweet, too heavy on cream, lacking smokiness from the tandoor, or missing the kasuri methi (dried fenugreek) that gives the sauce its distinctive finishing note.
Getting butter chicken right requires technique, the right ingredients, and a kitchen that actually cares about the details.
Why Most Butter Chicken in Bangkok Falls Short?
Bangkok has no shortage of Indian restaurants, especially in the Sukhumvit area. But quality varies enormously.
The most common problems with butter chicken served in generic Indian restaurants here:
Too sweet. Many kitchens add extra sugar or use tomato paste that’s too sweet to compensate for a sauce that lacks depth. The result tastes like a mild tomato-cream sauce with chicken in it, not a proper murgh makhani.
No tandoor smokiness. Authentic butter chicken starts with chicken that’s been marinated and cooked in a tandoor (clay oven) before it goes into the sauce. That char and smokiness is non-negotiable — it’s what makes the chicken in butter chicken different from any other chicken in any other curry. Kitchens that skip the tandoor step or use a flat griddle instead produce a dish that tastes flat.
Too much cream, not enough spice balance. The sauce should be silky and rich, but not heavy. The balance between the tomato base, butter, cream, garam masala, ginger-garlic, and kasuri methi is delicate. Many Bangkok restaurants over-cream the sauce and under-spice it, producing something that tastes like it was made for someone who’s scared of flavour.
Dry chicken. When butter chicken is prepared in batches and sits for too long, the chicken dries out inside the sauce. A well-prepared murgh makhani has chicken that’s still slightly juicy and tender from the tandoor — not chalky and overcooked.
What Amritsr Gets Right?
Amritsr Restaurant’s butter chicken is consistently one of the most praised dishes across their two Bangkok locations — Sukhumvit Soi 22 and Sukhumvit Soi 11.
The kitchen comes from a Punjabi cooking tradition — specifically Amritsari cuisine, which is one of the most tandoor-centric food cultures in India. The tandoor isn’t a decorative element here. It’s the centre of the kitchen, and it’s what makes the meats and breads taste the way they do.
For the butter chicken specifically, this means:
- The chicken goes through the tandoor first, developing that essential char before being folded into the sauce
- The gravy is tomato-forward and properly balanced — rich, but not cloying
- Kasuri methi goes in at the right stage, giving the sauce that slightly nutty, aromatic finish that separates a good murgh makhani from a forgettable one
- The dish is prepared with consistency — regulars at Amritsr report the butter chicken tastes the same every visit, which in a city with wildly inconsistent Indian restaurants is genuinely worth noting
For Indian expats in Bangkok who’ve been let down by restaurant after restaurant, this consistency is exactly what keeps them coming back.
The Expat Factor: Why This Dish Hits Differently in Bangkok
There’s something worth understanding about why Indian food — and butter chicken specifically — means so much to Indians living in Thailand.
Bangkok is an incredible city to live in. The food scene is world-class, the lifestyle is comfortable, and the city has a genuine, long-established Indian community. But Thai food, for all its brilliance, doesn’t scratch the same itch. The flavours are different, the spice profiles are different, and the emotional associations aren’t there.
For Indians in Bangkok — whether they’ve been here two months or ten years — a good Indian meal is a reset. It’s reconnection. Butter chicken with garlic naan isn’t just dinner. It’s home on a plate.
This is why the Indian community in Sukhumvit tends to be very particular about where they eat. They’re not looking for a version of Indian food that’s been softened for a Thai palate. They want the real thing. And that’s precisely why Amritsr has built such a loyal following in this area — it cooks for people who actually know what the food is supposed to taste like.
What to Order Alongside the Butter Chicken?
If you’re going to Amritsr for the butter chicken, build the rest of your order around it:
Garlic Naan — The obvious pairing. Soft, slightly charred, and aromatic. At Amritsr the bread is fresh from the tandoor and genuinely good on its own, which is the mark of a kitchen that takes its bread seriously.
Dal Makhani — The other great slow-cooked Punjabi classic. Black lentils cooked for hours with butter and cream. Order it alongside the butter chicken and rotate between the two — they complement each other perfectly.
Amritsari Kulcha — If you haven’t had this before, it’s a stuffed leavened bread baked in the tandoor, typically filled with spiced potato or paneer and served with chole (spiced chickpeas). It’s the signature dish of Amritsari cooking and worth ordering even if you’re not usually a bread-focused person.
Sweet Lassi — The natural counterpoint to a rich, spiced meal. Cold, thick, and just sweet enough to balance the warmth of the curry.
Visiting Amritsr in Bangkok
Sukhumvit Soi 22 Sukhumvit Alley 22, Khwaeng Khlong Toei, Khet Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 📞 +66 83 009 9719 Nearest BTS: Phrom Phong (Exit 4)
Sukhumvit Soi 11 26/13, Eleven Bangkok, Sukhumvit Soi 11, Next to Holiday Inn Express, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 📞 +66 20 111 020 Nearest BTS: Nana (Exit 3)
Both locations are open daily and take walk-ins, though booking ahead is a good idea during peak dinner hours, especially on weekends when the Indian expat crowd fills up quickly.
Final Thoughts
Butter chicken is one of those dishes that reveals a kitchen’s standards more than almost anything else. When it’s done well, it’s one of the most satisfying things you can eat. When it’s done poorly, it’s just orange sauce.
At Amritsr Bangkok, it’s done well. If you’ve been living in Bangkok and haven’t found a butter chicken that actually tastes right, this is the place to try. And if you’re visiting the city and want to understand why this dish has conquered the world, the version here will show you exactly why.
Visit: amritsr.com
