The West Village has no shortage of places to eat. What it’s short on is places that make you want to stay (and not be hounded by twenty-somethings shoving their way in). Hommali NYC is one of them. The new Thai restaurant sits on a busy stretch of Seventh Ave, yet it feels completely hidden away. You step inside, and the street noise disappears. There’s dark wood everywhere, every corner is rounded, and the lighting is dim without making you squint at the menu. It feels like a members’ club in the best way, minus the membership fee and the attitude.

Overview

Hommali is the work of three friends from Bangkok who missed the food they grew up eating. Chef Chattchakorn “Benz” Khajornchaisan, general manager Kritayanee “Air” Promsarin, and operations lead Pichalak “Picha” Srigungvarl opened it this September. Their friendship goes back a long way. Benz and Picha met 10 years ago, when the same agency rented them an apartment, and they ended up roommates. Benz and Air later met working front of house at Eleven Madison Park, where they bonded over being Thai in New York.

The restaurant started the way a lot of good ideas do. Benz began cooking the food they ate at home, got excited about it, and the three of them ran with it. Even the name is a love letter. Hommali is the Thai word for jasmine rice, and rice runs through everything here, from the menu to the ceiling.

Atmosphere

The team gutted the entire space and brought in Bud Nitaya and Yoon Her of Brooklyn-based Surrane Design. The result is a room that feels like someone’s very chic home in Bangkok. Look up when you walk in, and you’ll see dried rice stalks hanging overhead, like a rice field flipped upside down. The color palette follows the life cycle of a rice plant. Terracotta floors stand in for the earth, a jade marble counter for the young plant, and gold and white tones for the grain itself.

Then there are the dragonflies. They’re on the lamps, and they’re even on the card your check arrives in. In Thai rice country, dragonflies tell you how much water is in the fields. More water brings more dragonflies, and more water also means more rice. In Japanese culture, the dragonfly stands for courage. There are three of them throughout the space, one for each founder.

Built for Lingering

The team could have squeezed more than 50 seats into the space. Instead, they chose fewer tables and more room for each guest, and you feel it. The chairs got the same attention. Picha picked every one herself, and she tested them before committing. Her reasoning made me laugh out loud: “I have a big behind, so I chose chairs that were comfortable for people.” Every restaurant owner in New York should take notes.

The bar is the sexiest corner of the room, wrapped in sandy fluted tile with plush leather and velvet seating nearby. Upstairs, a mezzanine sits under a large skylight. And yes, go see the bathroom before you leave. (Am I the only one that loves a really well done, beautiful restaurant bathroom? It’s the little things.)

Food + Drinks

Across the board, the flavors at Hommali are strong, and the presentation is beautiful. This isn’t the Thai takeout you order on a Tuesday night. Don’t come looking for pad Thai, either, because it isn’t on the menu.

Start Here

Order the Tao Jiew Lon, a fermented soybean-coconut dip served with crispy battered vegetables. The batter is light enough that the vegetables still taste like vegetables. Meanwhile, the dip has a curry-like richness to it. If anything, it’s a better take on a vegetable curry than most vegetable curries I’ve ordered. I loved it.

The Main Event

For the main, we went with the Panang Curry Beef Cheek, finished with roasted peanut, makrut lime, and Thai basil. The beef cheek is slow-cooked until it falls apart under your spoon. Meanwhile, the curry is rich and fragrant without drowning the meat.

Every main comes with jasmine rice sourced from Thailand. We swapped ours for the purple heirloom sticky rice, nicknamed “forgotten husband,” which costs an extra $6. It has a nutty, chewy bite that holds up well against a sauce this rich. We also added a side of Young Rice Roti with satay sauce. Use it to mop up whatever curry the rice doesn’t get to first. The Roti was the star of the show — much more flavorful than any other roti I’ve had before.

Dessert

We couldn’t pick just one dessert, so we didn’t. The Toasted Rice Ice Cream comes with coconut and a toasted rice crisp, and it was one of the best bites of the night. It’s nutty, a little savory, and comforting in a way I didn’t expect from ice cream. The Roselle Sorbet is its opposite: tart and bright, with roselle fruit compote and makrut lime. My recommendation is to order both desserts, because there’s only two, and it’s a lovely compliment to the meal.

Drinks

While I didn’t order an alcoholic drink, I was peeking over at the tables next to us that did; they were all colorful and served in unique glassware. Picha’s partner actually built out the whole bar menu himself. Naturally, rice shows up behind the bar too. The Tomato cocktail riffs on a michelada with rice wine, while the Banana uses jasmine rice-infused whiskey. There’s also a rice lager from Saltfields in Brooklyn.

Service

Hommali is brand new, and it shows in small ways. The kitchen forgot one of our appetizers, which is the kind of kink a restaurant works out in its first few months. Otherwise, the team is warm and clearly proud of what they’ve built. Ask about the dragonflies, the ceiling, or the chairs.

For the record, this dinner was not comped, and we went in expecting to pay for every bite. When the check came, we found out the team had taken both desserts off the bill. That kind of hospitality says a lot about a restaurant this new.

Overall: 9/10

Atmosphere: no notes. Food: big, confident flavors with a few new-restaurant hiccups. It’s a great date-night restaurant in a prime location, and I’ll definitely be back.

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FAQs

Q: Where is Hommali NYC located?

A: Hommali NYC is located at 28 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014, in the West Village.

Q: What are the hours of operation of Hommali NYC?

A: The hours of operation of Hommali NYC are as follows:

Q: Do you need a reservation at Hommali NYC?

A: Reservations are recommended, though the restaurant also welcomes walk-ins. Tables are available on Resy and open 14 days in advance at 10:30 a.m.

Q: Does Hommali serve pad Thai?

A: No. The menu draws on regional Thai cooking instead, and the kitchen doesn’t adjust spice levels on request.