This modern Thai spot — decorated with elegant turquoise, gold and thatched blonde wood flourishes — goes heavy on salads (there are 12 of them), soups (five), and six whole fish preparations. In the mango tango fish, the cashews, mango and fried snapper fuse together into a new flavor where the sum is much greater than its parts. The grilled squid gets charred, sliced up, and served with seafood sauce.

The open-space dining room gets packed with Flushing locals, so be prepared to wait during peak times. The specialty here is fresh seafood — you’ll see many tables topped with lobsters lacquered with saucy seasoning — and as the name suggests, wontons. The wonton soup here features a variety of wontons, each as fat, slippery, and perfectly wrinkled as the next, with strands of bok choy and seaweed swimming in the rich broth. If you love whole fried small fish, the anchovies here are crispy with a fluffy coated batter. There’s no cart, but the dim sum mainstays like shrimp rice rolls are always on deck.

A modern Dominican restaurant and lounge has opened in Astoria with creative flair. Its mofonguitos, mini versions of the mashed plantain dish, are layered with a slab of crispy fried pork belly and drizzled with a cream sauce; and mac and cheese is served with a choice of pernil or ropa vieja. Weekend evenings turn up with blue and green lights that rotate around the open dining area, and the large banquettes in the back are packed.

The team behind Ye’s Apothecary and Blue Willow debut a lushly designed Hunanese-Sichuan restaurant and baijiu bar in Long Island City. Business partners, Mandy Zhang and Vincent Lin, are particularly proud of bringing in Hunanese techniques of pickling, firing up the wok at super high temperatures, and using lots of chile peppers. They’re well represented in dishes like the brine rice noodles with sliced beef, sour string beans, and pickled chiles; Miss Lou’s beef stew with slices of tender, fatty beef alongside pickled cabbage, and enoki mushrooms in a rich and sour broth; and the century egg claypot, where century eggs are mashed with eggplant and green chiles.

A Jackson Heights mini mall is now home to a Mexican pizzeria. At El Mercadito, Mexico City-born Hilario Morales, who’s also behind Homemade Taqueria, uses the thin crust pie as a deliriously extensive canvas for Mexican dishes. An al pastor pizza is topped with chipotle sauce and fresh pineapple; a chile relleno pie has quarters of the stuffed pepper laid out among roasted poblanos; a birria pizza is dappled with avocado sauce. Mexico City-style fried quesadillas, flautas, and taquitos round out the menu.

A tropical chic restaurant debuts in Rego Park with hearty Indonesian and Malaysian fare. It’s not so much fusion, two distinct menus (and chefs) offer the traditional dishes of each cuisine. Surabaya, Indonesia native, Joana Cravianho, formerly of Bamboo Ya and Awang, offers up roti canai with hot fluffy roti; chicken satay with rice cakes for sopping up the flavorful peanut sauce; and a multi-faceted noodle dish with ground chicken, slabs of barbecued chicken, meatballs, fried wonton, and bok choy. The Malaysian menu includes nasi lemak with curry chicken and four versions of vegetable belacan  (shrimp paste) — all to be enjoyed under rattan chandeliers and bamboo poles laid out across the ceiling.

Maspeth is now home to a laid-back spot doling out fun, Asian-inspired sharing plates from partners and fine-dining chefs, Shane Kim and Mimi Chen. The ma la spice-dusted tots here are served with labneh and chive dip, and the golden crab bao is made with fluffy lotus leaf buns stuffed with snow crab and crème fraiche, and topped with yuzu tobiko. While Driftwood awaits its liquor license, get your hands on spectacular non-alcoholic drinks like calpico calico (oolong tea, vanilla, clarified calpico, and lime), and leave room for desserts like milk tea pudding with honeycomb.

Grill and simmer the meal of your dreams at the city’s newest Thai mookata parlor, a paradise of all-you-can-eat Thai barbecue and hot pot. Cook from an endless spread of vegetables, noodles, and meats like cilantro-marinated squid and chile-seasoned pork belly. Don’t know how to cook them? No worries, says co-owner Raweewan Chen. Employees are on deck with tips, as well as constant refills of chicken bone broth for the hotpot and new pans to grill on. Make room for hot snacks like creamy tom yum soup and pad krapow gai, in addition to desserts like grass jelly and jackfruit over shaved ice and mango sticky rice.