This spot called BKK New York opened in Spring of 2025. We got to visit about a year from the opening to try their Bangkok dishes. When you walk in, you see a rather large bar, fully stacked, then table seating going all the way to the back. It is kind of narrow and long space. It was a bit dimly lit, with really cool interior decor. We had a reservation, and received a warm welcome, and taken to a table located in a middle point of the restaurant.
We started off with drinks. I ordered a drink based on what they looked like, called Sticky Situation ($18). It is made with Irish Whiskey, Black Sticky Rice, Earl Grey, Lemon, Bitters, Clarified Milk. The cocktail sure had an interesting look, and the crispy rice crunch thing on top made me think of a cloud floating on the drink. It is inspired by sticky rice dessert, and it was strong with whiskey. A really fun drink, I put pieces of the rice crunch inside the drink too, which made it extra interesting. My hubby went with New York Cha Yen ($18), made with Scotch Whiskey, Black Tea, Turbinado, Lemon, Spring Flower, Singha-Air Foam, Soda, Bitters. This almost liked a glass of beer with nice foam on top. It was refreshing with a nice tea flavor. Strong, nice portion, and a good start to open up the taste buds.
BKK New York offers “authentic flavors, aromas, and excitement of Bangkok’s street food culture” so we were excited to try their dishes. I don’t know much about Bangkok’s street food, so I was very curious. We wanted a couple of appetizers, and I already knew I was going to order Shrimp Donut ($18). For the second appetizer, we asked our server for a recommendation. Speaking of which, our server, Prare, was really awesome! She knew the menu really well, both drinks and food, and gave us all sorts of great recommendations. She suggested Pak-Mor ($18) for us to try, so we went with that.
I wanted Shrimp Donut, because it looked and sounded curious. It was a donut-shaped ground shrimp, pork, chicken, deep fried and topped with grated salted egg yolk. It is served with sweet plum sauce. I never had a shrimp donut before, so it was fun to try them. It was meaty, with super crispy exterior. The topping of grated salted egg yolk was a nice touch, but didn’t get much flavor from it as I wanted. Sweet plum sauce added extra punch of flavor though. Unique and fun dish for sure.
Pak-Mor came in beautiful, vibrant blue-purple color. Thai rice dumplings filled with shiitake mushroom, peanut, sweet radish. Topped coconut cream, fried garlic and sweet soy glaze. This dish is gluten-free and vegetarian, if that is important to your diet. It was quite good! Packed flavor, juicy fillings, nice crunchy texture from the peanut and radish. Prare’s recommendation was spot on!
We got second round of cocktails, this time, listening more to Prare before putting in the order. We went with An Apple A Day ($18) and Central Park to Lumphini ($18). An Apple A Day is made with Gin, Cynar, Amaretto, Red Apple, Cinnamon, Maple, Lemon, Salt, and Egg White. It was a fantastic drink! Kind of a nice autumn flavor livened up with hint of lemon. The egg white was creamy and made the flavor even more comforting. Central Park to Lumphini is made with Mezcal, Fig, Corn, Bay Leaf, Apple Cider, Lemon, Bitters. Strong with depth of flavor of that cozy, warm, yet refreshing notes. We really enjoyed both of these drinks, better than our first drinks.
At this point, we had full faith in our server, Prare (LOL). So, of course we listened to her when we were trying to figure out what main dishes to order. She sold us on Goong Tod Krob Cashew Nut ($34), and Tom-Yum Pla ($45). Since I don’t know much about food from Bangkok much, she was so helpful!
GOONG TOD KROB CASHEW NUT ($34) is made with Crispy prawns stir-fried with cashew nuts, onion, bell pepper, and scallion. This dish was quite impressive, with handful of huge prawns. I must say this was not an easy-to-eat dish, but rather get-your-hands-messy dish.
TOM-YUM PLA ($45) is made with Branzino fillets in Thai herb broth with galangal, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, cilantro, cilantro, Thai basil and bird’s eye chili. This was nothing like what I imagined, it sure was a “wow” moment when it arrived at our table. It had loads of branzino pieces and herbs. Nice kick with the chili, bringing that heat that warms you up from the inside. It was a cold day when we went to BKK New York, so this was a perfect dish to warm us up!
When we have amazing meal (and drinks), we usually can NOT resist to order a dessert. They had Thai Tea Crème Brûlée, which sounded great, so we went with that. Now, we told them that we were celebrating my hubby’s birthday, and they surprised us with the birthday treat while singing happy birthday! With a candle lit and a warm birthday wish, and they put the dessert on the house! How amazing are they? It had a really nice Thai tea flavor, we loved it!
They had two gender neutral bathrooms in the back. It was kind of dimly lit, with interesting lighting in the inside. Large and clean, well maintained.
We had such great time here are BKK New York! We were well taken care of, staffs were friendly and efficient. The drinks were unique and tasty. The food was amazing! We were especially lucky with our server who gave us all the information on food and drinks. Thank you Prare! If you are looking for authentic Thai flavors, give BKK New York a try!
BKK New York – 238 W 56th St, New York, NY 10019