REVIEW: SUWUN THAI HOME COOKING, Albany

Jul 29

Suwun Thai Home Cooking

234 Western Ave. Albany | suwunthaialbany.com

We like it for: Drinks + dinner at the bar, date night, outdoor dining on small front patio, large group at a central communal table, private back room, power lunches with a prix fixe weekly menu for under $15.
Must try: Thai coffee, Thai-inspired cocktails, shrimp donuts, classic wok dishes, chicken pho, sticky rice desserts. Try Suwun’s signature kao soi gai, a creamy, chicken coconut curry seasoned with lemongrass, ginger, chile and lime with bok choy, rice noodles and a crown of fried noodles or tom kha gai, a coconut-chicken cream soup with galangal, kaffir lime leaves, cilantro and lime.
The Vibe: Warm, neighborhood restaurant feel, with dim lighting. Feels upscale but is actually casual and inviting.
Sound: Khruangbin, Leon Bridges playlist
Style: A subtle reimagining of the former Cuckoo’s Nest with the bar and dining room left intact and a large mural of a Thai royal barge on one wall and fuchsia-and-white climbing floral arrangement at the door and climbing across the ceiling.

Two Brooklyn restaurateurs moved their small restaurant team upstate and slipped seamlessly into the turnkey space of the former Cuckoo’s Nest, (or before that The Ginger Man wine bar) in Albany’s Pine Hills, with a fabulous makeover that includes wall murals and cascading floral installations. The cool, multi-seat bar remains unchanged and the team brought in their most popular cocktails from their former location making it a cool spot to grab a drink and a bite.

Suwun, (named after the chef’s mother) emphasises comfort home cooking with recipes learned at home in central Thailand. You’ll find familiar northern and southern Thai dishes like red and green curries, peanut- and coconut-thickened sauces and crunchy spiced salads or noodle broths, but Westernized appetizers like “shrimp in a blanket” and “shrimp donuts” - rings of pressed and panko-breaded minced shrimp and chicken with a dipping plum sauce - are added fun you should try. The slim menu feels like a best hits list with pad Thai and som tum (spicy green papaya salad) alongside Thai chicken wings, summer rolls and a tangle of marinated and fried pork belly (moo kem tod). For spicier dishes, servers inquire and the kitchen will customize the heat.

Share fried (pra rad prik) or steamed (pla ma now) whole branzino with garlic-chile-lime sauce, or split an impressive pork belly sauteed in basil and topped with fried eggs. From the wok list, we love their crisp-skinned juicy duck draped in red curry-peanut sauce over sauteed vegetables and sticky white rice. Pros will save room for dessert sliced mango with sticky coconut rice, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf or fried ice cream. All three are good.

Parking: Rear parking lot and street parking
Nearby: 1. The Argus Hotel 2. El Patron Mexican Cantina 3. Mr. Pio Pio 4. Sovrano’s Pizza 5. Mystic Momos 6. Shining Rainbow 7. Bar Vegan (V.) 8. Bitchin’ Donuts (V.) 9. La Polleria Peruvian Rotisserie 10. Herbie’s Burgers 11. Larkin’s HiFi Record Bar 12. Saba al Yemen