LumLum
LumLum is a fairly new Thai restaurant to the city. What attracted me was that it has a lot of Northern Thai flavors and influences in the food. Think Thai but modernized somewhat. When you see some of the photos below, you will see what that means. The restaurant is run by 2 sisters who grew up in Thailand. When you arrive, both the interior and exterior are very social media friendly. We arrived at around 5:10 on a Friday evening after work, and were able to walk in with just a party of 2. When we finished around 6:00, there was a wait outside already.
Ambiance
The interior has a lot of Hawaiian and Thai beach decors. The chair I sat in was basically a bamboo chair. It was fairly comfortable for our 1 hour dinner. The seating in some areas (particularly around the bar area) was a little too close for comfort in a post-pandemic era. Luckily no one was coughing to freak us out.
The service was pretty fast, and the wait staff do help explain the spicy levels and the taste of the some of the items if you have any questions.
Food
The Pha Ngan Full Moon ($15) came with rum, coconut, lemon, butterfly pea, and honey. My partner ordered this and enjoyed it a lot. It was definitely sweet, and it tasted as sweet as it looks.
The Goong Yang (grilled river prawn) ($14) came with 2 grilled Thai river prawns and served with spicy chili lime dressing. The grill on the prawns were excellent and had a lot of that char flavor. Unfortunately for one of the prawns, the meat was a bit mushy. The other was fine though. Really you’re paying $7 per prawn, and I’m not sure if it’s really worth it. There is not a whole lot of meat, but it did taste pretty good if you get a non mushy piece.
The Tom Yum Noodle Soup ($18) came with spicy tom yum broth with glass noodles and mixed seafood. The menu said there is raw egg, but I am not sure what that is exactly. Maybe it’s the white specks in the broth. The glass noodles were cooked very al dente which is preferred. For seafood, it came with shrimp, scallops, little baby octopuses, and some clams. All the seafood tasted very fresh. The broth was initially pretty spicy, but as my tongue adapted to the spices, I became more tolerant. I would say that the spicy levels in this are more closer to traditional Thai spicy levels, so be careful. A single pepper symbol is comparably hot in other places.
The Fried Fish with Chu Chee Curry ($32) came with a whole branzino, chuchee curry, chili, and makrut lime leaf. It also came with a bowl of white jasmine rice. The fish was actually legitimately delicious. The fish did not have any fishy-ness to it, and it tasted as sweet as it looks. Like the noodle soup above, be aware that this is fairly spicy if you are not used to it. I would take off the peppers from the fish once it comes. When you mix the rice in, it becomes fantastic to eat.
Final Verdict
If you want to try uncommon Thai flavors and dishes in NYC, definitely check this place out. It does tend to have slightly sweeter flavor notes, but it has distinct and different types of Thai dishes that are atypical of general Thai restaurants.
Yelp Jabs
Another solid Thai spot in the Hell’s Kitchen area. Loved my beef pad see ew, but wasn’t crazy about the chicken wings, super small, very few, and the sauce didn’t wow.
This restaurant has many other items that should’ve been ordered over the beef pad see ew. This Elitist could’ve been more exploratory in flavors.
the reservation was understandable but not sure why the bigger party got seated before us.
This Elitist should work in the hospitality industry to understand why this is the case. Most restaurants will have tables available for specific party sizes. In rare cases where business is slow, they may break up a larger table for smaller parties, or if they can time the turnover right. However, there’s almost no way they would do this here since the restaurant space is so small and so busy.
Revisions
- Jul 29, 2022 - Initial revision.