PRESS
“Hed NYC Brings Thai Fine Dining To Chelsea With Tasting Menu”
A new Thai restaurant from a California-based hospitality team just opened in Manhattan.
“We’re rethinking fine dining through the lens of how Thai people actually eat,” said Hed founder Naruephon “Billie” Wannajaro. “Opening in New York pushes you to be extremely intentional, because the dining scene is so competitive and diverse. Every detail matters, from the food to the service to the pacing of the experience. But that energy is also what makes the city so inspiring.”
— Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner
“Find Hokkaido Scallop Wellington From an Atomix Alumnus at 28 Nomad”
Add this version of San Francisco’s Hed 11 and Hed Very Thai restaurants to New York’s Thai dining scene. It takes a somewhat different tack with a few set courses, followed by several family-style dishes, $126, from categories like curries, all with rice. Naruephon Wannajaro, known as Billie, owns the restaurant group, and the chef is Piriya Boonprasan, called Saint. They will change the menu every few months, each time focusing on a particular region. The seafood-driven south drives the inaugural menu. The setting is long, narrow and subdued.
— Florence Fabricant
“Michelin-recognized SF fine dining restaurant is expanding to NYC”
Hed NYC is slated to offer a five-course tasting menu for $126 per person. However, instead of the typical tasting menu format where diners each receive individual courses, Hed NYC is debuting a new concept called “Thai sharing progression.” Wannajaro said the new concept honors the family-style way in which Thai meals are traditionally experienced.
— Madeline Wells
“Upcoming HED NYC Brings Michelin-Recognized Thai Tasting Menu to Chelsea”
The upcoming restaurant is the latest from Naurephon “Billie” Wannajaro, who owns two restaurants in San Francisco. She opened hed verythai in 2023 and hed11 in 2024, the latter of which earned Wannajaro and her head chef, Piriya “Saint” Boonprasan, a Michelin Recommendation.
— Paul Kim
“NYC’s New Restaurant Openings”
From the same team as Hed 11 and Hed Verythai in San Francisco, this Thai restaurant in Chelsea serves a $126 five-course tasting menu (actually, they’re calling it a “sharing progression”), featuring dishes like grilled pork jowl, crab curry, and palm sugar sponge cake.
— Molly Fitzpatrick