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A Thai restaurant opening in the neighborhood next week is organized around an ingredient most places treat as an afterthought. It’s right there in the name, and it’s free with every meal.
Hommali opens Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 28 Seventh Ave. South, near Leroy Street. The name refers to hom mali, the fragrant jasmine rice that’s Thailand’s national variety, and white jasmine rice comes complimentary with every meal, according to Eater, which first reported the opening. One of the owners notes the phrase carries a second meaning in Thai, closer to a kiss on the cheek.
It’s the work of three friends from Bangkok. Chef Chattchakorn “Benz” Khajornchaisan started cooking during the pandemic and turned professional afterward, beginning at Eleven Madison Park, where she met future business partner Kritayanee “Air” Promsarin. She went on to Saga and Cafe Carmellini, and staged at Baan Tepa, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Thailand. Promsarin, who’s the general manager and is also curating the wine program, came up through the Standard Grill and the Standard, High Line before joining Eleven Madison Park as a captain. Pichalak “Picha” Srigungvarl, the operations lead, was floor manager at the ramen restaurant Tonchin and Khajornchaisan’s roommate.
The menu is contemporary Thai with some unusual sourcing. The northern-style larb arrives as a beef tartare made with dry-aged beef heart, served alongside a tripe cracker that’s cured, cooked and then fried, which Promsarin describes as “amazing, nutty and pungent.” There’s a penang curry built on beef cheeks, a tom yum seafood cocktail, and roselle sorbet with fermented rice cream for dessert. Khajornchaisan builds her curry pastes from a range of Thai chiles so she can control the heat and the color.
Drinks come from Patrick Cura and lean on infusions and fermentations. One cocktail riffs on a michelada using a Singaporean rice wine made with jasmine and sticky rice, and diners can dial the heat up with a Thai chile tincture brought to the table. Another uses jasmine rice-infused whiskey. The wine list runs 30 to 50 bottles, and there’s beer, including a Thai option.
The room itself was designed by Surrane Design to feel like a Thai home, with a white, terracotta and green palette meant to track the lifespan of a rice plant. The bi-level space opens into a welcome lounge lit by a rice plant fixture, then a nine-seat bar, a communal nook with two booths, and a curtained dining room seating 20 with artwork on the walls. There’s more communal seating on the mezzanine. The wine room is visible on the ground floor with the dry-aging room directly above it.
Hommali will serve dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Reservations are open on Resy.
