Bai Tong

Bai Tong is the greatest Thai restaurant on the Eastside (as shown by the fact that it now has a location in Seattle). If you can get a table at the Redmond location on a weekday, they offer wonderful spins on Thai staples like pad se ew and garlic green bean and shrimp stir fry, plus they have special occasion vibes that make the whole place feel more like a nightclub lounge.

In 1989, a Thai Airways employee launched Bai Tong near Sea-Tac, offering courteous waiters dressed in traditional silk clothing and vibrant meals like aromatic meang kum lettuce wraps, gorgeous crispy garlic chicken, and a consoling banana-coconut milk kluay buat chee dessert to lonely ex-pats. Bai Tong has been relocated to a more tourist-friendly location in Southcenter (plus Redmond and Issaquah). The restaurant introduced a casual Pike/Pine sister with its own street food menu in 2017, delivering delicate jewels of mussel encased in crispy layers of fried egg, as well as a ton of outstanding pork belly.

Location: 16876 Southcenter Pkwy, Tukwila, WA 98188

Website: https://www.baitongrestaurant.com