MayRee – Southern Thai fire on a quiet East Village street

MayRee sits on a quiet stretch of East 1st Street in the East Village, on the same block as Prune, one of the neighbourhood's longest-running dining rooms. Chef-owner Orawan Sawangphol opened the restaurant in September 2022 to cook the food of Thailand's Malay-influenced south, the dishes she grew up with in Phang Nga before training professionally and working across California, Ohio and Illinois on her way to New York. She named the restaurant after a character from the Thai folktale the Twelve Sisters: MayRee, the sister who keeps a cheerful disposition despite misfortune. It is Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, recognition for a compact, unapologetically regional kitchen in a part of Manhattan more often associated with noodle counters and late bars than with the specific, hand-pounded cooking of Thailand's southern coast.

01The room and the setting

Inside, MayRee trades the East Village's usual rough-edged charm for something more ornamented. The exposed brick walls carry vintage mirrors in gold frames and gold accents throughout the room, while glass cases behind the bar display chada, the pointed headdresses associated with Southeast Asian royalty, alongside jars of the herbal and fruit infusions used in the cocktail list. It is a small, warmly lit dining room built for close tables and long evenings rather than passing trade.

02The chef

Orawan Sawangphol was born and raised in Phang Nga, a small province on Thailand's Andaman coast about an hour from Phuket, and started working in her family's restaurant at the age of thirteen, absorbing techniques, spices and recipes passed down from her great-grandmother before eventually becoming its chef. She later studied hospitality and worked in California, Ohio and Illinois before settling in New York to open MayRee, built around the Southern Thai dishes of her childhood rather than the gentler, more internationally adapted Thai food found elsewhere in the city. The bar runs separately under Sek Saraboon, a cocktail veteran of the Met Bar in Bangkok and the Dominick Hotel in SoHo.

Insider tip

Open seven days from noon; dinner reservations advisable given the room's small scale.

03The cooking

Sawangphol's menu stays close to the cuisine of the Malay peninsula: dishes built on fresh turmeric, galangal, shrimp paste and a generous hand with chillies rather than the sweeter profile familiar further north in Thailand. Jor Rang, a southern-style curry of shrimp with coconut milk, fresh turmeric, lemongrass, shallot and shrimp paste, arrives with jasmine rice and a fresh salad. Roti Nam Keang pairs a Southern Thai massaman curry of potato, onion, peanut and coconut milk, finished with fried shallot, with pan-fried roti and a choice of chicken or tofu. Gai Tod Hat Yai is Hat Yai-style fried chicken, battered with Thai spices and topped with fried onion and garlic, served with sweet chilli sauce, a house tamarind sauce and sticky rice.

04What to order

Among the signatures, Pad Mee Kati sautés vermicelli noodles with lump crabmeat in Southern Thai style, using coconut milk, dried chilli, shallot and bean sprout, finished with green mango, more crabmeat and an omelette. Kee Mao Talay, sautéed spaghetti with shrimp, squid and mussels in a spicy basil sauce with fresh green peppercorn and bell pepper, and Kaeng Phed Ped, a roast duck curry with pineapple, lychee, tomato and chilli paste in coconut milk, both show the kitchen's taste for bold, assertive seasoning. Park Mor, steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with a sweet, finely chopped peanut mixture and topped with coconut milk and fried garlic, is the gentler counterpoint on the menu, and a bowl of coconut ice cream served in its shell is the standard way to close a meal.

05Wine and drinks

There is no conventional wine list to speak of; the drinks programme, created by Sek Saraboon, is built around Thai spirits and the Twelve Sisters folktale, with every cocktail named for one of the sisters. Prysob mixes Mekhong rum with mango juice, passion fruit purée, honey, palm sugar syrup and lime; Morakot combines lemongrass-infused vodka with sake, fresh galangal, coconut milk and kaffir lime; Malee is built on butterfly-pea-infused tequila with Ancho Reyes chilli liqueur, cilantro, ginger, lemongrass and agave. For those who want the traditional route, the bar also pours Ya Dong, infused Thai spirit shots traditionally credited with aphrodisiac and energising properties.

06When to go and booking

In October 2026, MayRee's own hours ran Monday to Thursday from noon to 4pm and 5pm to 10pm, Friday from noon to 4pm and 5pm to 10.30pm, Saturday from noon to 10.30pm and Sunday from noon to 10pm. Brunch service and weekday lunch make it a workable midday stop while exploring the low-rise streets between First and Second Avenues, and the restaurant welcomes pets throughout. Pricing stays in the moderate range for MICHELIN-recognised cooking, and given the room's small scale, booking ahead for dinner is sensible.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.