In Bangkok, the closest you get to eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant is to visit L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, eponymously-named after the Michelin-starred French chef.
In New York, however, you can eat som tum poo pla ra -- with pla ra imported from Thailand, mixed with Tiparos fish sauce -- at a number of Michelin Guide-listed Thai restaurants.
The 2016 Michelin Guide To New York revealed its star ratings for restaurants in New York in October and three Thai restaurants made the list: Pok Pok NY, Uncle Boons and Somtum Der, a franchise of the local favourite in Sala Daeng. Zaab Elee, another Isan food speciality restaurant in Queens, did not make the list for next year.
Somtum Der is located in Alphabet City in East Village across from an electrical farm, a massive brick building. A few weeks after the restaurant opened in the autumn of 2013, a blogger posted a picture of the front of the restaurant, with a homeless man camping out next door.
The interior is sleek, with light wood and grey walls, two lines of dining tables and a long bar displaying jars of chillies, palm sugar and dried shrimp rather than liquor bottles. The menu cover reads: "Isan kitchen brings forth traditions, cultural heritage and good health as well as never neglects majestic spices, admired simplicity and fresh products".
A search for Thai restaurants in New York on Yelp, an app and website featuring crowd-sourced reviews of local restaurants, brings up more than 300 restaurants in the five boroughs. So many of them offer the same old varieties, like pad Thai that taste the same.
Thai restaurants have, over the years, become as ubiquitous and insipid as Chinese restaurants and their sesame chicken. What sets Somtum Der apart is simply their commitment to create Isan food the way it tastes in Isan.
"Ten years ago, Thai food had to be toned down for foreigners," said co-owner Supanee Kitamahawong, "No one knew what Thai food was so you could serve whatever you wanted." She has lived in New York since 1998, "when a dollar was 40-50 baht", and is the proud owner of three other Thai restaurants.
These days, Supanee observes, the average New Yorker is more widely travelled and craves authenticity. They know what Thai food is because they have been there.
The Somtum Der menu ranges from moo ping kati sod to tum Thai kai kem to goong chae nam pla, similar to the varieties offered at the original restaurant in Sala Saeng. Dishes taste like home. Supanee knew she wanted to create a niche restaurant, but she admits she didn't know if people would come. They did. The "serious eaters", Thai people, people from the embassy and food critics.
Two weeks after the opening, a man parked his bike outside the restaurant, intrigued by the words "Authentic Thai Isan Cuisine". He ordered a few dishes and drank the kaeng som (Thai sour curry) to the last drop. Later, he wrote a review on eater.com and put Somtum Der on the radar. He was Robert Sietsema, well-known food critic.
"[For Americans], spicy is some black pepper," said Supanee. "Here, it's about complementary flavours in the things that you order." Waiters serve as guides, though customers often find pictures of recommended food on Yelp and order by pointing at the photos. A favourite is sa poak kai tod der, fried chicken thighs, known for being crispy and juicy.
Somtum Der isn't the only place in New York with good Isan food, but its location in the East Village certainly means a trek out to Woodside or Jackson Heights in Queens (at least a half-hour subway ride from downtown Manhattan) is no longer necessary.
On receiving a Michelin star, Supanee said: "Maybe our speciality is that we're in New York."
Chef de cuisine Kridsanai Nenthanunt explained that ingredients are sourced both locally and from Thailand. The pork tastes better in the US, as does the liver and most types of seafood. Pla ra comes in bottles in shipments that "take so long to get here, we have sometimes forgotten they are coming". Kridsanai then has to boil the fermented fish and flavour it again.
Since the award last month, Somtum Der has become even more popular. Still, Supanee said: "The best guarantee is that Thai people eat here even when they have other choices."
Somtum Der, New York.
