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AMERICAN. Punch is one restaurant that lives up to its name, thanks to the zingy, eclectic cuisine of chef Richard Tang. This year-old Flatiron District spot draws a young and prosperous-looking crowd, many of whom congregate noisily around the bar. Still, dinner in the casual-but-chic dining room was removed enough from the din so that we could converse comfortably. Friendly service and moderate prices enhanced the experience.

The menu makes for both punchy reading and eating. An appetizer of "calamari cracklins" translated into fried squid, crisp on the outside, almost impossibly tender within, paired with Asian greens and two lively dips. Vegetable samosas, with cucumber yogurt dip and tomato chutney, were greaseless, delicate, adroitly spiced. Also winning was a starter of roasted fingerling potatoes with spiced salt and citrus chive creme fraiche, a truly offbeat take on the all-American potato salad.

Sesame-seared salmon set over a basmati rice crisp and strewn with pea sprouts lived up to the promise of its exotic aroma. Malay red vegetable curried soba noodles with tofu crisps was a piquant Thai-accented bowl of bright colors and happy flavors. Wok-charred chile prawns over fried black rice provided another culinary adventure. And if the linguini with oven-cured tomatoes, basil and herbed crumbles was a bit prosaic in concept, it was, in execution, a fresh and summery delight.

For dessert, a warm chocolate souffle was a marvelously dark ooze barely contained in its thin skin. A hot, deeply satisfying banana bread pudding melted both the accompanying vanilla ice cream and my resolve to eat sparingly.

Appetizers cost $6 to $14 (most under $10); entrees run $9 to $22 (most under $16), and desserts are $6. At prices like that, I expect to return. Often.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick

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Flatiron restaurants, Manhattan restaurants, American restaurants, Eclectic restaurants