Tuk Tuk’s
TukTuk’s is a newer addition to the food scene in Puerto Vallarta, located on the outskirts of the Versalles neighborhood, however once you step inside it’s almost like taking a little trip to Thailand! This venue is a larger spot, with several tables up in front near their full bar area, with bar seating as well, past that is a little sushi bar, and another dining area with several more tables, along the entire back wall is a gorgeous mural that is literally like stepping out on to a street in the nighttime glow of the busy streets in Bangkok, it is super cute, and just gives the whole venue an awesome and fun vibe! Having spent a year living in Thailand, it definitely gave us a nostalgic feeling, and some of the food evokes similar feelings of a visit to the nighttime markets, or food stands in Asia.
We’ve been here a few times, and seeing as this is the first restaurant of it’s kind here (not counting the “sushi” restaurants here), speaking very loosely about general Asian street food, market, and small restaurant cuisines. This one uses great ingredients and delivers all their food in a fun atmosphere, with a great bar selection, and caring service. We’ve started out with several of their cocktails including some classic ones; the tamarind raicillita (tangy, smoky, tasty!), the classic lime margarita (refreshing, and well balanced), a pineapple, tamarind, mezcal drink (tropical, and not too sweet), Negroni (why not? It was great!) and with our food we got some beers- noodles and beer just go together! They currently do not have any craft beer but said they were looking into it, so should have them available soon.
The menu here is a large fusion of Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese and between seafood, pork, beef, and vegetarian options there really is something for everyone on this menu. It’s quite large with it’s offerings, tons of apps, several noodle dishes, curries, protein based dishes, and “sushi” or more specifically maki roll type options (I say “sushi” because most of the rolls have cooked proteins, a couple have raw tuna, and there is no nigiri or sashimi, so just clarifying).
We’ve tried their pad Thai with shrimp (very very good pad Thai, balanced, not greasy at all, and overall just delicious and satisfying), the pork rib appetizer (these are Asian style ribs, so more like rib pieces, not braised, rubbed in 5 spice and fried, texture has some chew, but overall pretty tasty and good with a cold beer), the wings (if you get one thing, get these wings, they are so delicious, reminiscent of Thai style wings, salty, sweet, crunchy, and addicting!) the bun bowl (this dish we ordered with pork as the protein and the pork was char grilled pieces and yummy, the bowl is typically chilled rice noodles soaked in fish sauce, these weren’t really chilled and the sauce is on the side, pretty good all in all, less fresh herbs and pickles than the classic but still tasty), curry looked incredible but we didn’t get to try. The Dan Dan noodles were the only disappointment, and not really authentic at all, but again they just opened recently so giving them a pass on that seeing as I’m sure some kinks will be worked out! After living in the area for nearly half a year TukTuk’s absolutely satisfied our cravings, and we went back in about two days for more of those wings! Great addition to the international food options in Puerto Vallarta, and a fun vibe to boot!
