Narkara Is an NYC Restaurant Destination for Hard-to-Find Thai Dishes | Eater NY

"Built as a “cultural bridge” to Thailand’s often overlooked northern and northeastern regions along the Mekong, this big, generically opulent, mythology-tinged room off Union Square backs up the concept with bold, hard-to-find flavors. A cushy front bar and lounge sits under a watchful “baby serpent god,” while a long main dining room—with most of its 140 seats divided by interlocking banquettes—unfurls beneath a restless river of swirling bamboo and dramatically lit shelves of Northern Thai ceramics; the art and tableware were commissioned from Northern Thai artists, and while the effect can skew a bit like a wannabe-hip hotel chain, the team spent years pulling it together, and by 6:30 p.m. on a Friday nearly every table was taken. Founding partner Srisuphan supplies old family recipes and executive chef Sakdiphat Mokkasak brings them to life via slow-simmering, curing, and fermentation; most dishes were completely new to me. The chilled red curry terrine ($21) is wild—like a dense, spicy, porky blondie “studded with chunks of cartilage”—and delicious. Even spicier is the asparagus and yanang aspic salad ($22), shredded and tossed with herbs, toasted rice powder, and fermented fish sauce around a glassy disc of gelatin that looks like a jungle watering hole. A sausage platter ($34) stars sliced sai ua (mildly spicy, very herby) and three plump, tangy-as-hell sai krok isan, with raw vegetables, crackling pork rinds, and jaew pla ra. The showstopper starter, crab butter custard with uni ($28), arrives in a repurposed crab shell atop a mini live-fire grill to dump over sticky rice crab cakes—good and fun, though maybe not seven-bucks-a-bite fun. For large plates we skipped the jackfruit and spare rib curry, seared Iberico pork with galangal chile sauce, stir-fry duck breast, and roasted sea bass in banana leaf to follow our server’s lead: the seemingly ho-hum poached chicken in herb broth ($28) was phenomenal, the bird ridiculously tender thanks to a rare Northeastern steaming technique that uses condensation to baste the meat, and a spoonful or two of the fiery broth will warm you right up; the steamed savory egg custard entree ($24) tasted like an intensely earthy flan, with betel leaves and mushrooms doing a lot of work, and it was the prettiest plating of the night. Both desserts rule—an alarmingly red poached banana with creamy coconut ice cream ($18), and palm sugar ice cream atop a slab of taro custard ($20). Drinks give classics a Thai twist: the Makwaen Penicillin ($22) with makwaen pepper–infused scotch, mezcal, dry vermouth, and galangal syrup; a bloody mary-ish larb-spiced tequila number ($20); plus my zero-proof longan pandan juice ($14) with lots of berries bobbing around. A couple of beers, some expensive sake (Dewazakura Awa, $260), and a dozen or so bottles of wine well under $100 round things out. When we were there the room was just starting to get boisterous—kick-ass food from this kitchen deserves an audience." - Scott Lynch