Bangkok Thai Bistro

Friday evening we went with some friends for a birthday dinner at Bangkok Thai Bistro in Schenectady. It's a Thai restaurant and martini bar (sushi is also available on the menu). They also have karaoke on Wednesday - Friday evenings and offer discounted movie tickets to Bow-Tie cinemas.

I'd heard good things about the place, and the moment we walked into the restaurant, we were hit by this amazing smell and knew the food was going to be good. When we sat down we ordered a round of drinks (Since they advertise their restaurant as a martini bar, I just had to try one of their specialty drinks, so I ordered a flirt-ini).

We were very impressed that the menu said (in bold) to see your server with any dietary restrictions. I asked our waitress about gluten free options, and she had a chef check off all of the safe dishes on the menu. There were a lot of options, including the following:

• Chicken Sate - Marinated, char grilled chicken on skewers, served with peanut sauce
• Tom Kai Chicken - Chicken soup made with coconut milk and gal angal
• Sweet and Sour - Choice of meat sauteed with fresh garlic, ground peppers, mushrooms and baby corn, in a light brown sauce
• Green Garden - Choice of meat steamed with green vegetables topped with house peanut sauce
• Fish Coconut (Steamed or crispy) broiled fillet of fish topped with panang curry sauce
• Thai Curries - Red, Green, Yellow, Panang, and Masaman curries
• Thai Inter - A combination of crispy duck, scallops and shrimp served with bell peppers, baby corn, and mixed vegetables in a panang curry sauce
• Bistro Duck - A half duck served crispy and topped with bell peppers, string beans, snow peas and bamboo shoots in a green curry sauce
• Bistro Curry - Combination of shrimp, scallops, squid and mussels sauteed in a panang curry sauce

Obviously, since menu items can change over time, I'd double check their list of safe items, but this is a pretty good list of choices! Several of the dishes are marked with a level of spiciness which can be adjusted either way for personal taste.

I'll admit that I didn't order anything gluten free - I couldn't resist the drunken noodles - but my husband tried the Thai Inter and really enjoyed it. We both cleaned our plates! We had both gone to the gym before meeting at the restaurant, and I thought my portion was perfect but my husband was still a little hungry - if you have a large appetite you might want to consider ordering an appetizer first.

The prices aren't that bad either - dinners usually range between 10 and 20, though the alcohol is pricey - 6-8 dollars for a mixed drink is a little steep, especially when it's small-ish and kind of weak.

Overall we were happy with our experience and have added Bangkok Thai Bistro to our list of restaurants to visit regularly. And a sweet end to the evening? Walking back to our car we saw that Villa Italia was open late, so we stopped in and bought some of their delicious almond paste - and gluten free - cookies!