SriPraPhai Thai

A Woodside trailblazer that's as good as ever

April 07, 2025

The exterior of SriPraPhai in Woodside, Queens

Rating: 9.4/10

Filial Piety:

New York City is in a golden age of Thai cuisine. A couple of decades ago, a New Yorker taking a walk in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens could expect to see multiple pizza shops and bagels stores — but not much else. Since then, the landscape has evolved. While pizza and bagels remain staples, other cuisines, especially Thai, have risen to prominence.

What’s behind Thai food’s surge? The bold fusion of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty flavors. Online lists of the “best” Thai spots will likely include Bangkok Supper Club, Soothr, Thai Diner, Fish Cheeks, as well as buzzy Queens places like Zaab Zaab. In fact, a respected food publication listed all of these and a few more but notably excluded SriPraPhai — arguably the OG of Thai food in New York City. As an opinion of one, the common thread of these places is generally newness, and an adept PR presence. In our never-ending morphine drip of social media, influencer clout, and obsession with what is the next hot thing, we forgot the cardinal rule…RESPECT YOUR ELDERS!

Without SriPraPhai there would be no Fish Cheeks or Bangkok Supper club, much like without Di Fara Pizza there would be no L’Industrie. Let’s show some reverence for one of the trailblazers of Thai food in New York.

Red curry with shrimp and vegetables

Drunken noodle

A Marker of Greatness is Consistency:

SriPraPhai Tipmanee is the founder of her eponymous restaurant, which opened in Woodside, Queens in the 90s, and was one of the first Thai restaurants to expose New York clientele to authentic and bold Thai cuisine made with fresh ingredients. For upwards of 30 years SriPraPhai has been cranking out dish after dish of fiery heat.

My first encounter was circa 2012 during my time as a line cook. When a fellow cook mentioned a ‘fried watercress salad’ coming from a spot in Woodside called SriPraPhai, I brushed it off. At the time, my Thai Food knowledge was limited to pad thai. However, my roommate also suggested the restaurant after reading about it on Serious Eats, and insisted we try. Fast forward to the present and I’ve likely enjoyed SriPraPhai close to 100 times (he’s probably been at least 300). What draws me back? The consistency. I can count on a couple of things when I go; an explosion of flavors and efficient service.

SriPraPhai is one of the best Thai restaurants in the city, and I’d argue, one of the best restaurants period. With a menu that is an actual book (literally hundreds of items) they somehow manage to execute across the board. Favorites include dishes like papaya and mango salad, stir-fried morning glory with crispy pork belly, any of the curries, pad see ew, and a myriad of fried fish with thick and pungent curry pastes on top. Not to mention the desserts, which often provide a lesson in unexpected ingredients. Who knew onions were a dessert item?

Full Circle:

Vegetarian mango salad

With consistency in mind, I recently found myself back at SriPraPhai. Into the familiar dining room I entered, with the same friend who visited with me in 2012. Like clockwork, we ordered an obligatory mango salad followed by red curry with shrimp, and an order of the drunken noodle. I say this with nostalgia. The mango salad was fiery as ever, the soft tofu and cilantro added a cooling escape from the heat of birds-eye chilis, the cashews crunched against the sponge like texture of oyster mushrooms, and it was all brought together with a healthy douse of lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar.

The drunken noodle added no respite from the bold flavors, albeit more straightforward in simplicity. A touch of soy and fish sauce brought out the umami, oyster sauce added some sweetness, and only what can be deduced as a healthy amount of oil made the noodles shimmer and slide down the throat like boba. Most importantly, a smokiness lingered on the tongue evoking ‘Wok Hei”, a term translating to ‘breath of the wok’, a flavor only generated when cooked over extremely high heat. The red curry hit all the necessary notes, coconut milk, fresh curry paste, and kaffir lime leaf mixing harmoniously. As soon as my bowl was empty, I’d silently reach for some fragrant coconut rice, then drizzle the curry broth ever so delicately on top.

An unexpected dessert - coconut milk with tapioca and black beans

I was full by the time we finished the savory dishes, but that didn’t stop my friend from heading to the front and selecting a dessert from the fridge. On this occasion, it was fitting that he chose a unique dessert (again, trailblazer). In a pool of coconut milk sat little clusters of tapioca (a favorite of mine), with the unexpected ingredient of black beans. What stood out wasn’t the sweetness, but the saltiness that punched through leading to the same salty-sweet combo one can expect when eating kettle corn. Full and satisfied, we exited the restaurant. I’ll continue to frequent this institution for as long as I live in New York.

Website: https://sripraphai.com/ | Address: 64-13 39th Ave, Woodside, NY 11377