Dressed up like a street market, this Manhattan Valley Thai spot specializes in a menu with Bangkok flair and is a great place for those who are especially fond of curries. Green is the spiciest, closely followed by Panang. Filled with minced shrimp, the Thai market crepe is another high point. A lunch special packs the place in the early afternoon hours.

Flavored with lime and fish sauce, and on the sweet side as a result of its pineapple component, the duck salad distinguishes itself with twice-fried morsels of duck, which are crunchy and a bit smoky, too. The menu covers an amazing amount of territory given the small size of the kitchen, but everything I’ve tried has been good, especially a shredded-beef massaman curry served with a flaky roti rather than with rice.

The dozens of Thai restaurants along Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen pose a dilemma: which one to choose? Pure Thai is part of a mini chain that also includes Land on the Upper West Side, helmed by David and Vanida Bank. Each has a different emphasis, and Pure Thai offers noodles from several parts of the country, such as the crab and pork noodles of Ratchaburi, or Nakhon-Pathom duck noodle soup. Curry puffs are the best in town. The papaya salad made with raw crab is not for the timid.

“Pye” refers to the oars used to propel boats along the canals of the Thai capital. Pye Boat Noodle, tricked out like a Quonset hut to make you feel like you are on the edge of a canal, serves noodles akin to those cooked by boat vendors. “Boat noodles with pork” is authentically thickened with pig blood, but for the squeamish, there are a dozen other choices, including yen ta fo, featuring an assortment of seafood, the broth rendered pink with fermented bean paste; and bamee phoo moo dang hang — sauceless egg noodles with pork belly, a very rich dish.

The food at this Woodside gem hails from the southernmost part of Thailand, adjacent to Malaysia. That means creamy coconut milk curries presented as soups that feature egg noodles instead of rice, and Thai-leaning versions of things like roti canai, possessing a chunkier, more vegetable-filled dipping sauce, with a rare beef version available. Lots of seafood on the menu, and all meat is halal at this institution representing the cuisine of the southern region’s Muslim minority.

There’s no stinting on the fish sauce and other sharp flavors at the affectionately named Hug Esan, via owners (and sisters) Chiraporn Sornphoom and Jariya Charoenwong, and chef Jintana Khamphaiboon. The fascinating, delicious, and frequently fiery Isan menu runs to chicken with jeaw sauce, toasted rice salad dotted with sour sausage, crab omelet served over rice, whole fish, plus the usual larbs and papaya salads.

This Elmhurst restaurant founded by Duangja (Kitty) Thammasat is often cited as a favorite Thai restaurant in town. The menu has lots of dishes you’d find in Bangkok, some of them introduced to New York City for the first time. One such dish is a raw shrimp salad with a marinade of fish sauce, garlic, and chiles, said to be inspired by Japanese cuisine, while curries and whole-fish preparations are additional strong points. There’s an additional (and very good) branch in Chelsea Market.

While the city has enjoyed a rich collection of Isan restaurants from the northeastern section of the country bordering the Mekong River and Laos, this new place plunges deeper into the cuisine than any other, with several novel dishes and organ meats galore. Located amidst Elmhurst’s thriving Thai Town along Woodside Avenue in a small, modern space, Zaab Zaab’s menu via chef Aniwat Khotsopa runs to duck larb; tilapia marinated in lemongrass, rubbed with salt, and roasted; and tom hang — a steamed assortment of cow tripe, spleen, and intestine with two dipping sauces.

This old-timer and tiny pink palace of Thai food was once a twosome, but the more ambitious branch south of the LIRR overpass is now history. The neighborhood is left with an Elmhurst original that was one of the first to excite us with Isan regional fare. It’s impossible to forget one’s first taste of pig leg with special sauce, squid salad, chicken larb, or the unforgettable bar snack moo yang — grilled strips of pork with a sweet glaze, served with fresh herbs.

This East Village heavy hitter boasts a pair of specialties, including multiple noodle varieties from Sukhothai in Central Thailand, and soups and other culinary highlights of Udon Thani in northern Thailand, via owners Chidensee Watthanawongwat, Kittiya Mokkarat, and Supatta Banklouy. The menu also has some Thai Chinese dishes from Bangkok (see Noods N’ Chill below for more), including koong karee — shrimp in egg sauce.

This sibling of an older restaurant on Sullivan Street is one of a growing number of halal Thai restaurants in the city, which means among other things, no pork. And this proves to be not the slightest impediment to a distinguished Thai menu, under chef Supachai Voradirek. The northern Thai khao soi chicken soup, with two kinds of noodles, is star of the show, and there’s also a fine spicy duck salad and whole red snapper with a variety of sauces (try sour curry sauce).

Opened a year ago by Karuna Wiwattanakantang and Norawat Margsiri, who previously ran a Thai restaurant of the same name in Boulder, Colorado, Terra Thai specializes in complete Thai meals for around $10. Their focus is the street food of Bangkok, and one wonderful meal includes basil chicken, chewy and pungent, served with rice, pumpkin, and a poached egg. A vegetarian version of pad Thai is another good choice.

Thai Café was the first restaurant of its type to open on Brooklyn’s North Side, and now there are at least 20, of which eight-year-old Amarin seems to be the best. Don’t expect a wide range of regional dishes, but a solid list of old favorites that includes a full roster of curries and stir-fries, plus a pleasingly diverse appetizers list, is available. Among them is a wonderful quartet of fish cakes red with chili paste.

Legendary Thai chef Ratchanee Sumpatboon (Chao Thai, Poodam, Zabb Elee, and Larb Ubol) was the founding chef at Lan Larb, and much of her menu remains though she has left the restaurant. Watch the soups, in particular: kui teiw ped will likely be the best duck soup you’ve ever tasted. In the last couple of years, the restaurant has increasingly emphasized the food of Chiang Mai, which is quite distinct from Isan fare, which includes whole fish with chiles wrapped in a banana leaf, braised pork belly in herb sauce served with sticky rice, and a variety of novel curries.

Wayla is a stylish, semi-subterranean, labyrinthine Thai restaurant on the Lower East Side, helmed by chef Tom Naumsuwan. Among the less-usual dishes, and tweaked takes on more familiar ones, moo sarong is a favorite: savory pork meatballs carefully wrapped like tiny baseballs with noodles, and furnished with a sweet dipping sauce, making one of the best apps, especially if you intend to skip the noodles as your main course.

Who would’ve thought a Korean fried chicken chain would spawn such a good Thai restaurant? But Bonchon Chicken has done just that at Noree Thai Bazaar, owned by restaurateur Andy C. Lau. It seeks to resemble a Thai night market, with drinking and snacks to be consumed therewith an important part of the formula. There’s an enhanced emphasis on satays, each brochette perfectly grilled, with choices running to shrimp, chicken, pork, and a host of vegetables, whether marinated in lemongrass, dunked in peanut sauce, or rubbed with cumin, Xinjiang style. Lots of exceptional curries, salads, and noodles, too.

Ocha is a modest neighborhood place with a short but intriguing menu, executed exceptionally well. Most of the commerce there is carryout, though a small but comfy eating area is provided at tables with blue-checked cloths. Fried rice is a high point, with choices running to vegetarian duck, pork, or calamari; so is choo chee curry flavored with lime leaf and basil, and such snacks as curry puffs, vegetable dumplings, and kyo koong tod — wontons wrapped around a filling of ground shrimp, garlic, and chiles and fried crisp.

Like the name says, this Williamsburg Thai restaurant specializes in noodles, but also offers a subspecialty in the Chinese immigrant cooking of Bangkok, as conceived by Benjaporn Chua, Preawpun Sutipayakul, and Jirawat Sutipayakul. That means a weekend brunch centered on congee with a number of add ins, and everyday dishes that run to duck, blood boat noodles, and spicy chicken wings with a sweet dipping sauce. Truly, there’s something for everyone, from adventuresome souls to the timid of tongue.

Under owner Prasneeya Praditpoj and chefs Chetkangwan Thipruetree and Sunisa Nitmai, Tong (“gold”) was one of those brave pandemic debuts when it opened nearly three years ago in what looks like an ex-garage near the border of Bushwick and Ridgewood. It specializes in kub klaem — small plates, including grilled pork jowl with a tamarind-chile glaze, green papaya salad heaped with a lattice of dried catfish, and smoked eggplant with a boiled egg and coconut jam on top.

Located right on hopping Vanderbilt, where a dining area in the middle of the street has banished cars, Nuaa Table offers the familiar cuisine with lots of colorful bistro flourishes and creative plating, along with inventive dishes and a section of street food, including lots of noodles. A street-style Bangkok stir fry of pork chunklets and basil comes topped with a runny deep-fried egg, while a banana blossom salad packs a good deal of heat and sourness, served with greens and herbs for wrapping bitefuls.

There’s nothing ugly about this baby, via chef Sirichai Sreparplarn, who has raised the bar further where Brooklyn’s Thai food is concerned. The menu is totally revamped since the restaurant’s pandemic pause, and now reservations must be made via Instagram, and orders for one menu placed 24 hours in advance, though another menu allows spontaneous dish selection. Still, it’s one of the best Thai restaurants in town, with epic heat available in some dishes.

This hidden gem near the top of the hill is the best Thai restaurant Park Slope has yet fielded — though the neighborhood has long had many agreeable places with unadventuresome menus. Bangkok Degree is presided over by two chefs, Chusak Srithongsul and Wirot Sirimatrasit: The first ran a restaurant in Thailand showcasing grandmother recipes, while the second is a veteran of the Elmhurst Thai scene. The result is a menu with street food from Bangkok, regional recipes from around the country, and invented dishes, sometimes using luxury ingredients.