NGAM Thai- 99 3rd Ave, NY

So NGAM Thai is owned by chef Hong Thaimee, who has been featured many times on Iron Chef America and even went up once against Bobby Flay! The restaurant was very modern but with an antique-feel, and it smelled delicious. I also loved that when you walked in, you could see the kitchen and all the chefs doing their thing. We sat at the back with my uncle and my mom's friend Alicia. The menu had a small selection of special dishes, along with a fairly sized lunch menu which had several different variations of pad thai. To start, we had the papaya salad, which was quite spicy but still had a lasting sweetness that balanced perfectly. However, it arrived in a tall vessel, which made it difficult to share the papaya. Also, it wasn't shredded properly and clumped. Yummy, but hard to handle. Next, my uncle and I shared the Pork Thai Taco. The shell was a thick roti roll, with some delicious ingredients on the inside, including pork belly, peppers, radishes, cilantro, and a thai basil sauce. The pork was very tender, and had a sweet teriyaki flavor that mixed nicely with the brightness of the radishes and cilantro. Messy, but a solid and creative take on a taco. For the main course, a few entrees went around the table-- two different types of pad thai, and the Hung lay pork belly and pork shoulder. The pad thai had thin, slippery, and overly salty noodles, but came with spicy, tender beef and a lot of bok choy. Also, whatever the sauce was- (I believe it had a mix of citrus and soy) it really hit the spot with its bold but subtle tangy flavor. The Hung Lay was.. not what we were expecting. It arrived in a cast iron skillet as a stew, with a big cake of rice on the side. The pork was seasoned nicely, and the broth was spectacular (comforting flavors of long stewed meat) but some of the pork belly was just way too fatty. Overall, I was impressed by NGAM Thai, and I will definitely be back to try some of their other dishes which sounded appetizing.  There is definitely room for improvement. I can sort of see why chef Hong didn't beat Bobby Flay. 3 1/2 pineapples. Till next time, -tdg