Long Cha Thai Cafe Brings Thai Drinks & Desserts to Beacon’s Main Street

“We love sweets,” says Santawong Maenmuean of his native Thailand. “We’re famous for it.” Along with partners Rawi Daeng and Pirata Noopun, he recently opened Long Cha Thai Café in Beacon, which specializes in the sweet drinks and desserts that the Southeast Asian country is known for.

A sign in the cafe reads “Welcome to Our Happy Place.” And it seems true. The three 30-something principals in the business have fun serving Thai desserts and drinks at the café, whose name translates to “try Thai tea” and which opened on Beacon’s Main Street last week.

Here’s hoping they enjoy it because after they close at 5pm on weekdays (dark on Mondays) and 6pm on weekends, they’re off to their respective full-scale Thai restaurants Golden Buddha in Fishkill (Daeng and Maenmuean) and Lopburi Thai in Wappingers Falls (Noopun). That’s at least 12 hours of work per day, plus the trio also lives together in Wappingers Falls.

“We like it here,” says Noopun, smiling as she rings up a customer. “We’re not family, technically, but we are in another sense.” Long Cha focuses on the dulcet drinks and dessert that Thailand is known for. Everything is made from scratch with ingredients procured at 3 Aunties Thai Market in an area of Elmhurst, Queens, known as Thai Town.

The trio came to New York for school and met at a restaurant in Queens. On their off days, they visited Beacon and liked it enough that they decided to leave the big city to open their restaurants about a year ago. They began working on the café, figuring that “there are a lot of coffee shops in Beacon, so people might like an alternative,” according to Maenmuean.

The staff at Middle Eastern restaurant Zaitun across the street are big fans. After server Nicolas Demilio juggled six large drinks for the staff, chef Jose Peregrino came in to get a frozen coconut milk concoction ($7.50). Thai iced tea can also be served with crushed ice to help beat the heat ($7.50).

Condensed milk adds body to the tea and coffee drinks ($6). Even a glass of Ovaltine, a delicacy in Thailand, includes a shot of heavy white fluid that clouds the drink. This is the place to get Cha-Manow, Thai tea with lime and ginger, Cah-Kiew (Thai green tea) and Nom-Yen, translated as pink milk, a traditional beverage served with Sala fruit syrup and milk. Tea-based soft drinks can be served flat or with bubbles and include mango, lychee, strawberry, passion fruit ginger ($7) and hot ginger ($5). Toppings ($1) include white pearl, brown sugar pearl, green jelly, rainbow jelly (to make bubble tea) and, for vegans, coconut milk.

Thai rice pudding, made with rice flour, coconut milk, and sugar ($10) is served in small individual dishes with spoons that look like golden shovels. Linda Arce of Fishkill and her family enjoyed a serving. “Definitely fresh, delicious, and not overly sweet,” she says. Thai tea ice cream also delivers a subtle dose of sugar. Not on the menu, but available by request, mango sticky rice is the most-renowned Thai dessert according to Noopun.

The trio created several dessert selections, including Pang Island, which consists of toasted bread with tangy pandan custard or Thai tea custard and ice cream ($12). Other items with steamed or toasted bread are the Pang Neung ($10), the Volcano (Thai tea or Ovaltine with corn flakes, $12) and Combo Cha Thai (Thai tea custard and ice cream, $10).

Thai Street Ice Cream ($12) consists of coconut ice cream with toppings, Sweet n Cool ($12) is a shaved ice drink with toppings and they also offer a Grilled Banana with coconut caramel sauce ($10). Ice cream comes in three flavors: Thai tea, coconut, and green tea ($6.50), which includes corn flakes and a coconut cookie.

The cozy spot with an exposed brick wall is geared toward take out but offers several tables. Behind the counter is a rack of shelves filled with Thai pots, dishware, and three-chambered pintos, a convenient way to tote around food portions (similar to Indian tiffins).

At Noopun’s restaurant, Golden Buddha Thai, the focus is on an array of food dishes. They offer a few drinks and several desserts. Lopburi Thai also presents an extensive menu with six duck dishes and seven desserts, along with basil lemonade, lychee black tea, and fresh coconut water.

Sometimes they stream Thai pop music in their Beacon cafe, but whatever they play, people sing, and dance along, says Noopun: “They know that this is a place to have fun and let loose.”

This article appears in August 2024.