The Best Thai Food in New York, Dish by Dish
Elmhurst is where Thai New York eats — boat noodles, khao man gai, Isan larb, southern curries over rice — with a handful of Manhattan and Brooklyn rooms worth crossing the river for. Here is what to order, and where.
24 dishes · 22 kitchens
The center of Thai New York is a few blocks of Elmhurst, Queens: Woodside Avenue in the high Seventies, the stretch of Broadway around the Elmhurst Avenue station, and the side streets between them, all a short walk from the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue hub. Thai groceries, temples, noodle bars and curry counters sit door to door here, and a fair number of the menus are written for the neighborhood first. A little farther west, SriPraPhai has been cooking in Woodside since 1990, before any of it.
What makes Elmhurst worth the train ride is how specific it gets. A counter that sells only khao man gai. A steam table of southern curries spooned over rice. A twenty-seat bar where the boat noodles come in small bowls, two or three at a time. Isan dining rooms where the larb arrives with a basket of sticky rice and the heat is not turned down for visitors. Manhattan and Brooklyn add a few things Queens does not — royal court recipes in East Williamsburg, a Thai diner in Nolita, seafood and southern fire on Grand Street.
The picks below follow the way Thailand eats: noodles; one-plate rice meals; the northeast; the north; the south and its curries; the central and royal table; and something sweet to finish. Take the 7, E, F, M or R to Roosevelt Avenue, walk south toward Woodside Avenue, and go hungry with friends — most of this food is meant to be shared, and a good deal of it is eaten with sticky rice.
Noodles
Boat noodles from the canals of central Thailand, pork-blood broths, and the bowls you season yourself at the table.
- 01
Boat noodles (kuay teow reua)
Pye Boat Noodle · ASTORIA, QUEENS
Beef or pork in a deep, spiced broth with meatballs and crackling pork rinds, and a caddy of fish sauce and chilies so you can tune the bowl. Yen ta fo is the second order.
- 02
Small-bowl boat noodles at a Thai bar
Pata Paplean · ELMHURST, QUEENS
The Bangkok way: small bowls of dark, blood-enriched broth with rice noodles, ground pork and a slice of liver, ordered two or three at a time. Past reviews have found them on weekends — check before you go.
- 03
Nam tok moo (pork-blood noodle soup)
Soothr · EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
The East Village noodle house's darkest bowl, with thin rice noodles in a pork-blood broth. Pair it with a khao soi for contrast.
Rice & one-plate meals
The fast lunches of Thailand — one plate, one protein, rice underneath.
- 04
Khao man gai (Thai chicken rice)
Eim Khao Mun Kai · ELMHURST, QUEENS
A one-dish shop on Broadway: poached chicken chopped to order over rice cooked in chicken fat, with liver, gizzard, a cup of broth and a ginger-chili sauce.
- 05
Pad krapow (holy-basil stir-fry with fried egg)
Pad Kra Prow · FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN
A Cortelyou Road kitchen built around this one plate — your choice of protein fired with holy basil, garlic and chilies, over jasmine rice with a crisp-edged fried egg. Ask for the yolk runny.
- 06
Khao moo dang (red pork over rice)
Khao Nom · ELMHURST, QUEENS
Khao Kang's made-to-order sibling around the corner, where red barbecued pork comes over rice. Curry puffs to start, desserts to take home.
Isan — the northeast
Sour, salty, fermented and fiery, with sticky rice to eat it all.
- 07
Larb ped udon (duck larb)
Zaab Zaab · ELMHURST, QUEENS
Minced duck with crisp skin and liver, charred galangal, fried lime leaves and mint — the house signature at this Bib Gourmand on Woodside Avenue. Say clearly how hot you want it.
- 08
Grilled whole tilapia, papaya salad and khao piak sen
Hug Esan · ELMHURST, QUEENS
A tiny room a few doors from Zaab Zaab with many versions of papaya salad, a whole tilapia grilled or fried, and khao piak sen, a meaty noodle soup thickened with pork blood. Bring a group.
- 09
Sour pork sausage with crispy rice
Chao Thai · ELMHURST, QUEENS
On Whitney Avenue, the fermented tang of the sausage against crisp rice, lime, peanuts and fresh chili. The crispy duck salad goes alongside.
The north
Chiang Mai's curry noodles and herb-packed sausage.
- 10
Khao soi with sai ua sausage
Soothr · EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
Soothr makes the coconut-curry noodle soup of Chiang Mai several ways; the version topped with sai ua, the northern herb sausage, is the one to order.
- 11
Sai ua spring roll
Tha Phraya · UPPER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Chiang Mai sausage rolled and fried, on an Upper East Side menu that runs north and south. Follow it with khao soi or zabb hang noodles.
- 12
Khao soi
SriPraPhai · WOODSIDE, QUEENS
The Woodside institution's long menu reaches north too, and its khao soi is a fine reason to order beyond the curries and salads.
The south & the curries
Turmeric, fish, bamboo shoots and chilies — the heat of the peninsula, and the coconut curries of the coast.
- 13
Southern sour curry and tai pla curry over rice
Khao Kang · ELMHURST, QUEENS
Point at the steam table and take two or three over rice; the sour fish curry and tai pla are the southern ones. Make the garlic black pepper pork your third.
- 14
Sour sea bass curry with pickled bamboo
Ugly Baby · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Sirichai Sreparplarn's fiery kitchen, back on Grand Street in 2026. Pair the curry with pad ped — hanger steak and tripe with green peppercorns — and keep the omelet soup close.
- 15
Baerng golae (grilled shrimp in coconut curry)
Chalong · HELL'S KITCHEN, MANHATTAN
A sit-down southern Thai dinner in Hell's Kitchen, with a 2025 Bib Gourmand. The garlic-braised ribs are the second plate.
- 16
Coconut crab curry
Fish Cheeks Williamsburg · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
The dish that made Fish Cheeks' name, thick with crab, now on Driggs Avenue too. Add a whole steamed branzino and the raw marinated crab made only at this location.
- 17
Had Yai fried chicken
Kitchen 79 · JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS
Named for the southern city famous for it, at Jackson Heights' southern-leaning Thai room. Crying tiger beef and roti massaman fill out the table.
The central & royal table
Bangkok's salads and curries, court recipes from the nineteenth century, and the night-market snacks of the capital.
- 18
Relishes and beef tongue massaman
KRU · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Recipes drawn from old Thai memorial books. Order a nam prik or lon relish to sit on the table all meal, ma hor to start and the beef tongue massaman to share.
- 19
Chor muang dumplings and hor mok pu (crab custard)
Kaew Jao Jorm · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Royal Thai cooking from the court of Rama V in East Williamsburg: flower-shaped chicken dumplings, a steamed crab custard set with coconut milk, and a duck curry with lychee and pineapple.
- 20
Yum pla duk (crispy catfish with green mango)
SaRanRom Thai · ELMHURST, QUEENS
Catfish fried into a crisp, airy tangle under a sour mango salad, at a Bib Gourmand on Broadway. Start with miang kha-na.
- 21
Kang som (southern sour curry) and crispy duck panang
Ayada Thai · ELMHURST, QUEENS
A Woodside Avenue anchor since 2008: the sour, fiery kang som for the heat, crispy duck in panang for the comfort, and a raw shrimp salad between them.
- 22
Moo sarong (noodle-wrapped pork meatballs)
Wayla · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Bangkok night-market cooking in a Forsyth Street basement; the crisp noodle-wrapped meatballs are the dish people remember. Ask for the back patio in warm weather.
Sweets & all-day plates
Thai desserts, a Thai diner breakfast, and mango with sticky rice.
- 23
Thai tea babka French toast and the coconut sundae
Thai Diner · NOLITA, MANHATTAN
Uncle Boons' all-day successor on Mott Street. Breakfast is the babka French toast and a roti-wrapped egg sandwich; dinner ends with the coconut sundae carried over from Uncle Boons.
- 24
Mango sticky rice ice cream
Kaew Jao Jorm · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
Mango ice cream over warm sticky rice — the royal kitchen's take on the dessert every Thai restaurant serves.
Every kitchen here was confirmed open as of 2026-10-13. Menus change — confirm a dish is on before you make the trip.