Pok Pok NY has been at the top of my must-try list for a while. I finally made it last week. Everyone was telling me (and tweeting me) that I was going to have to wait forever so I better have a waiting plan– but to my surprise it was only 50 minutes. In New York standards, I think that’s pretty good; I’ve already done the two hour Lucali wait and the two and a half Clinton Street Baking Company wait. Yes, that’s 2 and a half… the pancakes got me.
Papaya Pok Pok
Anyways, Pok Pok NY was MORE than worth the wait. Wanting something spicy, I started with the Papaya Pok Pok with black crab and sticky rice. It’s basically a spicy papaya salad. It was no match for my high spice tolerance, but very flavorful and unlike any papaya salad I’ve had before. Good size to share with someone too. It also paired well with my cocktail, the hunny– a mix of tequila, honey drinking vinegar, grapefruit juice, and lime.
Next, the Cha Ca “La Vong,” AKA Vietnamese catfish. Ah-mazing. Think of a perfect piece of catfish marinated in tumeric, then fried in tumeric oil, scallions and dill over rice vermicelli plus peanuts and cilantro. Get. It. Now.
If I’m going to Pok Pok for the first time, obviously I’m going all out and getting a dessert. So I got this mango, sticky rice, coconut milk dish that was the perfect amount of sweet to end the meal.
rice-mango-coconut milk dessert
So go to Pok Pok, put your name in, go to Alma and drink a mojito or two, and enjoy a meal filled with every Thai flavor that you’ll be thinking about for days. See the full menu here.
