A Thai Tasting Menu Revs Up in Brooklyn (2024)

As much as the Thai food scene has flourished in New York, a modern Thai tasting menu is basically unheard of — let alone one that’s served in what looks like a bus.

Bang Bang Bangkok has rolled into Brooklyn at 131 Grand Street, near Berry Street in Williamsburg, from serial restaurateur Jugkrwut “Jay” Borin, the owner and designer behind Bushwick’s Mao Mao and Jai Sang Ma. Much like the other restaurants (Mao Mao is styled like an old Thai theater), the interiors are more than just picking out tables and chairs: it’s set designing.

At Bang Bang Bangkok, that means a narrow dining room with school bus seats and scenes that transport customers through different markets in Bangkok (by way of wrap-around IMAX-style screens). Inside, the restaurant serves a tasting menu that juxtaposes fancy plates against street art during 10 courses for $155.

In recent years, new Thai restaurateurs have diversified their offerings with an infusion of Thai smash burgers, Thai-inflected sushi, AYCE moo ka ta (hot pot plus barbecue), and regional Isan food, alongside trendy spots like Bangkok Supper Club, and tradition bearers like Na Rath. But as recently as January of this year, New York diners turned to Reddit to hunt down an upscale Thai tasting menu. They couldn’t.

Bang Bang Bangkok.

Bang Bang Bangkok.

Borin’s experiences growing up brought him to this moment in New York. “I was very poor, and I didn’t know when I could eat again,” he said about his childhood in Bangkok. “My goal was to never live like this again. I wanted money. I wanted a BMW. I wanted to be able to eat whatever I wanted to eat whenever I was hungry.”

After studying business at the public Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok, he worked in the marketing department of the now-closed Art Element school, where his hunger to thrive combined with a heart for art.

His ambition brought him to New York about 20 years ago and has since fueled his restaurant ventures. Borin and his chef and wife, Arada Monroj, opened Lamoon in Elmhurst in 2017 and drew a following for her pork spine soup in a spicy-sour broth. In 2020, Borin installed vintage theater seats in a 1970s-themed Thai cinema scene at Mao Mao in Bushwick, where Moonroj presented Thai street foods on plastic plates. In 2022, they converted Lamoon into Jai Sang Ma, a noodle bar inside a whimsical dreamscape with a flower tree and a walking bridge. Borin meticulously planned every inch of each restaurant.

In Williamsburg, at the team’s first Brooklyn restaurant, past the small bar with graffitied corrugated tin walls and naked light bulb fixtures, diners find themselves inside what feels like a bus. Scenes roll by on the walls, with footage of a floating market, downtown Bangkok at night, and a street market. The video production caused Borin headaches and sleepless nights: It required a multi-camera contraption and seamlessly stitched footage for a projection that takes up the whole room.

Bang Bang Bangkok.

A collection of dishes, including this one, with lobster, from Bang Bang Bangkok.

Earlier this year, Borin hired self-taught Sorakom Ram Keawsamerta as the executive chef. He uses his Chiangmai University education on the anatomy of animals, plants, and insects to inform his cooking: Borin says it was a natural match.

Keawsamerta and Borin are particularly thrilled with their version of the classic som tum. A pink quenelle of som tum-flavored sorbet lies on top of Parmesan and cashew crumble and next to a flower-studded som tum sauce aspic with green papaya and lime.

In another dish, a disc of poached lobster rests next to a mushroom galangal compote on top of a pool of coriander leaf oil. A dried red chile tuile lies on top. A creamy coconut soup is poured tableside. The menu also features smoked duck with red curry sauce and lychee purée and a wagyu with shrimp paste sauce.

“I never ate lobster as a kid,” said Borin. “Now I’m the owner of restaurants. [With chef] Ram, we show the world our imagination. We’re doing something crazy, beautiful.”

Bang Bang Bangkok is open from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

Caroline Shin is a Queens-raised food journalist and founder of the Cooking with Granny YouTube and workshop series starring immigrant grandmothers. Follow her on Instagram @CookingWGranny.