A Small, But Mighty, Curry and Noodle Shop Comes to Bushwick

By Scott Lynch

GiGi Curry and Noodle Bar is located at 264 Bleecker Street, just north of Myrtle Avenue, and is currently open daily from 12:00 noon to 10:00 p.m.    

It feels like a ton of really good Southeast Asian restaurants have opened in Brooklyn lately, from the Malaysian Kelang in Greenpoint to the Khmer Bong in Crown Heights (and upcoming Hōp in Red Hook) to the Thai trio of Hungry Thirsty in Carroll Gardens, Ler Lers in Bed-Stuy, and They Say That in Bushwick—and that’s by no means a complete list. 

What we haven’t seen around these parts in a while is a new, cool, contemporary counter-service Southeast Asian noodle spot where you can pop in anytime, hang out for a minute or two, and slurp down a bowl of something comforting, satisfying, and delicious.  

Nicha Pattaranuwit, a Bangkok native who’s lived in Brooklyn for 13 years, noticed the same thing. “I’m a noodle lover,” she told Brooklyn Magazine. “And I couldn’t really find something fun and casual, a Thai place you could go to every day. Like street food, but maybe you sit at a table outside, and say hi to your friends and neighbors as they walk by.”  

Photo by Scott Lynch

And so a couple of weeks ago, Pattaranuwit helped fill our noodle void with her first-ever restaurant, the super-cute GiGi Curry and Noodle Bar. The cozy shop, located just off a bustling stretch of Myrtle, features a half-dozen stools inside, a couple of tables outside (one currently set up within the temporary winter vestibule, a perfect perch on that recent, not miserably freezing day), and an impressively wide-ranging menu. 

GiGi curry with crispy pork, $20.95 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Unsurprisingly, bowls of curry and/or noodles are the main attraction here, offered as either fully composed dishes or in build-your-own fashion. The signature GiGi Curry is fantastic, a lovely, creamy, coconut-and-cumin sludge thick with curly egg noodles, with fried shallots and tangy pickled mustard greens on top. It’s vegan, unless you, like me, add a hacked-up slab of chicharron (“crispy pork” on the menu) to your order, which you should obviously do.     

Braised beef udon soup, $18.95 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

My other big dish was Gigi’s braised beef udon soup, the warming, aromatic broth loaded with thick and chewy noodles, hunks of meltingly tender meat, and a pair of bok choy bulbs bringing some bitterness and crunch. Other options include pesto green curry, massaman curry, peanut udon soup, and, as add-ons, grilled steak, BBQ pork, and grilled chicken. 

Chili crispy tofu, $8.95 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Wonton lemongrass coconut soup, $11.95 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

You can supplement your soup with a snack or two. My favorite bite of the day was the fat, crinkly, chicken and shrimp-stuffed wonton, drenched in a tom yum-inspired hot-and-sour broth. The pile of deep-fried tofu cubes, tossed with a chili relish, was fun and good, though I kind of regretted not getting the chili-fried lotus roots instead. 

Thai tea matcha cloud, $7 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Absolutely splurge on one of GiGi’s special drinks; a glass of rich Thai tea with a swirly matcha “cloud” is both dramatic looking—a passersby literally stopped to gawk—and refreshing to drink. And, so far, Pattaranuwit is having a great time feeding the neighbourhood. “The customers are so friendly here. I’m having so much fun,” she said. “I’m just grateful that I can make people happy.”