25 Jan Where to Drink NYC Edition: Uncle Boon’s

Where to Drink NYC Edition: Uncle Boon’s

We spent our anniversary cocktailing our way through the Big Apple, and this week we’re taking you along for the highlights and tips on where to imbibe in New York City.

We gravitate to Indian and Korean among Asian cuisine, but Uncle Boons came highly recommended, and if there is one way to get us to expand our culinary pallette it’s with the enticement of an intriguing cocktail. What are Thai cocktails like? We didn’t know. So Thai dinner at Uncle Boon’s was a must.

Located in Soho–are you seeing a theme in the location of our cocktail picks?–Uncle Boon’s is tiny and warm, with what google describes as “Bangkok-flea-market decor.” While you’re not maximizing personal space, you can tell that everyone there is in love with food and immersed in the experience; so you willingly dive into all the beautiful aromas of coconut and lime.

What We Ordered

Muay Thai Punch: Basil vodka, rum, thai tea, orange shrub, holy basil

Uncle Boon’s Farm: manzanilla sherry, green mango, cardamom

What We Thought

As we mentioned in another post, we caught a round of Bar Goto drinks while waiting for our table at Uncle Boon’s. There was an extreme jarring of styles between Bar Goto’s supremely refined and uniquely presented cocktails and Uncle Boon’s tropical punches unceremoniously served in jelly glasses. To their great credit, while they didn’t make us entirely forget our sublime experience at Bar Goto, the drinks at Uncle Boon’s were good enough to draw us mostly into enjoying the present.

It turns out that Thai cocktails are much like Thai food, fresh and flavorful with pleasing combinations of fruit, herb, and spice. One of us especially enjoyed the somewhat warmer combination of rum and tea in the Muay Thai punch, the other found the interplay of very dry sherry with cardamom in Uncle Boon’s Farm unexpectedly satisfying.

Tips

Uncle Boon’s is tiny, doesn’t take reservations, and fills up quickly. So, be prepared to wait a while. The place is so tiny, you have to wait elsewhere, but make it nearby; they text you when your table is ready, and then wait ten minutes before giving the table to someone else. So, find another place for a round of drinks, close out the tab immediately, and be ready to gulp and run when you get your text. Maybe don’t choose Bar Goto, which pushed the envelope in terms of ability to get back in 10 minutes, as well as having a much different vibe.