We’d ventured out to Elmhurst/Jackson Heights in Queens, NY before for our first Queens New York food truck tour, but we failed to realize that Elmhurst is also home to the area known as NYC’s Little Thailand! Thus (of course), a return trip was warranted.

How To Get To Elmhurst in Queens, NY

Elmhurst is pretty accessible by subway. Subway lines E, F, 7, M, and R all go to 74th St Broadway/Roosevelt Ave stop which is a short walk away from most hot spots in Queens’ Little Thailand.

If you have access to a car, though, I recommend driving up to Elmhurst. Street parking is easy to find (especially for New York City’s standards). Michael and I chose to drive in from New Jersey despite the $15.00 toll crossing the Hudson into NYC, because the total for PATH train tickets and MTA subway tickets for two people ended up costing even more.

What To Do In Elmhurst

You know at least my answer to this question: Eat! Queens is probably New York’s most culturally diverse…and delicious…borough and there is just so much to explore and taste. Flavors of Thailand, Nepal, Latin America, the Philippines, Greece, Korea, Ireland, and more are waiting for you here in Elmhurst.

Half-Day Foodie Itinerary Thai Food Crawl in Elmhurst, Queens, NY

Khao Kang

76-20 Woodside Ave, Queens, NY 11373

718-806-1807

Khao Kang feels like a Thai version of the Chinese food cafeteria style “3 Entrees and 1 Soup” eateries I grew up with. These types of restaurants offer a rotating variety of authentic local foods in a no-frills but big-taste environment. Needless to say, this stuff is right up my alley and I was on board and excited to give Khao Kang a try!

Upon walking in you’ll notice that families and groups like to come here, and I recommend coming with some peers as well so you can try more different dishes! You can order à la carte, or choose a cafeteria style tray of either 2 or 3 entrees plus rice. The 3-entree combo is very affordable at around $11.00 for a good portion size! Michael and I shared one large combo and one order of the Thai fermented sour sausage.

Pro tip: the food line labels are color-coded to indicate spice/heat level. Khao Kang is an authentic Thai restaurant and, compared to most Manhattan restaurants with more tempered tastes, the spice level here is no joke. Green labels are “non-spicy,” yellow is “mild,” and orange is “spicy.” I enjoy spicy food but have a moderate spice tolerance and yellow was perfect. Orange was unpleasantly spicy for me and even a bit much for my spice-loving friend.

Khao Nom

42-06 77th St, East Elmhurst, NY 11370

929-208-0108

This little café is right around the corner from the aforementioned Khao Kang. Khao Nom offers a full menu of savory Thai entrees, but we came here for post-lunch dessert and the butterfly pea flower lemonade. I have such fond travel memories of butterfly pea flower beverages sipped outside our hostel in Chiang Mai to a background of friendly chatter and live music— I honestly wanted to come to Khao Nom just to relive those memories through this beautifully periwinkle beverage.

We ordered a sweet treat of black sticky rice topped with egg custard (very umami and very satisfying, not too sweet, and highly recommended!) to accompany the beverage. Butterfly pea flower beverages are traditionally a more simple tea made with the dried butterfly pea flowers, but Khao Nom makes it into a lemonade which alters the final color a bit.

Eim Khao Mun Kai

8132 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373

718-424-7156

Come here for Thai style – Hainanese Chicken Rice. I found this place originally when researching where to go for our food truck tour of Jackson Heights, Queens. Eim Khao Mun Kai is indeed a brick-and-mortar establishment but in daytime hours their food cart can be seen parked right inside!

Eim Khao Mun Kai’s signature dish is, of course, the chicken. While Chinese Hainanese-style chicken rice is created through a labor-intensive process of alternately poaching in simmering water and then shocking the chicken in an ice-water bath, it seems like this Thai-style chicken might just be steamed. This hypothesis isn’t confirmed, but is suggested by the different texture of the chicken meat.

For me, the stars of the meal at Eim Khao Mun Kai were the red chili sauce and the chicken soup. The sauce is very spicy so beware, but oh-so-flavorful. And oh my goodness, that soup is so clean and clear and umami — I would return just for the soup.

Pata Market

81-16 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373

347-935-3714

Am I recommending a grocery store on this Thai foodie food crawl? Absolutely! Some of my favorite authentic eateries are little restaurants nestled inside otherwise unassuming ethnic grocery stores. Pata Market is admittedly more of a prepared food place than a grocery store, but the same rule applies. Pata Market is chock-full of prepared savory and sweet goodies, in addition to yummy packaged/mass-produced Thai snacks and grocery items. Upon entry to this small market, you are greeted with a huge spread of freshly packaged (they were still warm!) meals like savory sticky rice topped with various meats (if you haven’t graced your taste buds with Southeast Asian sticky rice dishes, please stop what you’re doing now and go to Pata Market), rice paper rolls, larb, and Thai dumplings. Sweet options were abundant as well- with pandan crepes, custard buns, and glutinous rice cakes galore.

We came to Pata Market for the mango sticky rice. One order is $8.00 and comes piping hot— I’m not sure if the sticky rice is just that fresh or if it’s reheated to order, but it was amazing either way. The sticky rice was such a wonderful never-mushy texture and reminded me of the mango sticky rices we devoured by the bucketful in Thailand (no mind that those cost 8x less…)

Thai Culinary To-Eat List For Next Time

• Pata Market for prepared dishes. Pata Market offers a wide selection of sweets, spring rolls, and cooked savory dishes like larb, barbequed meats, and dried marinated chicken. Our bellies were far too full to try any of the prepared dishes this time, but everything looked delicious!
• 3 Aunties Thai Market for Thai iced tea. The tea can reportedly be ordered from the front checkout counter of this Thai grocery market.
• Lamoon for Northern Thai cuisine.
• Dek Sen for sit-down dessert. While many markets sell Thai desserts, those are more for bringing home to eat rather than dining indoors. Dek Sen offers the cafe atmosphere that allows you to enjoy their food in-house. I would try the Thai tea crepe cake and the hot plate sizzling roti desserts!
• Little House Cafe for Malaysian savory dishes and dessert.