Beyond BuHi: 5 spots for global flavors across metro ATL
Buford Highway may be Atlanta’s best-known destination for international dining, but outside of this famous stretch, immigrant-owned restaurants continue to transform neighborhoods across our city.
This month, we cover a pioneering Thai expansion, an Australian bakery in Marietta, a mezcalaria in Midtown, a hand-pulled noodle shop in Kennesaw and Syrian snacks popping up at farmers markets all around town.
Pink Lotus Thai Restaurant
Thailand-born Niki Pattharakositkul has built an empire in the city she’s called home since her teens. At only 26 years old, fresh out of culinary school, she opened her first 26 Thai location in Buckhead. In just a decade, her restaurant group has become a reliable bet for approachable Thai favorites across nine neighborhoods, branching out into new concepts beyond 26 Thai.
Just last year, she opened the sultry Blackjack Bar Tapas in Midtown, Pink Lotus and, most recently, Terminal 26, a Thai floating market concept at Ponce City Market. Pink Lotus is her grandest ode to her heritage.
“I really wanted to push Thai food to the next level,” Pattharakositkul said, working with Thai embassy alumna chef Sam Anchalisangkat to explore regional dishes new to Atlantans with elevations of Thai home-cooking favorites. After garnering a bevy of critical acclaim, it’s safe to say she’s done it.
The must-order for every table is the Tasting Trio, which reimagines popular flavors like massaman curry into single-bite appetizers that play with expectations and texture.
The Isan beef tartare is another runaway hit; the traditional dish is upgraded with a dramatic reveal as smoke from a translucent dome dissipates after infusing the meat with earthy depth. And it doesn’t get more homestyle than the steamed whole branzino, topped with fresh lime and served in a chile-and-garlic sauce.
Since its opening, the menu has expanded to include Bangkok bird dumplings — an adorable, avian-shaped Royal Thai dish — and the crispy soft-shell and lump crab curry noodles, served with rice noodles, mixed vegetables and a boiled egg. For dessert, an elegantly dressed mango sticky rice answers popular demand, but she’s particularly excited to introduce Atlanta to sweet, chewy Bua Loy, which fittingly translates to “floating lotus.”
Cocktails are modern, too, and similarly challenge tropes. Try a passion fruit margarita with housemade salty-sweet nam prik and chile lime or a somtum martini that channels green papaya salad. Sip them in a dining room vibrant with every shade of pink imaginable, or at the enormous tile bar under night market-style neon lights.
Pattharakositkul said a second location, in Alpharetta, is coming soon.
976 Brady Ave. NW, Atlanta. 470-346-2609, pinklotusthai.com.
3+3 Lanzhou Ramen
Those living west of Ga. 400 and I-75 craving Lanzhou, China’s famous bouncy hand-pulled noodles, needn’t trek to Doraville. They can get them just north of Marietta, thanks to Xue Zhong (Sam) Lin, who opened his own outpost of the Doraville Lanzhou Ramen in October 2020 after helping to found the BuHi original in 2017.
Stacey Ke, manager of 3+3 Lanzhou Ramen, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that as a teen in Fuzhou, China, Lin had already begun learning how to cook for others, working in an informal but traditional apprenticeship with local operations. After gaining several years of experience cooking in his homeland, Lin made the move to Atlanta in 1995. He then spent his 20s working in different types of Chinese restaurants, mastering various regional styles, as well as learning about Thai cuisine, before meeting chefs from Lanzhou, China, who generously shared their region’s culinary craft with him and, in turn, Atlanta.
Despite 3+3 Lanzhou’s more contemporary-casual design, the spotlight remains on tradition. The entrance to the kitchen is a facade of a rustic Chinese storefront, a sloping roof and cheery red banners hanging over faux brick and a big glass window. Diners of all ages congregate here to watch noodles being thrown, pulled and whipped into shape before being dropped into a rich Gansu-style broth with beef cuts, oxtail and more or wok-fired with flavors from northwestern China, like spicy cumin — vestiges of Lanzhou’s Silk Road history.
Don’t let geographical accuracy steer you away from flavors from other parts of China, though. The soup with roast pork or roast duck well-emulates Hong Kong-style, and the pan-fried Shanghai pork buns are a textural joy of soft, juicy and crunchy. Thin-skinned dumplings connected by a crispy skirt, like those found in Taiwanese street markets, are also done well, alongside Xi’an’s Chinese lamb burgers and Sichuan’s dry-fried string beans. It’s a challenge not to go too hard on this national tour, but trust us — saving your appetite for those noodles is worth the restraint.
2700 Town Center Drive, Kennesaw. 678-403-8433, 33lanzhouramen.com
Australian Bakery Cafe
In 2001, Neville Steel hadn’t been in the U.S. long before he and lifelong friend and fellow Aussie Mark Allen opened up shop in Marietta Square only nine months later. While the area was new to master baker Steel, the traditions were not. “Baking has been a part of my family for generations — I learned the trade from my father using traditional methods,” Steel said. “Those roots still shape everything we make today.”
Allen has since passed his torch to then-employee Christine Beecham and her husband, Jesse, who now share co-ownership with Steel and a passion for preserving what Christine calls an “important piece of Australian culture in Georgia.” This means curating their imported goods (get your Marmite fix here, mates); baking sausage rolls; making dramatically filled pavlovas; layering thick Lamingtons; and, of course, turning out an abundance of meat pies — the item Steel is most proud of bringing to Atlanta.
He explained, “For Australians living overseas, a meat pie is more than food — it’s comfort, nostalgia and a reminder of home, and that longing was one of the biggest reasons we opened the bakery in the first place!”
Any given day, there are roughly 23 varieties of handmade, baked-daily meat pies available at the shop and to order for shipping, as well as a full display case of pastries. Dine in with the all-day breakfast menu, fish and chips and “sanga” sandwiches on house-baked natural bread (try the cheddar bacon) and definitely get one of their uber-affordable sweet treats to go.
48 S. Park Square, Marietta. 678-797-6222 australianbakerycafe.com
Patria Mezcaleria
If there’s anyone who knows agave, it’s chef Octavio Aguirre, who opened Pata Negra, now called Patria Mezcaleria, in 2023, just three years after he arrived in the U.S.
His origin story begins not far from the agave fields of Jalisco, Mexico, a place reflected in his restaurant’s decor. Dry agave roots hang from the bar of the only mezcaleria in Atlanta, and a wall of threshing tools is displayed steps away. A color scheme of deep greens and inky charcoals brings a sultry warmth that invites guests to linger over their tequila like the smoke that lends mezcal its flavor.
“Our carefully curated collection of mezcal, tequila, raicilla and other agave spirits showcases the artistry and traditions of Mexico’s master producers. … Each tells a story of craftsmanship, terroir and heritage,” he wrote in a recent email exchange with this reporter.
They’re used in well-crafted cocktails such as “swicy” drinks with citrus fruits, charcoal-infused recipes and floral, garden-fresh combinations. And they’re best enjoyed on the well-sheltered street-front patio with snacks that include sopes handmade from heritage blue corn masa, then layered with roasted proteins and nods to seasonal cooking, such as a juicy watermelon aguachile.
What Aguirre is most proud of bringing to Atlanta are his various regional moles. His are made completely from scratch, with dozens of ingredients slow-simmered to velveted complexity.
For something less saucy, the achiote-grilled salmon with chimichurri and carne asada steak will hit the spot. Hearty eaters can’t miss with the bounty of a molcajete, but for dressed-up traditional comfort, order the chipotle-spiked fideo seco with chicharron on toasted vermicelli. Five hours of validated parking will give you plenty of time to try it all.
1777 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. 404-343-6212, patriamezcaleria.com
Sweet Sweet Syria
Ruwaida and Khaled Kdhir fled Syria 10 years ago with little more than they could carry, leaving well-established lives in the hope of raising their children somewhere safer. They found refuge in Atlanta, where Ruwaida made ma’amoul cookies for friends, neighbors and guests using the same molds her mother and grandmother used to teach her the craft.
She didn’t think much more of it other than tradition until a friend suggested she start a business, and in 2016, to farmers markets they went.
Since then, Sweet Sweet Syria has become a staple at weekly markets across the city, serving cooked and prepared foods made the “real Syrian way” daily.
Their savory items are in such high demand that the ma’amouls that started it all are now only available during Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. Cookies like crumbly, buttery betefours that nestle jam fillings are complex on their own, but “we make pistachio, a sesame roll with a date center, coconut, chocolate betefours, vanilla betefours, and date cookies,” she said of the limited seasonal orders. However, baklava is a year-round offer at their tent.
Syrian dishes, like the walnut-and-red-pepper-stuffed tiny eggplant makdous Ruwaida is proud to have introduced to Atlanta, and bestsellers labneh, hummus and baba ghanouj are popular enough that, for a time, they branched out into private supper club bookings and fulfilling catering orders. In the next year, Atlanta can look forward to the next chapter of their story as they begin looking for restaurant space with Damascus flair, likely in Decatur.
The AJC will keep an eye out, but until then, we can catch them outside.
Avondale Estates Farmers Market, Emory Farmers Market, Tucker Farmers Market, Lilburn Farmers Market. 404-453-4738, sweetsweetsyria.com
Su-Jit Lin is a food and travel writer and a product of two generations of chefs; her entire childhood was spent in a restaurant kitchen. She writes from a celebratory lens, covering Atlanta’s diverse dining scene with appreciation for those who dream of feeding this city. As a daughter of immigrants herself, Beyond BuHi is a love letter to Atlanta’s uniquely unbounded immigrant influence, woven through the very fabric of every corner of this city as their food, techniques and traditions enrich our community.