One restaurant in Philadelphia that I had wanted to visit for a long time was Kalaya, which was featured in the Chef’s Table documentary on Netflix in 2024. I was moved by the personal story of the chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon in the show, and of course my wife Jun and I would never say no to some delicious Thai food. On our recent trip to Philly to celebrate our anniversary, Jun and I finally got to check out Kalaya (which is named for the chef’s mother) on a rainy Sunday for lunch before driving back home. We were very pleased with the lunch at Kalaya, which in our mind really showcased the Thai spicy flavor well.

The menu at Kalaya features Southern Thai dishes inspired by the chef’s family history. The colorful display of the dishes stood out throughout our meal, but more importantly we also really liked the spicy flavor that felt genuine and soulful. The cute flower-shaped Shaw Muang dumplings with ground chicken were highly recommended by our server and the kick from the Thai chili set the right tone right away. We were also fond of the poached shrimp and cabbage salad with coconut cream (Yum Kalum Bplee) for the delightfully crispy texture. For the main dishes, we ordered one stir fry and one curry. If you have to order just one dish at Kalaya, I can’t recommend the colossal crab stir fry with egg (Pu Pad Pong Karee) enough. Served with jasmine rice, this dish offered complex flavor of spicy, salty, sour and sweet that was quite unlike anything I had encountered in a while. As Jun and I were savoring this awesomeness, I wished that I could’ve eaten this every week. The goat and lamb curry (Gaeng Pae), served with pickled cucumbers and coconut turmeric rice, was also impressive, with rustic curry broth that suddenly hit my tongue with spice blend. Despite that powerful impact on my palate, I couldn’t stop myself from enjoying the curry, especially with the coconut turmeric rice that neutralized the curry’s spicy kick somewhat. We also shared a side dish of stir-fried local mushrooms (Hed Pad Kratiam) that was solid as well. We were running out of room in our stomach after cleaning up the savory dishes, so we settled with ordering a Thai iced coffee to go before hitting the road.

Not surprisingly, Kalaya is a very popular restaurant in the Philly dining scene so getting a reservation in advance is essential. I was a bit nervous on our visit as we were running rather late (by around 30 minutes) from picking up our car from the parking lot, yet the restaurant was gracious enough to honor our reservation. The bright and lively dining space offered quite a fitting background to the character of the dishes. There is a full bar with Thai-inspired cocktails and concise wine list designed to complement the Thai spices well. Kalaya definitely lived up its hype as one of the most important restaurants in Philadelphia; Jun and I were glad to have visited and would be more than happy to come back for our next visit to the city.

KenScale: 8.25/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.25/10)

Address: 4 W Palmer St, Philadelphia, PA 19125

Website: https://kalayaphilly.com/

Reservation via Resy