Have You Tried Bayside Coffee & Tea’s Authentic Thai Food?

Buzz around Suttons Bay has been building this summer about the from-scratch Thai cuisine that owners Tak and Randy McMillan are now offering every day at Bayside Coffee & Tea (310 Saint Joseph Street). It started with a perfected Pad Thai and now more traditional specialties are getting their day in the sun: green, massaman, panang and yellow Thai curries; aromatic larb accented with herbs; and a luscious tom yum soup. Randy shares that he’s hoping Tak can source green papaya for a refreshing som tam salad with “a dressing made on the spot, with garlic, tomatoes, chiles, palm sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and peanuts.”

Tak was born and raised in Thailand, then attended chef school there before working in Germany in Thai restaurants for several years. As Bayside Coffee & Tea’s website shares of the McMillans’ meant-to-be meeting: Tak managed the coffee house in Bangkok of a coffee roasting company run by an American friend of Randy’s; they met and eventually brought their dream family business to Michigan.

Randy says that adding a Thai menu to their hometown coffee and tea shop was a natural, especially with one of Tak’s family members — another Thai cuisine specialist — in town this summer. Together they are taking tamarind, lemongrass, kaffir lime and coconut milk to new heights in their authentic sauces.

“Between the two they make it real Thai,” says Randy. “It tastes like what you would eat in restaurants or in someone’s house in Thailand.”

Dishes can be plated for dining in or ready for carry-out; all are available with chicken, pork or shrimp. Check out the full menu here; and updates when new dishes are added on Facebook.