Category Archives: Thai
“At high tide fish eat ants; at low tide ants eat fish”
Thai Proverb
Bangkok Bistro is one of my favorite restaurants & I’m so happy that I have one here in Schenectady with me to eat at whenever I want but in case you haven’t heard, there’s a new location in Colonie (luckily, right around the corner from my boyfriend’s house)! 
On July 4th of this year, their new location opened on 1619 Central Ave by Krause’s Candy. I went there recently to check out the new location and I decided to try one of the meals I’ve been eyeballing for quite sometime. This restaurant is smaller than the Schenectady location but it’s got a good feel to it. I pulled up to it and there were fire torches outside – hard to miss!
My favorite thing to order is their Steamed Pot Stickers. I can’t help but order it each time I go, I love the curry sauce with peas and the chicken/veggie mix inside is really tasty. This time I decided to order something new. I always saw the jalapeno poppers on the menu and I’m lactose intolerant so I never ordered them because of the cream cheese. Prepared with my lactaid, I decided to do for it and to my surprise they weren’t the poppers I was used to but in the form of a roll – with salmon! I could taste the salmon and it made the flavor of this roll so much better than regular poppers that tend to be bogged down with cream cheese. Covered in panko, the crunchy bread crumbs kept the poppers from being too spicy while giving the roll more texture than the oil soaked fried skin that I’m used to.
I love this restaurant & I seem to always find something new I want to try so don’t be surprised if it shows up here often. Haven’t been? Give it a try! Don’t forget to check out their long list of martini flavors!
“To the ruler, the people are heaven; to the people, food is heaven.”
Ancient Proverb
If you live near or hang out in the Schenectady area, I’m sure you’ve been to Bangkok Bistro (268 State Street & soon to be on Central Ave, Colonie). Not only are they known for their great drink & appetizer specials on the weekend but also for the reasonably priced amazing dinner food. 
Before eating here for the first time a couple of years ago I’d never had Thai food and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. When going into a restaurant with unusual food, what’s the first thing to do? Order something you HAVE heard of and for me it was pot stickers. Their pot stickers, either chicken or veggie (I prefer veggie) is topped with peas and curry sauce. For $7.95 you get 5 pot stickers and if you don’t taste the spice with the first bite, make sure you have water before your next. If your order these potstickers, I would recommend ordering something not so spicy for your second course unless that’s how you like your food.
My most recent trip to Bangkok, I ordered Pad Thai – one of my favorite Thai dishes and perfect for those who aren’t used to Thai food. For $11.95, they describe it as “The best known and most popular noodle dish in Thailand, prepared with Thin pan-fried rice noodles, egg, dried radishes, bean sprouts, & tofu, all sprinkled with crushed peanuts, scallions & cilantro.” This dish isn’t spicy at all, that’s why I’d recommend it for those who are having their first Thai experience. They give you enough to save some for the next day and this keeps very well overnight. Another dish I also enjoy is Drunken Noodle, also for $11.95 that they describe as “Large pan-fried rice noodles with egg, bell peppers, bamboo shoots, onions, and carrots all pan-fried in a spicy basil paste” and they’re not kidding about the spicy basil paste, that’s another dish that you should have water at the ready for.
You should also give their sushi a try when you get a chance. They break up their menu between sushi and sushi for beginners where everything is cooked. 
My favorite things to check out are their special Schenectady themed rolls or rolls made for events going on like their Lion King themed roll when the musical was at Proctors down the street.
Now for the best part of eating dinner, the dessert and this most recent trip to Bangkok was the first time I’d eaten dessert there. My favorite Asian dessert guilty pleasure is fried ice cream and I was so excited to see it on their menu. Fried vanilla ice cream with strawberry syrup was the perfect end to this meal. I know fried ice cream doesn’t sound tasty but take my word for it, give it a go. If you end up not liking the mixture, just take off the fried part and eat the ball of ice cream on the inside.
Bangkok Bistro is not only a great place to eat but a great place to socialize, have incredible drink specials and maybe a bit of karaoke on Wednesdays.
