Two new Thai restaurants open in New York City this week. LenLen opens August 28 at 40 East 20th Street in Flatiron and channels 1970s Bangkok shophouses and farmers markets. Narkara opens August 29 at 5 East 17th Street in Union Square and focuses on Northern and Northeastern Thai cuisine. LenLen is co-owned by Wanisa Torboonsitikorn and chef Peter Ki Suk Tondreau with partner Tim Stuyts, and sources produce from the Union Square Greenmarket. Menu highlights include crab durian curry, chile jam clams, and papaya and strawberry som tum. LenLen's bar serves inventive cocktails and a market-style reception area sells packaged goods.
At LenLen, co-owners and restaurant couple Wanisa Torboonsitikorn and chef Peter Ki Suk Tondreau, with partner Tim Stuyts, have created a space and menu that springs from shophouses and farmers markets of Bangkok in the 1970s, per the press release. Tondreau is sourcing produce straight from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. This leads to dishes such as the crab durian curry, chile jam clams, and papaya and strawberry som tum.
LenLen's bar menu follows suit, too. There's the Tomato Som Tum cocktail, with tequila, tomatoes, pear, lime, tamarind, Thai basil, palm sugar, fish sauce, and peanuts; Jasmine Martini, a Vesper take with a jasmine tea-infused vodka, gin, blanco vermut, and elderflower pearls; and the 5-Spice Boulevardier, with rye whiskey, a five-spice blend, ghee, Campari, coffee liqueur, and sweet vermouth. The dining room is meant to feel retro and homey.
Collection
[
|
...
]