New York Diner - Walking Street

[MM 6,562]

New York Diner opened the first of August 2014. It's run by Insomnia and in the back, has access to the IBar back area. NYD is in the same location as the venerable Don Joe Italian restaurant (Walking Street) was located for many years.

When I asked, I was told NYD is open from 4pm till 8am. This makes it ideal for a late late meal or snack on Walking Street.

These photos were taken over 5 late night visits to NYD where I stopped in for a snack or light meal. The service is excellent, as is typical of Insomnia staff who are very well trained.

The interior is nicely done up to show walls with New York skylines etc. Lighting is nicely done.

You can eat in the street side area where smoking is allowed. There is plenty of air flow and the area is kept coolish, though it is open to the street, but out of the elements.Further back, you can find dining tables that look out over the bay, but there is a portal to IBar that brings in a lot of loud music, so I found it difficult to carry on a conversation.

The food..well, every dish I had was very high quality...good ingredients, generally well prepared. The only problem was the portion size was rather small (IMHO) for every dish. I've had spaghetti bolognese (not pictured yet), Caesar salad, eggs Benedict, chili cheese fries, and macaroni and cheese, all dishes to check out their claim to be a "New York" diner. They did damned well..if you can ignore the higher cost for comparable offerings of these dishes at other venues.

Comments about the dishes are in each of the photo descriptions.

Okay, it's on Walking Street, attached to Ibar and Insomnia..expect to pay a premium for being open late night, convenience of location, highly trained service, ambiance, quality interior, and quality ingredients...it's not that much, and considering the dishes I had were simple American diner choices, I'm not bothered really. i just wanted to point it out.

I will definitely be a regular here if I find myself hungry at 2 or 3 a.m. on Walking Street. Recommended if you are in a similar situation.

 

Caesar salad...a nice snack. Plenty of bacon and croutons, and the dressing was to my taste..

 

Eggs Benedict..eggs were poached well, but they skimped on the Hollandaise sauce. Streaky bacon was okay, but would have preferred back bacon. Also, the buns they used weren't close to the "standard" English muffin normally used. But, still, it was okay.

 

Side shot of eggs Benedict. Just not enough sauce...they were only open a day or so at this time, so I expect things to have improved. Will try again

 

Chili cheese fries (chili with fries and melted cheese)...delicious..smallish portion for the price, but still, about the best I have had around town.

 

Chili cheese fries side view.

 

Quite expensive for this small dish. Carl's Jr charges 79 baht and Tigglebitties is 150 baht, and both of their portions are bigger..but I have to give the nod to the taste of the chili cheese fries at New York Diner.

 

Interior view in the back dining area.

 

Macaroni and Cheese...very very good. Also very very expensive for this dish..279 baht as I recall. But, it was a nice dish, cost aside. Lots of bacon and cheese, and though the portion is once again, sort of small, the richness of the dish did fill me up as a snack.

 

Lap moo..spicy. I tried it...I have had better from street vendors though, but my companion, wanted to have it. She didn't complain.

 

Of course, she also ordered som tam.

 

[RhinoTusk 4,901]

Looks interesting, I've been meaning to try it out.

 

[Billions 687]

I liked the Godfather sign that was outside Don Joes.....pity it is no more. It always made me smile.

 

I saw a mass exodus of party people churning out of the Diner a few days ago,about six thirty in the morning...maybe they all had an early breakfast and finished at the same time or they were being evicted from the club via the restaurant which seems more plausible.

 

There's a chain of food carts lingering at 6 am from Insomnia down to the Lucky Star bars opposite Marine....I wonder if their dawn trade will thin out as revellers from Insomnia opt to eat on site rather than get their breakfast in a plastic bag or styrofoam bowl?

 

In the night there's a couple of people shuffling around in Walking Street wearing sandwich boards advertising the Diners fast food options.Haven't seen that for years...last time was a crackpot in London proclaiming the end of the world was nigh and sinners should repent.