Chiangmai Diner & Bar

Find One of Brooklyn’s Most Exciting Thai Spots on an Industrial Corner of Bushwick | Eater NY

"A two-month-old spot at 942 Flushing Avenue, near Central Avenue, adopts a diner approach that presents dishes from all parts of Thailand plainly on the plate. Chiangmai Diner balances regional specialties — from tiki-bar–style crab Rangoon star-shaped dumplings oozing cream cheese that are hot, crunchy, and trashy-good, to curries offered as blue-plate specials perfect for solo meals — with a focus on northern-Thai flavors. My favorite is the pork jungle curry ($16): without coconut milk it has no mellowing, with stalks of pickled green peppercorn wagging in a purplish broth. The menu also offers about ten protein choices for curries and basil stir-fries, but the dishes that truly represent Chiang Mai are the ones where the protein pairing matters. The space, descended from Soho’s Lan Larb Changmai, is a high‑ceilinged, factory‑like room with three eating areas — a barroom with big windows catching the sunset across Flushing Avenue, a long narrow dining area looking into the kitchen, and a third room hung with luminaria and a mural of a darkened hillside dotted with golden Buddhist temples — and the relaxed atmosphere, plain plating, and unique Chiang Mai offerings make it doubly enjoyable. Standout snacks and mains include sai oua ($16), plump pork sausages studded with peanuts, raw ginger, herbs, and fiery little chiles; hung lay ($34), a massive beef short rib in a thick garnet broth with pickled garlic and ginger and potatoes to add smoosh; kha soi, a thicker, richer chicken noodle soup with two kinds of noodles; and kanom jean nham ngiaw ($19), complex fermented rice noodles in pork-rib broth laced with chile oil and topped with crunchy bits of pig skin. Beer is the usual choice, but I also like the cocktails here — my favorite is the Wai-jai-dai-ga ($16), with ginger beer, lime vodka, berries, and makrut lime leaves — and I think Chiangmai Diner is currently the most exciting Thai restaurant in Brooklyn, right up there with Ugly Baby." - Robert Sietsema