This spot popped up on my radar, and I have been wanting to try their food… We finally made time to go visit one weekend. The inside was surprisingly small, since I was expecting a full-on “restaurant” type eatery. It seems that most businesses they have are either pick up or delivery. They did have a couple of small tables, and a small counter seating by the window.
Even though it was a small place, but they did a nice job decoration. It was very cozy and cute! We took a seat at one of the small tables, and put in our order with the staff. While we were there, locals kept coming in for pickup/takeout order. Good sign of their popularity. And none of them were Asian customers. A truly good food (at good deal) can cross the borders to any nationality! That is one of the reasons why I love food…
Before getting into their food, just look at these cute and unique décors!
Ok, ok, enough about their décor… Let’s talk about their food! They have some enticing lunch special menu at great price, and our luck would have it, they offer it for brunch too! The awesome thing about their lunch/brunch special is that the main dish comes with complimentary side salad, a choice of starter, and a water. The water can be upgraded to Thai Iced Tea or Soda for additional cost. We got the Thai Iced Tea (additional $2 for upgrade from water). It was really good, kind of nutty, and sweet as expected.
I chose Vegetable Gyoza as my starter. The side salad was quite small, but the peanut dressing was really tasty! I immediately wanted ask for chopsticks, but I believe Thai people don’t use chopsticks with their food… I wanted to follow their authentic way, so I didn’t ask for it. Gyoza came in two pieces, steamed so it was soft instead of crispy. It had tangy sweet sauce that went nicely with the gyoza.
My hubby went with Fried Tofu, which looked even smaller in portion than the two pieces of gyoza. They were very firm, with a bit of kick to it from the sauce. I think it was sweet chili sauce? Nice!
For main, my hubby chose one of the classics, Massaman Curry. Most lunch/brunch items comes with a choice of add-on, chicken, pork, fried tofu, shrimp, etc., etc… This will determine the price of the dish. We asked for a recommendation from the staff, and she said Fried Fillet Fish will pair well with the curry. So, we went with that. Massaman Curry with Fried Fillet Fish came to $10. And yes, this price includes the salad and starter.
Massaman Curry is made with creamy coconut milk, Asian herbs, potato, onion, and peanut. It was coconut-y and sweet, but not too sweet. Nice amount of rice and loads of lightly fried white fish, which was very tasty! Went great with the curry, just as recommended.
For me, I chose something that was a bit more interesting. I ordered Street Pork Noodle Soup ($10). Since this one already has pork, you don’t need to choose any add on for this dish. And guess what? It came with chopsticks! They do chopsticks for many Thai noodles dishes. This dish was large, and it like a Thai version of ramen to me, which was great.
It comes with slice marinated pork chop, bok choy, scallion, garlic, egg, with clear broth soup and rice noodles. It was so good! Light with almost translucent broth and noodle, not heavy at all. Earthy and comfy, very homey and flavorful. Egg was nice too, but I still prefer marinated egg from Japan… Pork was very tasty, had almost crunchy texture on the outside, yet juicy and packed with flavor. Bok choy was cooked just right, still had crisp texture to it. Generous amount of pork, it was great!
It was very satisfying, for a little over $20! We were nice and full, happy and ready to enjoy the rest of the day! What a great deal in Manhattan, we definitely became fans of their food and the deal. The female staff was very friendly and welcoming also, we will be sure to return!
SUROSS Thai Bistro – 4131 Broadway, New York, NY 10033