There are several ways to describe delicious food in Thai: Aroy means delicious, while aroy mak takes it a step further to very delicious. But my favorite word is zaab (also spelled zabb or zab; แซ่บ), a term rooted in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand that conveys a bold deliciousness, often associated with the heat. In New York City, we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to food that delivers true zaab.
I’ve spent my life immersed in the world of Thai food. One of the joys of growing up in a Thai restaurant family is participating in one of our favorite hobbies: scoping out other Thai restaurants to see what’s good. Most summers, my aunts would close down their restaurant in Royal Palm Beach for two weeks, and they’d road trip from South Florida up to New York City to check out casinos and taste Thai restaurants along the way—when I was lucky, I got to join them. My grandpa, for his part, used to drive to the city weekly to get products for his grocery store in Washington, DC, and through his firsthand research, old friends, and the Internet, he created detailed restaurant guides to help me find footing when I moved to the city almost five years ago.
As I continue to eat my way through the city’s Thai restaurants, I feel spoiled for choice. More and more chefs are serving regional specialties of their hometowns and maintaining Thai food’s great balancing act between the spice, acid, salt, sweetness, and umami, while incorporating their own signature flair.
While the city’s established Thai spots, particularly out in Elmhurst, Queens, remain beloved, plenty of the most compelling and exciting bites can be found in various parts of the city. There has never been a more exciting time to eat Thai food in NYC, and these 14 restaurants best embody its golden era.
The best Thai restaurants in NYC
7708 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
Must-order dish: Yen Ta Fo
If you want an overview of the best dishes across Thailand without leaving the city, let your first stop in Queen’s Little Thai Town be Ayada. The beloved restaurant has familiar favorites like pad thai and tom yum, but let its expertise in other regional favorites be an excuse to try my dad’s favorite Yen Ta Fo, a bubblegum-pink soup with soft rice noodles and a savory tomato and bean curd sauce.
