Bok Bok Baby Buriram

When you get to this Hollywood Thai restaurant, flip over the menu and find the section that says “tum tum bar.” Those 15 dishes are all prepared with a mortar and pestle (the English translation for “tum” is roughly “to pound”) and account for the faint banging sound you hear coming from the kitchen. It’s those tum tum dishes that make Bok Bok Baby a South Florida destination for Thai food.

They range from your typical papaya salad to dishes we’ve never encountered on a local menu before—like a pile of a sweet corn with pulverized salted egg yolk, fermented fish sauce, limes, peanuts, and more things that’ve been pounded into releasing their innermost secrets.
The other side of the menu isn’t an afterthought though. It’s a mix of curries, stir-fried proteins, and Isan street food. You should know that when they say spicy here, they mean it. Servers are more than happy to bring a thunderstorm of chilis down upon your face. They’re just as happy to guide you towards a painless (but equally delicious) meal if your tolerance for bird's eye chilis is nonexistent. Be honest and willing to ask for guidance.