Thai food around the world is undergoing its biggest changes in decades, especially in the US.

There are still plenty of curries and noodles to go around, but a new generation of restaurants and cafes is looking beyond the classics to put unique twists on everything from chicken tenders and banana pudding to barbecue, cheesesteaks and cheesecake.

“I don’t know what happened in the last year, but there was some sort of crazy explosion,” says Ann Redding, sitting with her husband and fellow chef Matt Danzer in a back booth of Thai Diner, their celebrated downtown New York restaurant.

Situated on the edge of Manhattan’s Chinatown, Thai Diner opened during the Covid-19 pandemic. It offers Thai food that can be authentic without being traditional: think massaman curry Thai disco fries, breakfast sandwiches verdant with Thai basil and fortified with sai oua herbal sausage, and a cheesesteak made with chilli and basil phat bai horapha-style rib-eye steak.

A year ago, Redding and Danzer opened their takeaway spot Mommy Pai’s, barely a block away, which specialises in fried and grilled chicken tenders. The tenders, great as they are, are best thought of as vehicles for the restaurant’s assortment of Thai-inspired sauces – eight in total.

The Noom Spicy Green Sauce, a play on Northern Thai nam prik num, is tart and herbal, while pickled green peppercorn and gingery galangal brighten the Thousand Island-adjacent Phuket Island Sauce. On the side, go for coconut rice and beans, grilled in a banana leaf and som tum slaw.