REVIEW: Mitr and MayRee Are Two New Thai Restaurants in NYC | Eater NY
"Opened in mid-September on the same block of First Street as the legendary Prune in the East Village, this restaurant—named for a gentle ogress’s daughter from the folktale “Twelve Sisters” and run by Orawan Sawangphol, who grew up in Phang Nga—focuses on the food of Thailand’s Malay peninsula. Roti nam keang ($21) arrives as a pair of flaky, buttery flatbreads with a substantial peanut-laced bowl of curry studded with a cinnamon stick and a shuriken of star anise; the waiter even pours booze over the bowl and sets it aflame. Peanuts show up in many guises, including park mor ($13), a collection of squishy-and-crunchy peanut dumplings (some colored an arresting blue), and marvelous wedge-shaped fish balls that recall Fujianese fare. There’s a surprising double-pork appetizer—pork sausage wrapped in American bacon—served with peanuts, chiles, and raw onions that makes an amazing drinking snack, and drinking is clearly a focus here, with jars of spirits infused with pandan and lemongrass displayed on the bar. Some friends and I loved gai tom kamin ($16), a meal-size soup with a thin, sour broth amplified by galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, and Garcinia cambogia; and the dried curry kua kling ($19), a pile of aggressively seasoned ground pork with shredded lime leaves, a mound of rice, sculpted cucumbers, and a runny fried egg with insanely crisp edges—mix it together and dump on the sweet chile vinegar." - Robert Sietsema
