NYC brunch culture got rewritten the day Cantonese congee, Malaysian kaya toast, Thai weekend rice plates, and Sichuan vegan dumplings stopped being relegated to lunch menus. Five rooms below run a real weekend brunch service that reads like a tour through Asia at 11:30 AM, with the kitchen's full attention and the room's warmest light.
Your Plan, Stop by Stop
1. Bonnie's → 2. Kopitiam → 3. Fish Cheeks → 4. Pig and Khao → 5. Naks
1. Bonnie's — Greenpoint Cantonese-American — congee, cheung fun, late-morning room
Bonnie's at 398 Manhattan Ave is Calvin Eng's Cantonese-American room, the one that brought Greenpoint a brunch that's actually about cheung fun and a milk-tea-soju instead of bottomless mimosa. The kitchen plates a short weekend menu with the same care as dinner; the cheung fun is delicate, the lap cheong fried rice is the dish to share. Sunday at 12:30 the room turns fast — be on time.
- Address: 398 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint (G train, Nassau Av).
- Best for: a 12:30 PM table-for-two with cheung fun and a milk-tea-soju.
- Order: the cheung fun, lap cheong fried rice, milk-tea-soju.
2. Kopitiam — Lower East Side Malaysian — kaya toast, kopi, all-day rice plates
Kopitiam at 151 E Broadway is Kyo Pang's Malaysian coffee shop, half diner and half daytime ritual. The kaya toast set is the right opening hand — soft-set egg, charred toast, a cup of white kopi — and the nasi lemak is the dish that holds the back of the menu. The room is quiet Sunday morning, walkable from the East Broadway F.
- Address: 151 E Broadway, LES (F train, East Broadway).
- Best for: a slow weekend morning with kopi and kaya toast for one.
- Order: the kaya toast set, nasi lemak, white kopi.
3. Fish Cheeks — NoHo Thai weekend service — coconut crab curry, sticky rice, room with light
Fish Cheeks at 55 Bond Street is Chat & Ohm Suansilphong's NoHo Thai room, the one that put coconut crab curry on the city's weekend short-list. Brunch service runs a tight set of dishes the kitchen does well — crab curry, the sticky rice, the basil-fried mussels — under the room's natural light. Walk in late lunch and the wait is honest.
- Address: 55 Bond St, NoHo (6 train, Bleecker).
- Best for: a 1:30 PM long table with the coconut crab curry and friends.
- Order: coconut crab curry, sticky rice, a Thai iced coffee.
4. Pig and Khao — LES Filipino-Thai — Leah Cohen's room, the boozy Filipino brunch
Pig and Khao at 68 Clinton is Leah Cohen's Filipino-Thai room, the one that taught the LES brunch crowd to eat sisig over fried rice for breakfast. Weekend service plates the silog set, the sisig fried rice, the longanisa breakfast — the kitchen's full muscle, applied at noon. Loud, warm, generous; the calamansi mimosa is the upgrade everyone should order.
- Address: 68 Clinton St, LES (F train, Delancey).
- Best for: a noisy Filipino-Thai brunch with a long pour and a friend.
- Order: sisig fried rice, the silog plate, a calamansi mimosa.
5. Naks — East Village modern Filipino — Eric Valdez's room, ube soft-serve and silog plates
Naks at 119 E 7th Street is Eric Valdez and Cheryl Quesada's modern Filipino room — the one that's quietly become NYC's most-tagged Filipino kitchen since 2024. Weekend brunch plates a tight set: the classic silog platter, the Filipino fried-chicken sandwich the city queued for last fall, sugpo (grilled prawns), and an ube soft-serve that closes the meal honest. The L-shaped counter holds twelve; Sunday at noon, walk in.
- Address: 119 E 7th St, East Village (6 train, Astor Pl).
- Best for: a Sunday brunch at the L-shaped counter with a Filipino fried-chicken sandwich.
- Order: the classic Filipino platter, the fried chicken sandwich, ube soft-serve.
How to actually use this
- Sunday 12:30–1:30 is the cleanest walk-in window for all five rooms
- Lead with Kopitiam if you want a quiet morning; close on Naks if you want the loudest counter
- Bonnie's takes the G — bike back; Greenpoint to LES is fifteen minutes by Citi
- Pig and Khao + Naks are the Filipino bookends; eat one, save the other for a different week
NYC's best Sunday brunch isn't on a brunch menu. Five rooms, four neighborhoods, one city's worth of weekend rice.
#KarpoNYC #May2026
Sources consulted: Eater NY · NYMag — Grub Street · Resy · Time Out NY
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Photos and copy curated by Karpo NYC from each venue's own Instagram. Walk in honest, eat slow.
