#Newsflash | NYC’s First-Ever Thai Skewer Restaurant Opens In Queens (Naturally)
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Technically, skewers are wood (or faux wood) sticks used to keep pieces of food in the same spot for grilling and eating. But gastronomically, they’re so much more as they help add taste and fun to a meal.
Queens recently got its first-ever Thai skewer restaurant: Jai Sang Ma at 81-40 Broadway in Elmhurst.
The new establishment’s lineup features more than a dozen hardwood charcoal grill skewers and mouth-watering dishes such as pla muk yang, squid served with a spicy green sauce of cilantro, garlic, fish sauce, and chilies, and BBQ gai na long lian, schoolyard chicken barbecue marinated in ketchup and Thai Sriracha pepper sauce.
Jai Sang Ma is also the first place in New York City to serve pla muk bod, dry squid that’s grilled then pressed to a paper thinness using a special metal roller and served with spicy tamarind peanut sauce.
Gai dang, red chicken marinated in palm sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and cilantro root, is popular for the skewer-skittish, while noodle dishes include guay tiew bolan, a street food classic that consists of homemade char siu pork, ground pork, and crackling with rice noodles and fish balls. For some tastes, the moo ping nahm pung, honey pork marinated in condensed milk and honey, is divine.
The restaurant, whose name comes from a Thai pop song whose title means “straight from the heart,” is the brainchild of Jugkrwut Borin and Arada Moonroj, who operated Lamoon in the same spot until August 2021. They also own Mao Mao in Bushwick.
For now Jai Sang Ma is BYO, but once Borin and Moonroj get a liquor license, they will offer bia wun (jelly beer), a super cooled beer slush made by oscillating beer bottles in a special cooler, and craft brews.
Closed on Tuesdays, Jai Sang Ma is open from noon until 10 pm with a kitchen break from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
Images: Jai Sang Ma