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Designer Charoonkit Thahong seems to have cornered the market on retro-futurist Thai establishments, including Highline and Brooklyn’s SEA. His sleek look for roomservice—curving white walls, round white tiles, leather lounge chairs—belies this tiny restaurant’s down-home charm. Kitchen staff often deliver dishes to the tables themselves and then monitor the reactions before retreating with a satisfied smile. They smile a lot. Fare like tamarind-spiked snapper, sharp curries, and spicy-sweet pad Thai arrive expertly cooked and seasoned with ingredients invariably fresh and flavorful. While spices are toned down for Western palates as a rule, the kitchen will gladly crank up the volume. If friendly young servers sense you can handle it, they may even surprise you with off-menu native street food like laab, the pungent fish paste-minced meat mix. Limited desserts include nominally indigenous treats like banana in coconut sauce and an incongruent warm chocolate truffle with vanilla ice cream. — Michael Kaminer

Chicken breast tamarind, $10