Tum Pok Pok

CL’s Cliff Bostock Recommends: This restaurant’s doorway became a place for food critics to genuflect throughout 2021. It’s Thai but unique in its emphasis on the quite spicy cuisine of the country’s northeast area, Isan. The simple shredded papaya salad (somtum) will instantly remind you that you once dreamed of becoming a fire eater in a carnival sideshow. Ditto for the larb. Besides these Isan specialties, Tum Pok Pok has a menu of street food popular throughout Thailand yet still rare in our city. Try the stir-fried crispy pork in a basil sauce. Pray over the pad Thai pok pok. — CB, Jan. 2022

New Thai restaurant, Tum Pok Pok, whose name describes a sound you know well. It’s what you hear when your Thai mother is in the kitchen pounding chilies in a mortar to make papaya salad. With six versions of the salad — “somtum” — and a menu of other regional spicy dishes, Tum Pok Pok is an absolute must-visit for anyone who loves spicy Thai food. - Cliff Bostock, July, 2021