Tuk Tuk Thai & Asian Market

ARGHH! One of my worst fears has been realized! Da place iz outta biznezz. I was reading recent reviews speculating about this, but I hadda call ta make sure.
Da phone iz dizconnekted!
I knew they were having lease problems the last time my wife and I were there a few months ago. But we (and I am sure they too) were hoping to have them resolved by finding a new location. I am going to Google this to see if they have made any announcements concerning this on line.
Sigh! The best damn panang curry sauce I’ve tasted in No. CA. has gone a glimmering. If I find out differently, I will update this dirge with a shout.
Captain Pie Hole
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by Captain Pie Hole, are copyrighted 2009 by Pie Hole Publishing. All rights reserved.

A quite hot yet balanced duck curry was mine to be had here. Any place that gives me thai hot without a «are you sure, whiteboy» dialogue is a cool place.
Worth noting is that they have some seemingly in house made mango and coconut icecreams, though I stayed with the tasty stand by of mango with sticky rice.
This does seem to be the seriously hot date venue off Telegraph as the lesbians and some track gear couples looked about ready to bang their dates on the table. Dinner and a show!

A lot people like this place for some reason… I need to find out what dish they are eating!
Every time I’ve eaten here I’ve received soggy noodles and/​or tough rice. I also find the sauces on the dishes that I’ve had to be unappealing.

I’m not sure this place is open any more. I wish they’d make it clear!

Tuk tuk thai has always been a reasonable market with basic Thai ingredients and a good place to grab a fast cheap meal. However, I was surprised to find them closed tonight at 7 pm — as their hours have been till 9 pm. I hope they manage to stay afloat even with the super-​competitor of Ranch 99 and all the local Thai restaurants.

I went here today with one of my clients. I’m pretty wary of almost every place she takes me; she relies on the Grocery Outlet (aka the gross out) and the 99 cent store for most, if not all, of her groceries and household items.
When we first walked in I was thinking «umm…okaaaaaaaaaaaay?» The market portion of the store looked like it had been pillaged during a blackout. The café portion of the store was tucked into a corner with no one in sight.
Once we approached the counter, two girls popped out of the back room. They were very friendly and instantly recognized my client and knew what she usually orders there — which was nice because she couldn’t remember what it was called.
I ordered the shrimp pad thai with a thai iced tea. The pad thai was just okay. It was pretty oily and all of the shrimp were cooked within an inch of their tiny lives. I did like how they added big strips of green onion to it. The thai tea was super sweet but tasted okay once I added some milk.
Of course, my client absolutely loved her pad thai with rice. She shoveled it into her mouth with glee. I’m sure we’ll end up there again, but I’ll leave the shoveling to her and her alone. :)

Their grocery is a little lacking, but you can definitely get the basics. They have sauces, meats, some instant noodles, a selection of wine and beer, and lots of dishware along with some rare thai-​style street vendor equipment.
Their café is great; there’s a standard display case next to the counter with noodles, chicken and curries. They can cook you some great fried noodles if you ask (try the pad see ew).

I can’t fit into my jeans anymore. I’ve heard of people blowing up in college, and then blowing up some more after college and then some more after marriage and even MORE after having kids, but now I think I’m actually seeing the reality of it all. From the looks of it, I think I am in the beginning stages of this ruthless path. Aside from my lack of exercise and bad eating habits, one of the biggest (hardy har har) things factoring into my recent weight gain is my love for Thai iced tea.
After spending frivilously on the 200 – 300 calorie drink almost every other day, I didn’t decide to stop this bad habit, but to rather learn how to make huge quantities on my own. So, after some quick research, I found out that I needed Thai tea leaves. After going to Orient Market, Ranch 99 and Lions Market and coming out empty handed, I knew that I had to make a trip to Tuk Tuk Thai.
Tuk Tuk Thai is really easy to spot off of the main street. About two doors down, there’s a small parking lot with spots designated for shoppers, so you don’t have to search for street parking. Once inside, you will notice that this place looks like its going out of business, but rest assured, they still have the staple ingredients (canned & some fresh) to get your favorite Thai dish made at home. They also have 2 types of Thai tea leaves (1 pound for about 3 bucks) which will make a butt load of Thai tea.
So, now that I have a gallon or so of Thai iced tea in my fridge, my next stop will be Crossroads Trading Co. to trade in my old jeans for something a little looser.

I guess they’re cutting back on stock — by a lot. I’m actually not sure what’s happening with them. I thought they were going out of business last year, but they’re still barely hanging on. They no longer have anything that I ever used to shop there for, so I no longer go. Occasionally I get desperate and try to zip by this place instead of Tokyo Fish Market further out of the way, or Ranch 99 even FURTHER out of the way, but it usually ends up being a wasted 15 minutes.
I don’t know what happened.

To be honest, I was expecting to find a greater variety of Thai products at this grocery. Clearly, this isn’t Los Angeles.
BUT still, as far as I know, this is the only Thai grocery store in the Bay Area. It’s a clean one, too, and while there are some empty shelves, the store itself is quite large. Also, in the city of Berkeley, it means a LOT to have an own free parking lot next door. For these reasons alone, they have our full support.
ITEMS: They have a fairly large selection of condiments, including spices, chili sauces, shrimp pastes, fish sauces, peanut sauces, currie pastes, etc. You’ll find a row of WINE and other beverages, plus noodles and snacks. They also have a small section of pharmaceutical and beauty products (shampoo, lotion, soaps, etc), as well as gifts, Thai clothes, dishes and random kitchenware.
The fresh produce section isn’t so impressive, and I wished they could carry more fresh fruits — not the canned. It’d also be nice to see more imported snacks — not just the kinds that we can easily find at Ranch 99, Marina Food, etc.
The only problem is that many of these products have Thai labels with no English translation. Thankfully, the girl at the register kindly examined my basket and told me what exactly I was purchasing!
COOKED FOOD: They serve food here, on one side of the store. Since we were there quite late in the afternoon (4pm), the ready-​made foods did not look fresh or appetizing… so we skipped the opportunity. *
PRICE: Although the prices are marked much higher than in Thailand (duh), they’re still reasonable.
SUM: I probably wouldn’t drive all the way up to Berkeley from Cupertino to shop here… but this will be a MUST stop whenever we make it up there.
* I was just informed by my dear friend Gur E that we could have the cook make FRESH food for extra $.50!

Good selection of thai staple foods. Curries and coconut milk, noodles and spices.
They also have a housewares section and clothing aisle. Some to-​go food stuff that they make fresh in the morning. And a good selection of beer.
And one other great thing, they have their own FREE parking lot!

First time to Tuk Tuk Thai & Asian Market and I was in a hurry so I didn’t get to check out everything. My friend who’s Thai shops here to get Thai ingredients and other stuff.
We went here to get a quick dinner. They have prepared food & they even cook stuff made to order. Since it was late in the day around 7pm on a Sat. the food didn’t look fresh. Luckily, A. got Pad Se Ew $ 6.25 — stir fried flat rice noodle in black soy sauce w/​Chicken. I got the same thing.
It was made Fresh and was super hot when we got it. Huge container full. With tax it was $ 6.80 (is that correct?).
I charged it. Forks, spoon, chopsticks available. Ask for hot sauce otherwise it’s boring to eat.
Credit cards taken. One unisex bathroom available.

This is a grocery store + deli-​ish area with take-​out Thai cuisine (which you can actually eat, cafeteria-​style, at one of their many clean and equipped tables).
The grocery area has produce, grocery, and alcohol, with an emphasis on Asian and Thai items. From my short stint in the old country, I can say that this would be the PERFECT place to come to put together an authentic Thai meal at home, or get some interesting (and even some basic) ingredients for the apartment. However, their produce prices didn’t look too competitive. Not that I roamed the grocery section that much – I really didn’t – since we went straight for the take out Thai.
This was fine! I liked it and ate it right there, putting plenty of their chili sauce over my feast. Sure the food came from a metal tin, was put over rice and was heated up in the microwave (mall style) but it tasted good and you can tell they put love into it. My friend went back to get hers heated again, so maybe they are a little rough around the edges, but no harm done in my book.
I heard a rumor that this place was closing soon (it is sorta empty) which is too bad. I’m sure if this was anywhere else but University, it would get (at least) more take-​out business.

I’ve been here a number of times to get groceries, and attempt to pick up something for lunch. They have a pretty decent inventory of both hard-​to-​find Asian foods and imported cookware. They even have ‘Hawaiian’ and other tropical wear. Overall cost is pretty cheap.
For lunch, I said ‘attempted’ because I’ve never seen anything that really appealed to me. If I’m telling myself ‘that might be good despite the way it looks’ that’s where I need to stop. Maybe it’s just authentic or something, but I’ll look to braver palates to make that decision.
There was a time in late 2007 /​early 2008 when they were nearly completely cleaned out. I asked them if they were shutting down, only to hear that they were going to move to another location, then decided to stay instead. I’ve not been back there in the past two months or so, but from the other more recent reviews, it looks like they’re back to normal. Good for them!

So I was feeling ambitious (and hungry) one night and decided that I wanted to impress my friends and treat them (and let’s me honest, myself) to home-​cooked Thai food. So I planned it all out. On the menu there would be:
Chicken Satay (w/​peanut sauce, of course)
Thai Tea
Tom Kha Gai/​Gung Soup
Sticky Rice
Plantain/​Tapioca Pudding
I gathered my ingredient list and headed off with the BFF to Tuk Tuk in search of those delicious Thai ingredients (mainly a TON of coconut milk!). It was rather late after work when we got there so the place was a little dead, but the folks working there were still very friendly. The owner Chef Thanu was available and he even walked around the store with us and helped us find all the ingredients we needed and gave me pointers on how to make each dish even better. They were out of the tea strainers needed to make Thai tea, so Chef Thanu lent me one of theirs! Talk about customer service! Oh and the bill? Waaaay cheaper than average grocery stores or going to a Thai restaurant and paying for meals for 5 people!

Sadly, the Tuk Tuk market is going out of business :(I went there for the first time on Saturday night after hearing word that they sold Roltee. Not only did they not have it but their shelves were sparse and the refrigeration was completely empty. They are currently selling some pre-​packaged seasonings but don’t expect to find much since they’ll be gone by the end of the month!
I believe they used to offer Thai cooking classes for $ 5 on Saturday! how cute! There’s also take out food, which is still being made and sold, but I probably won’t get to try it.
Although the place is hanging on by a thread, I had to give it 5 stars for the ‘history.’ My boyfriend and his family said they used to shop here all the time. They remember playing on the Tuk tuk too! (:
Sad to see it go and even more sad I didn’t get to utilize it!

The trick getting the maximum from a restaurant is tipping, but getting it from a grocery store, especially an ethnic one is subtler.
And it’s different depending on different cultures. With many Thai people, though, I’ve found that if you drop several Thai words you will generally get what you want.
Tuk-​Tuk is great because they have literally everything you need to make any Thai dish, and they also have a little cafeteria, which is great because sometimes shopping for Prik khing and tom yum ingredients makes me hungry on the spot.

Occasionally I can be a bit overwhelmed when walking into a specialty foods place such as this.
But the store is extremely bright, with lots of light and extremely clean looking.
It does rather rmind me of being in Thailand somewhat, with the racks full of Thai music an CDs, and tons of little cute things to browse…
A good curry selection and decent place to grab some glutinous rice (for those brave enough to try to make their own stickey rice!)

I’ve been here once, by accident. I was way down University with my friend when we stumbled across this market. It is extremely bright and clean, which is somewhat surprising for an Asian market. They also have all the good/​weird food that you can’t get in the Asian sections of stores like Berkeley Bowl. The prices are very reasonable, too. You can probably find more things at better prices if you are willing to travel, but in the Berkeley area this is the best Asian market I know of. If it wasn’t such a far walk for me, I’d probably come here weekly.
I’m pretty sure that this place is affiliated with the Tuk Tuk Thai restaurant on Shattuck, which isn’t such a great place. But this place is fortunately much better, and the food they were selling there looked great too.
I saw yesterday on Craig’s List that they have free weekly Thai cooking classes. I’ll be sure to come back here one week to check that out.
Oh yeah, you can get young coconuts here, which is a great find for coconut lovers like myself.

Decent selection of thai foodstuffs in a clean, well-​lighted store that won’t scare farangs.
The size of a small supermarket, this place has nearly all of the ingredients you’ll need for a thai feast, mostly at prices that are competitive with Erawan and other local thai markets. (If you head to International Drive in East Oakland, you can find things cheaper, but you may have to make multiple stops.)
They have a small assortment of thai housewares, including special pans for kanom krok, and thai woodstoves! There’s even a small boutique of hilltribe textiles at the front of the store, and a real tuk-​tuk in the middle of the place, looking cleaner than you ever saw one in Bangkok.
My first impression wasn’t all that good: the hot-​food counter looked pretty sad when I was there (lunchtime on a Monday) — it’s pretty nervy calling it a food court! — and the produce section was abysmally empty and overpriced. You’ll need to stop by Berkeley Bowl on your way home: bird chiles and kaffir lime leaves are twice the price at Tuk-​Tuk, and other, more exotic items are non-​existent.
Still, for packaged dry goods like noodles, curry pastes, and coconut milk, they’ve got you covered.