Thai is my personal favorite cuisine, and I am always searching for good Thai food. Austin now has an excellent Thai food at Thai-Kun- East side King. This place had amazing Thai with every dish served being perfect in taste, presentation, and uniqueness. Don’t just take my word, BonAppetit magazine also ranked it among the top 10 best new restaurants in America in 2014, the only food truck to make that list!
When Paul Qui, the famous Austin chef of Uchi and Uchiko and owner of Qui, decided to invest in food trucks with Asian fusion street food, he started -‘East side king’. On east side of 6th street with unique menus by chef Paul Qui and Moto Utsunomiya, he started ‘East side king’ food trucks. He also collaborated with chef Thai Changthong to showcase exclusive Thai food in THAI-KUN- east side king.
It’s interesting that being food enthusiasts me and my husband, a connoisseurs and aficionados of good food, drove around searching for East Side Kings Thai truck to search for its location. We located one of east side king trucks on east of 6th but looking at their menu, we chatted with the server Ben, about our quest for Thai menu ranked by Bon appetite. He enthusiastically gave us the address of their sister truck Thai-Kun’s location and recommended we shouldn’t miss out eating there.
Thai-kun is now housed by Whistler’s, bar on 6th and Chicon. After we park and enter through whistlers and Thai-Kun’s common entrance, we proceed to the food truck to order. It’s parked in the whistler lot with open air tables and chairs for dining. When we mentioned our driving around searching to try out their food, the server Paul at Thai –Kun was ardently recommending their top picks for us to choose.
We chose the Thai-Kun Fish Cakes– which are Deep fried fish cakes on pickled salad with ginger fermented bean sauce, Holy Basil, mint and cilantro; Grilled Bread with Peanut Curry Sauce– which is grilled baguette from Easy Tiger served with Thai’s peanut curry sauce and pickled salad; Black Noodles with Beef –which is rice stick noodles tossed in sweet dark soy and garlic oil, served with romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, celery, pickled mustard greens, peanuts, croutons, green onion, cilantro and lime; Beef Panang Curry -Beef chuck simmered in homemade panang curry, Kaffir lime leaf and holy basil; Chicken Fat Rice which is Jasmine rice, ginger, garlic, and chicken fat.
Each of these dishes are authentic in taste and flavors yet unique the way they are paired together with novelty and creativity. The hot and spicy bold flavors were reflected extra-ordinarily in the ‘Beef Panang curry’ and the ‘Black noodles with beef’, we loved it. The uniqueness of grilled bread with peanut sauce was fun and the fish cakes were deliciously exquisite. A simple dish as jasmine rice with chicken fat and ginger garlic was unique with its simple flavors. It reminded us of the delicious Indian flavor of rice with ghee (clarified butter). The menu was open to a lot of vegetarian options with meat or seafood or tofu add ons to cater to all patrons.
In spite of operating from just a food truck to such a large crowds, the service was not late and the ambience with the open air seating with Thai-Kun and Whistler patrons was pleasant. Looking forward to eat there again and hopefully in its brick and motor establishment one day!
Cuisine: Thai, Asian, Food truck
Chef: Thai Changthong
Price Range: Average
Rating: ****
Website: http://whislersatx.com/thai-kun
Location: 1816 E 6th ST, Austin, TX 78702; 512.480.0781; HOURS- 4pm – 2 am 7 days a week
Dishes Reviewed:
- Thai-Kun Fish Cakes-Deep fried fish cakes on pickled salad, ginger fermented bean sauce, Holy Basil, mint,cilantro.
- Grilled Bread with Peanut Curry Sauce -Grilled baguette from Easy Tiger served with Thai’s peanut curry sauce, pickled salad.
- Black Noodles with beef- Rice stick noodles tossed in sweet dark soy and garlic oil, served with
- romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, celery, pickled mustard greens, peanuts, croutons,green onion, cilantro, lime.
- Beef Panang Curry- Beef chuck simmered in homemade panang curry, Kaffir lime leaf, with steamed jasmine rice
- Chicken Fat Rice – Jasmine rice, ginger, garlic, chicken fat