Johnny N.
Yelp
My big bro is the only friend I have who can eat as much as me. Whenever we get together the amount of food we consume is biblical.
We have been trying to expand our search for good restaurants outside of our normal stomping grounds, and decided on Tong, as it has been on the Michelin guide list 4 years in a row. 4-peat is crazy. Although, what does the Michelin man really know about food?
We hopped off the L-Train in Bushwick and made the short walk to Tong, through brightly painted warehouses that you can't tell if they are occupied or empty. Bushwick is so unique.
We arrived ready to EAT. We sat down and deliberated over the menu for longer than I care to admit, and decided on the following:
Beef tartare, Yum Naem, Oysters, Beef Pad See Ew, Crab Curry, Chicken Green Curry, Massaman Brisket, Fried Branzino, and the Fillet Branzino. A laughable amount of food. I don't know why we thought we could eat all that.
When you sit down, the servers first question is "are you guys okay with spicy food?" Big bro confidently nodded his head with a look of slight disrespect on his face as if to say "do you know who I am?!" Next thing I know he's running to the bathroom to go splash some water on his face after 1 bite of the crab curry. Food can be SPICY in here so if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I normally only highlight one dish to try and keep these reviews short, but this food was sensational, so imma highlight a few. Our favorites were the Fried Branzino, Massaman Brisket, and the Pad See Ew.
The Fried Branzino is really what will bring me back here. It will keep me up at night thinking about how good this was. You get the entire fish seasoned with turmeric, black pepper, fried garlic, and lemongrass. It was the perfect dish.
The owner, Pat, came over to our table to talk to us for a bit. She was such a sweetheart, and so passionate. She also told us that they order the Pad See Ew noodles fresh every single morning from this market close by. Running a restaurant must be so hard, so shout out to Pat.
We pride ourselves on never taking leftovers, but we took a huge L here. We walked out of here like a couple of DORKS with bags of food. I felt like a little kid bringing my lunch to school smh.
Great service, great people, and great food in here. I'll be back.
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