Three Places to Get Thai Food That’s Anything but Tired

Thai restaurants are becoming sleeker, spendier and more ambitious. Here are three that I’m excited about. Narkara in Union Square is a great example of the current trend. It’s this low-lit, lavish restaurant that looks like a cross between a fine dining spot and a hotel bar. The entrees really shined here. There’s this amazing bowl of chicken soup with meatballs. The broth is made with Mah Kwan peppers, a cousin of the Sichuan peppercorn, that’s native to northern Thailand. BKK in Midtown is a Thai American restaurant. The menu is really fun and playful in this way that constantly references New York. My favorite dish here probably was the French dip, which I guess you could actually just call it Thai dip. It’s served with this spicy, fragrant broth instead of a traditional jus. When I asked the chef about it, he told me it’s based on a recipe for boat noodles. Unglo is a newer restaurant that specializes in moo krata . This is a style of Thai cooking that’s kind of like a cross between Korean barbecue and Japanese shabu shabu. And so they have these really cool custom copper grills for grilling meats. And then this outer ring that’s filled with this really clean chicken broth, perfect for boiling, basically like cabbage and mushrooms and other vegetables. When I went, I ordered the classic set, which came out to about $70 per person. This is a full meal with salad, noodles and platters of beef and pork. Let us know in the comments — where should I go next?