"Following the openings of places showcasing regional Thai dishes like Brooklyn’s Ugly Baby (2017), Soothr in the East Village (2020), and Zaab Zaab (2022) with several locations, ambitious and innovative Thai restaurants are springing up everywhere. More recently, the West Village (Bangkok Supper Club, Sappe) and the Upper East Side (Lenox Thai, Zaab Putawn) are hot spots, and latest to appear is Tha Phraya, which opened three weeks ago at 1153 Second Avenue, near 81st Street. The name refers to piers on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, and the Thai fare comes from a modern, big-city perspective. Co-owner Manna Che was born on the island of Phuket, and previously worked at Soothr. A couple of friends and I arrived early on a Monday evening to find the rambling place nearly empty, but within an hour it was filled with customers. The premises is sleek and shiny, beginning with the a barroom of white marble, slatted woods, and blue floor tiles; progressing through a second room with bright red lampshades, pictures of Thailand, and one long banquette; into a main dining room dominated by a mirror etched with the towers of Wat Arun, a Buddhist temple complex in Bangkok. The Bee Gees blared from the loudspeakers. The first dish to hit the table shocked and delighted us: Fanned out across the top were a fistful of fresh betel leaves — pointy, shiny, and dark green. Underneath them sat little heaps of finely chopped ginger, dried shrimp, garlic, peanuts, purple onions, shredded coconut, slivers of lime, and Thai birds-eye chiles, bright red and spilling out their seeds. Called miang kham ($17), the dish comes with a caramelized shallot sauce — and so we happily wrapped, dipped, and chewed. The betels had a peppery taste, and we tried every combination of ingredients. I’d seen fresh betel leaves in Jersey City’s India Square, where they are used to wrap paan, but only once before at a Thai restaurant, Mitr near Rockefeller Center. The next dish to arrive was almost as good: The northern Thai sausage sai ua, tasting of curry paste and pork. But instead of presenting it in the classic way with chopped onions, ginger, and peanuts, the meat was compressed into slender spring rolls. From there our meal unfolded like a lotus flower, with more surprises and only one or two missteps. The concentration of flavors was incredible in kua-kling nuea ($28), tendrils of beef entwined with green peppercorns in a pleasantly gluey sauce flavored with lime leaves; but if you want something mellower, from the owner’s hometown of Phuket and once again featuring betel leaves, try kang pu ($29). Thickened with tons of coconut milk, it bobs with lump crab meat and paddies of rice noodles come on the side. It’s a simple and satisfying dish on a menu that often bombards with sharp flavors. The best deal on a menu where many of the mains clock in at $30 or so is zabb hang ($19), a lush dish that consists of a bowl of rice noodles topped with beef balls, peanuts, pork, and herbs, inscrutably sided with a bowl of broth and a separate plate of pork rinds, sprouts, and fresh morning glory. We never figured out how to eat it: Throw the morning glories in the broth? Top the mixed-up noodles with crunchy pork rind? A dish that disappointed us was nuer toon mor fai ($32), a beef noodle soup that arrived bubbling in a metal hotpot vessel with a chimney. We fished out delicious globs of tendon and blew on them for cooling purposes, but the thin dark broth, still boiling, forestalled us getting much further. If we’d had a half hour or so to let it cool down … But that same vessel excelled in — of all things — a dessert called ice cream mor fai ($25), described on the menu as “three flavors of ice cream in a hot pot.” Would they all be melted? The waiter set it down with a flourish, then dumped dry ice around the ice cream scoops, causing them to fume. At a time when restaurants are offering fewer and fewer desserts, this one stood out, and not only for its dramatic presentation. We dug in, relishing every bite of the mango, coconut, and pandan ice creams, sprinkled with thyme and other arresting flavorings, wondering: When was the last time a meal had ended with such a bang?" - Robert Sietsema
