By Natalie Lozano Trimble
Photography by Thanin Viriyaki
Boat noodles once drew customers to Thailand’s rivers and canals, where vendors in the early 20th century prepared their broth-based dishes and sold them from small, wooden boats, says Theepaka Joy Bupho, co-owner of Old Boy Noodles.
In its first few weeks, the restaurant proved that boat noodles still have a siren song. They had customers coming from Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington to their Southlake strip center after they opened on November 11, 2025, even before a sign was hung.
The dish has been hard to find here, says Bupho. She and her husband and co-owner, Thana Pornin, want Old Boy Noodles to be known as “the boat noodle place.” You can order the speciality just how you want it: clear or with the traditional pork blood, which she says makes the broth thicker and creamier, and with your preferred noodle. Their protein options include chicken, tofu, roasted duck and four kinds of beef.
Some of the ingredients to make their broth are sourced from Asia, using a recipe they tweaked for more than a year, Bupho says, and they are working to make their noodles from scratch.
Bupho says the award-winning Korean independent film, Oldboy, shares several qualities with their noodles: very dynamic, full of drama and emotions. But landing on the name was a process that began with Cowboy Noodles and ended with Old Boy as a twist on the expression, “oh boy!” which is the reaction they hope customers have.
Their second most popular menu item is also their only curry, khao soi, a dish from the Northern Thai region, where both Bupho and Pornin are from. They also offer more familiar Thai dishes, like pad Thai, kra praw, tom yum noodles, curry puffs and papaya salad.
Before becoming a restaurateur, Pornin worked in creative marketing and events, and still puts his artistic background to use — he took the photos for Old Boy Noodles’s website and menu.
His move to North Texas was inspired by his parents, who moved to Kerrville, near Austin, from Thailand to open a restaurant when Pornin was in his 20s. He came to visit and noticed there were not too many Thai restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he says, and began to research what it would take to open one.
Bupho came to the United States for college and had planned to go back to Thailand when she graduated, because it was tough to be an immigrant in the United States. But, she says, being in the food industry was her destiny. “The [United States] give[s] the opportunity for everyone, but in Thailand, whoever has the money get[s] the opportunity.”
This is Pornin’s third restaurant and the second he opened in 2025, both with Bupho’s help. After opening Koracha Thai in Bedford in 2021, he asked Bupho’s sister to recommend someone to help him open his second restaurant. She connected Pornin to Bupho in 2023.
Bupho says working side-by-side to open Ko Thai, their two-story restaurant on Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue, brought them together. The couple was married in 2025.
Old Boy Noodles is open at 2120 E. Southlake Boulevard, Suite D from 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.
Find the recipe for Old Boy Noodles’ Ribeye Boat Noodles here.