New York’s Popular Thai Restaurant Fish Cheeks Opens a Sequel

The owners of Noho Thai restaurant, Fish Cheeks, will open Bangkok Supper Club on Wednesday, at 641 Hudson Street, between Horatio and Gansevoort streets in the West Village, joining a collective of Thai restaurants in New York that look to the capital of Thailand for inspiration.

While partners Jennifer Saesue and Chat Suansilphong describe Fish Cheeks as comfort food, Bangkok Supper Club — with around 60 seats in the dining room and 11 at the bar — is more polished, relying on chef techniques to turn out creative takes on the city’s street food, curries, and regional dishes. It’s the second restaurant in 55 Hospitality that includes Fish Cheeks in its repertoire.

Evan Sung/Bangkok Supper Club

A charcoal grill centers the open kitchen that turns out a menu of 10 small plates and seven larger dishes that cost between $20 and $47. Saesue points to chef Max Wittawat’s chicken wings stuffed with sticky rice (a take on Hainanese chicken); an egg-three-ways dish of fried duck egg, trout roe, and cured egg yolks dressed with tomato and celery; massaman curry with beef cheeks; and sea bass in a chakram curry with sea beans as standouts. Wittawat competed as an assistant chef on Iron Chef USA, Japan, and Thailand; he opened four NYC locations for Spot Dessert Bar; and worked with Ian Kittichai in consulting firm, Cuisine Concept Co.

The cocktail menu is inspired by drink trends in Bangkok, accented by ingredients such as pandan, coconut, fish sauce, and coriander root.

Evan Sung/Bangkok Supper Club

Saesue and Suansilphong have known each other for a decade, and two years ago in the pandemic, they started plotting out their plans for the restaurant, down to the last detail. Over on Instagram, the team shouts out small producers of items in the kitchen and dining room, including the ceramicist who specializes in mortar and pestles who’s making the restaurant’s plateware. The minimalist space is designed by Taste Space Thailand from Suansilphong’s sister, who’s a designer in Bangkok.

“Every single thing you see in the room is from Thailand,” Suansilphong says. “Even the paint.”

Bangkok Supper Club is open seven days a week, from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.