Blue Ocean Thai Restaurant

Blue Ocean Thai Restaurant opened just over a month ago and owners Wanida Tienchai and Chivanan Phanphongsa are determined to bring a different taste of Thailand to the city. In an elegant renovation, they have turned a two-storey Keawe St. property into a tasteful dining room with outside lanai seating, and an upstairs lounge complete with state of the art karaoke and full bar.

It’s an unusual mix, but one that should attract both foodies in search of different flavors, and late night singers seeking spicy accompaniment to their favorite songs.

I stopped by for lunch and to try a couple of the signature dishes and found the menu to be different from most Thai restaurants in town. A mix of impressive presentation, bright colors and fresh flavors, the dishes have influences from Chinese cuisine as well as the Thai country cooking of Wanida’s background. After lunch we chatted about the restaurant and the creation of the Blue Ocean menu.

Jo McGarry:

Did you grow up around restaurants, or just eating well?

Wanida Tienchai:

Yes, eating very well. I grew up about three hours from Bangkok, in the country, so I was eating everything from the land and always eating at home.

Our mom cooked all day and we raised our own food. I learned everything from there. The first thing I learned was about spicy food – in the morning we’d eat mild food and it got spicier throughout the day. My father was Chinese, so we had some Chinese influence in the less spicy dishes. Our experience of food was great and it becomes instinctive to know the recipes and learn how everything is cooked.

JM:

Blue Ocean Thai seems a little different to me. There are dishes on the menu that either have different names – Paradise of Ocean, Shrimp and Scallop Fantasy, Ravioli Soup – or are new dishes.

WT:

Yes, they’re new to most people. We tried lots of Thai restaurants here and found that in most of them the flavors are changed to suit American palates.

I wanted to open a restaurant that really spoke of Thai flavors and a place where people who have been to Thailand would come and recognize the dishes. People like to eat different food.

JM:

Even the dishes that seem familiar, like Pad Thai, taste different to me. Your Pad Thai has a nuttier, more complex flavor, I think.

WT:

That’s right. You can taste the difference because we make our own sauces from scratch. It’s really different. The Pad Thai is a good dish to order because people familiar with the dish can immediately taste the difference.

JM:

And you have signature dishes that are quite bold…

WT:

Yes, the Tamarind Duck is served with tamarind and fresh mango, and our Paradise of Ocean is a signature dish of jumbo shrimp stuffed with crabmeat and tossed in Panang sauce over angel hair pasta.

JM:

That doesn’t sound very ‘country’. Sounds much more like Thai fusion to me.

WT:

Well we wanted to take a simple dish like the shrimp and then change a few ingredients. The angel hair pasta is a good texture with the dish, the panang sauce is homemade Thai curry sauce and brings a lot of flavor. The flavors are rich because of the sauce and coconut milk, and we stuff the shrimp with scallops and crab.

JM:

At lunch you offer a great value way of people to taste several dishes for under $10. There’s an appetizer, a soup and an entrée for just $9.95. That’s a good deal.

WT:

Yes, people can choose from different entrees and appetizers and we’ll change and rotate the menu at lunch. And on Sunday evenings we’ve started an all you can eat buffet that’s just $14.95

JM:

I think that’s a first – a Thai all-you-can-eat buffet.

WT:

Well we weren’t sure we really wanted to do it, because people sometimes think if you do buffet then you can’t really do anything great, but our buffet offers about 18 different dishes and we just treat them like we’re cooking to order. The cooks are working the whole time rotating out dishes and making sure that they stay fresh. People seem to love it and the word is spreading pretty fast about the Sunday buffet.

JM:

And at the end of dinner, even if you don’t think you have room, you probably should order the fried ice cream…

WT:

Yes, of course! It’s another signature dish and something else that we don’t think you’ll find anywhere else.

We take the ice cream and dip it into a coconut batter and then deep-fry it. It’s light and hot and cold at the same time. It’s proving to be very popular already.

Blue Ocean Thai Restaurant and Karaoke

327 Keawe Street Honolulu 585.9545

Lunch 11:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Mon – Friday

Dinner 5.p.m – 9 p.m.
Sun – Thur

Dinner 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturday

www.blueoceanthairestaurant.com

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