Flatiron Lunch: Regional Thai is Another (and Pink!) Option for Flatiron Thai

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

After visiting Pongsri Thai in August, with a tepid experience, Flatiron Lunch’er stevenp recommended Regional Thai as a better option, so I went to check it out for myself. He also mentioned M Thai which will make an appearance on a future Flatiron Lunch post.

The lunch menu options at Regional Thai were not as diverse or as abundant as other Thai restaurants. Instead of many apps and many mains all for under $10, Regional Thai only had pad thai or house fried rice with one appetizer for $10.

Inside, the restaurant was acceptably full for lunch with a decent crowd, but not packed. More notably, pink is a big color at Regional Thai. It is featured on the menu, on some of the lanterns, on the napkins, on an accent wall, on the exterior…basically, pink is in!

First, I had to try the $10 pad thai lunch special with 2 side items. I picked the beggars pouch and the vegetable spring roll as my extras. The pad thai was solid if unsurprising, and the same could be said for the two side items. I appreciated the fact that they came on top of a layer of dipping hot sauce.

I was too tempted by the promise of a multiple course lunch, so I also ordered the $12 lunch special. The appetizer of the day was a dumpling stuffed with glass noodles and something else I couldn’t identify. In addition to the chicken tom yum soup (which might have been a vegetarian tom yum soup), I love spicy basel and penang curry, so that is what I picked for my two mains. In order to have diverse protein, I order tofu spicy basil (although I got chicken instead, so I lost chicken in the soup and gained it here) and chicken penang curry. Although the soup and dumpling were boring, the two mains were great. I thought they had wonderful flavor, and even with the small divided take out container, the portions were large. Because they pack in the chicken and are light on the sauce, the dish was very filling.

THE + (What people who like this place will say)

  • Very filling mains.
  • Great flavor on the spicy basil and penang curry dishes.
  • Think pink! (Maybe the décor is a year-round attempt at breast cancer awareness.)

THE – (What people who don’t like this place will say)

  • $12?!?!?! This is Midtown Lunch, not Daddy Warbucks Lunch.
  • Where is my chicken and/or tofu?
  • Still not as good as Jaiya.

Regional Thai, 208 7th Ave at 22nd Street, (212) 807-9872

1 Comment

  • I hate to switch gears on you, but my new local go-to Thai place is M-Thai on 8th at 22nd (just one Ave west of Regional). Great $7 lunch specials (entree + appetizer; solid pad thai, great papaya salad, drunken noodles are pretty spicy at regular strength) and their wings are a really tasty side dish!

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