Our recipe catalog was created by May the founder while running a street cart in an alley of old Bangkok in 1988, and the recipes have remained unchanged ever since. May's recipes though were inspired by hundreds of years old recipes (and some even thousands of years old) from various parts of Thailand. Most significantly is the influence from North-East Thailand (known as Isaan) where flavors are typically bold, agressive and unique even among South-East Asian cusines. To a foreign palate, Isaan cooking can at times be perceived as idiosyncratic while rewarding. Also influencial on May Kaidee recipes are Cental Thai dishes, beginning with our version of Green Curry (Gaeng Keaw Waan in Thai) full of distinctive Thai eggplants, naturally spherical with green and white tiger stripes that are the perfect size for resting in the palm of one's hand. The influence of southern Thai dishes as well, most notably our popular Massaman curry, a hearty Thai-Indian dish made with yellow curry powder, red chili paste, an abundance of vegetables including the rarely used ingredient in Thai cooking – potato. In addition we offer a selection of salads, soups, noodle dishes and desserts.
New York City was a natural choice for our first U.S. location. There is widespread interest in Thai cooking here as well as vegan cuisines, and New York is one of the few U.S. cities where it's possible to perpetually source a complete array of fresh Thai ingredients. Quality Thai eggplants, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and Thai basil are all available here year around in part due to the spread of knowledge in recent years about growing Thai ingredients in North America. Over time we hope to push the boundaries of possbility while making ever more authentic Thai food here in the Western Hemisphere.
Sourcing locally when possible is also important to us in our effort to continually try ways of reducing our carbon footprint. While taste is the most important factor when choosing fresh ingredients, we belive that sourcing ingredients and food production in general is about more than simply how a recipe tastes or is presented. Also important is the impact on the environment and whether ingredients were harvested using ethnical means. While we're not yet able to able to optimally source all of our ingredients, we make an effort each day to do so. Additionally, we source organic ingredients as much as possible, partciularly for ingredients such as tofu and oil, and the vast majority our menu items are gluten free. We use almost exlclusively gluten free ingredients including the soy sauce used in our recipes.
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