Neighborhood: Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Go for: the whole fish, the salt-and-pepper shrimp
Do you want to know how long I spent trying to get into Bong? Trust me, the back story is key for when I say it was worth the wait: Bong, a beloved pop-up, opened as a brick-and-morter in Crown Heights in June 2025, and I tried my luck month after month on Resy. I finally nabbed something for November, which then had to be pushed because I’d booked an outdoor table during a cold snap. TL;DR some friends and I made it in the New Year—when it actually became manageable to get a seat, or dare I say walk-in (I saw people do it!) and the restaurant is open all week instead of just weekends as it was at the start. This was probably for the best, because what good is it recommending a white-hot new place that you can’t even get into?
When I finally walked into Bong, whose unassuming but decidedly cool dining room has only a few tables, the funky, citrus-rich scent wafting overhead was a gift for my patience. Everything here is tangy, bright, playful, and sharable; think lots of fish sauce, but also sugar to balance it. A group of four is perfect for sharing, while still managing to fit in the former Ursula space. Start with light dishes like the salt-and-pepper head-on shrimp (crunchy, sweet), the mouth-puckering crudo, or the carpaccio dotted with chilis. Then make way for the beloved whole fish, whose skin is rubbed in a seasoning I wish I could buy, and scored so you can pluck tiles of steaming meat from it to wrap in herbs and dunk in more craveable sauces. The messy, fabulous lobster here is an oft-written about dish—but as a group not trying to blow our budget, we had absolutely zero fomo as we tore into our fried fish and juicy, fat-capped pork chop mains instead. If you’re into spicy, ask for a side of chopped bird’s eye chilis—of Southeast Asian cuisines, Cambodian is milder on the spectrum, and I always crave more more more. I hope it’ll be easier to get into now, because I’ll make this a regular stop on my circuit, or at least bring friends whenever they’re visiting. —Megan Spurrell
