SamMuk Thai — Restaurant in New York

Here I am at another Instagram hyped place. After shoveling snow on Saturday morning, I was asked to take a ride out to Woodside for some Thai food. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by the waiter and seated. As we browsed through the menu, the Mrs made it clear that we're definitely getting the Leng Zap. As I ordered the Sam Muk's salad, Yum Chicken Feet and the Hoy Jor as an appetizer:

1. Yum Chicken Feet, tender chicken feet swimming in fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, onions, scallions and chili peppers. Each bite of the tender chicken feet was refreshing followed by a kicking spice that'll leave your mouth slowly burning. The heat was quickly cooled off simply sipping the Butterfly Pea Lemonade.
2. The Hoy Jor, which was deep fried in a beancurd wrap filled with pork and crab meat served with plum sauce, recommended by the awesome waiter.
3. The Leng Zap was the star of the meal. Loaded with pork spines bathing in a big bowl of spicy and sour soup. There's no gentle way of approaching this dish. Get some soup in the bowl and use your fingers to remove the yummy pork of the bone and into your bowl of soup before consuming...or eat the meat first and followed with a spoon of spicy and sour soup. I enjoyed the delicious bones where the flavors were embedded into the cracks and nooks of the bone. There were too many dishes to choose from and it'll take a larger party or just us returning a few more times to enjoy the rest of the menu. Sam Muk 's food is tasty and introduced a different flavor to our palates. Do swing by and...

This place came out of nowhere for me. I like to think I have a fairly good understanding of the top Thai places in the area and I absolutely did not see this place coming.

For one, it was empty when we went on a Saturday night. The decor is nautical in a way that I didn't mind. The playlist overhead was fire for no reason.

The menu is pretty long and has many of the standard things you'd expect but also a lot I wouldn't. It seemed like every review orders hoy jor, so we got this. It's a TON of plump crab meat. The flavoring isn't the MOST interesting but it's a really nice amount of tender meat with a slightly sour dipping sauce. For mains, we went with khao soi to start-one of our go to musts to try when exploring a new Thai place. This was a delightful version of this. The noodles in the soup were delectable and the crispy noodles on top were just enough without being overwhelming. The meat perfectly tear-apart tender. The biggest surprise, though, was the leng zap. I would never have ordered this if it weren't recommended and so heavily featured in all of the reviews. I LOVE that it came with gloves to tear such tender meat off the bone in a really flavorful, sour without being overwhelming, broth. I truly wish I could eat every dish like this.

And the price was really surprising, as everything was around the same price and altogether pretty fairly priced. While it's a fairly difficult area to get to, I would definitely come back here to try the rest of their...

I came here last night with a group of friends and we were blown away by how good the food was. Sammuk is one of those hidden gems in Queens that deserves way more attention. The wait staff were warm, attentive, and made sure we were well taken care of from start to finish.

The highlight for me was definitely the pork belly — perfectly crispy on the outside, tender inside, and paired with a flavorful Thai dipping sauce that made each bite addictive. We also had the crab fried rice, which came loaded with big, generous chunks of crab meat (no skimping here!) and so much flavor. The crispy crab rolls were another standout — golden, crunchy, and packed with delicious crab filling, served with a light dipping sauce that balanced everything perfectly.

Having been to Thailand before, I can honestly say the flavors here are authentic and vibrant, and the quality matches (if not exceeds) what I’ve had there. For the quality of ingredients and portion sizes, the price point is very fair — we ordered heavily on seafood and still felt it was a great deal.

If you’re in Queens, you should absolutely make this a go-to spot. And if you’re in Manhattan, it’s worth making the trip out — this is the kind of Thai food you’ll want to come back for. I...