Don’t take a first date to Ha’s Snack Bar. It’s too risky. Behind the fogged-up windows and billowing white curtain of this hot, impossible-to-book Lower East Side restaurant, you’ll probably end up making plans to see each other again, even if you’re completely incompatible. We’ve seen solo diners proceed from just talking, to flirting, to ordering together. Exciting things happen at Ha's—and that's especially true of the deceptively simple dishes, with punchy flavors you won’t find anywhere else in the city. Thanks to an ever-changing chalkboard menu, you might not even find those dishes again here, the very next night. At Ha's, the day's specials are something truly special.

photo credit: Willa Moore

video credit: Britt Lam

video credit: Molly Fitzpatrick

video credit: Britt Lam

From the folks behind beloved pop-up Ha’s Đặc Biệt, Ha’s Snack Bar draws a line down Broome Street that even those with allergies to waits of any length should consider standing in. (Come half an hour before they open for a shot at walking in.) The restaurant in the former Gem Wine space isn’t strictly Vietnamese, but almost everything is laced with a brain-tickling dose of fish sauce, often accompanied by a jolt of bird’s eye chilis. Snails come bathed not in the parsley-green of persillade, but the deep, caramel brown of tamarind butter. And any dish involving their impeccably crispy pastry is guaranteed to be spectacular.

photo credit: Willa Moore

photo credit: Carlo Mantuano

photo credit: Willa Moore

photo credit: Willa Moore

photo credit: Sonal Shah

The open kitchen barely has room for two chefs, and in the walk-in closet of a dining room, you might be asked to scooch over a stool to make room for someone else. But Ha’s charms are hard to resist, particularly after a glass or two that’s been recommended off the eclectic wine list. You’ll want to linger here, feeling like a welcome guest at the kind of dinner party you wish you’d get invited to more often. Even things that might be familiar—an oyster, a bowl of french onion soup—feel shiny and new in the dreamy, flattering glow of candles and paper lamps.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Willa Moore

Oysters With Green Chili

A staple of the menu. The oysters have a subtle heat, and an herbaceousness that bursts like a small illegal firework. They’re nice, but at $5 each, one should be fine.

photo credit: Willa Moore

Snails With Garlic & Tamarind Butter

Another Ha’s fixture, and one of our favorites. Six snails arrive sizzling with a warm hunk of baguette to soak up all the tamarind butter, their earthiness harmonizing with its sweet tang. The smell alone could turn a nun feral.

Ha's Onion Soup

A lovely, cilantro-forward, and surprisingly refreshing take on french onion soup, reimagined with a pho-like broth.

photo credit: Molly Fitzpatrick

Tuna Carpaccio With Rhubarb

There’s typically at least one raw dish on the menu—like beef carpaccio with mắm nêm, fish mint, and peanuts, or a salmon crudo crowned with generations of roe. Whatever it is, you’d be wise to order it. In this case, a meaty slab of tuna is a perfect textural match for crunchy pickled rhubarb, with a generous glug of olive oil and a sneaky bird’s eye chili tingle.

Chicken Liver Pate On Toast

Expect to see at least one toast on the menu at Ha’s. They’re generally good, but this one stands out as a must-order. From now on, every time we eat chicken liver that hasn’t been upgraded with chilis, cilantro, and a raisin agrodolce, we’ll be a little disappointed.

photo credit: Sonal Shah

Branzino With Mắm Nêm, Chicories & Peanuts

Branzino isn’t something we order lightly. There's just so much of it everywhere. But Ha's version—four pieces of savory-fleshed fish, its skin encrusted with toasted pepper, fennel and other spices that provide as much texture as they do flavor—is too good to pass up. It comes atop bitter chicory leaves painted with a spicy dressing.

photo credit: Hannah Albertine

Black Pudding Tartlet With Kumquats

Extraordinary, and not just because it’s built on a base of the pastry we love so much. The tart is burnished to the approximate color and grain of an antique cherry dresser, the kind of estate-sale treasure you redecorate your entire apartment around. The pillow-soft sausage is rich and earthy, yet eats surprisingly light, and it’s well paired with bright, sweet kumquats that ring like a chime.

photo credit: Molly Fitzpatrick

Desserts

Order all three available desserts at Ha’s (or share them with the friend you just made at the bar). We've loved a tamarind-sour rhubarb jam tart with a flaky crust, as well as multiple Dreamsicle variations involving citrus-on-citrus layers of fruit, granita, sorbet, and whipped cream. Keep an eye out for anything that involves crushed ice—like the almost bitter, barely set creme caramel, topped with a creamy, fluffy coffee granita.