Tiki, Thai, Speakeasy and Sushi – One Evening In Seattle

One Night in Bangrak (Because I told her I was going to title it that)

Update: since the original post, we have added to our Seattle list with another must-do tiki bar and a not quite nearby speakeasy…scroll to the bottom to read about them!

After a trip to the coast, Peggy and I had the fun of staying one extra night in Seattle where we “accidently” discovered a couple of new-to-us businesses. If you saw our original day drinking in Seattle blog post, you know we had previously hit quite a few spots and had an amazing time, but we were going to try to outdo that?

On this particular day, we were exhausted and just not feeling it, and actually debated just Door Dashing something to our hotel room. What is the point of having a balcony with a waterfront view if you don’t take the time to enjoy it?  Only what was supposed to be a waterfront view turned out to be a “rest of the hotel” view if you weren’t actually on the balcony.

Sister Side Note (ssn) – we were returning from a couple of nights on the Olympic Peninsula and had been in the pouring rain ALL day. Being native Washingtonians, we realize that it takes rain to make all of this incredible beauty. But we had had enough.

We had timed our arrival back in Seattle for sunset from our balcony at the Marriott Waterfront. The weather was clear in the city but the lack of balcony view was a disappointment and just kind of added to the mood. But the room was great and the view was beautiful (if you leaned left). So off to the hotel bar to plan our dinner.

Tiki – Ooh, is that a Tiki Bar?

Since it is sister-time we really wanted sushi. If you didn’t experience it during the pandemic, takeout sushi kind of sucks. Peggy convinced me that we should go out for sushi, and that we wouldn’t regret it. But we had no intention of bar hopping!

When we pulled up our Google maps Peggy noticed there was a tiki bar, Navy Strength just a couple of blocks away. We couldn’t get reservations at our sushi choice until 8:30 pm. So scratch what I just said, we decided that we should definitely start there. Due to our dedication to our readers, you absolutely needed to know if this was better than the last Seattle tiki bar experience, The Lava Lounge. 

Navy Strength

Navy Strength has done a great job with the theme. Instead of looking like some cheap tiki hut, this bar actually reminds you of the bars you would see in a movie set on a military base in Hawaii.  Picture From Here to Eternity or Pearl Harbor. Fantastic drink choices from tiki glasses to flaming shots, they really thought through the selection.

After we each ordered a shot, Peggy announced, “We are not getting fucked up tonight”.  So, you know shit is about to start going downhill.

ssn – the drink menu was so creative! I honestly don’t know why we started with a shot. Except that it sounds exactly like something we would do. I had a “Gnarly Proposition” with Mezcal, Cynar, Passionfruit and lime. Patti had the “Surf Rock Radio” with Pineapple rum, Amaro, Coconut liqueur, Falernum and lime.

We actually one-and-done’d Navy Strength for the sole reason that my phone battery was dying. You are required to show proof of vaccination in order to dine-in within the city of Seattle and my vaccination card was on my phone.  I found out Bathtub Gin Speakeasy was right up the road, and we had missed that on our last trip to Seattle, so I really wanted to make sure to get that stop in before our dinner reservation. 

Thai – Bangrak Market

Then it happened.  Walking right down 2^nd Avenue in Belltown, it was right there, in all its glory!  The spot that had recently become a bit of a Seattle TikTok sensation:  Bangrak Market.  A restaurant specializing in Thai street food.  It was lively and colorful, we were just drawn in.

Inside was hustling and bustling, and there was a big top tent looking area right in front of the open kitchen leading it to look like a true Thai hawkers stand. We were greeted by this wonderfully nice man at the door who was running around like crazy. He cleaned up and led us to the corner bar seats that had us wow’d.  We love bar seats because you get the best view of what the bartender is creating.

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ssn – I have seen this so many times on Tik Tok recently! I had saved it knowing we wanted to try it sometime but we didn’t think we would be getting into anything except sushi on this night. Good thing it threw itself in front of us!

The Drinks

Everything looked amazing. I ordered the first thing I saw, the Tom Kah Martini, Peggy stuck with her wheelhouse passionfruit based.  Hers was prettier, but mine was amazingly perfect for the restaurant theme.

There are huge glass apothecary style jars on the bar with infused vodkas in assorted Thai flavors claiming to enhance your libido, fancy drinks being poured left and right, and a choice of Thai and other Asian beers

Then we see a big bowl of shots and flowers…what?? And the server lights up a huge sparkler in the middle!  I’m immediately thrown back to my birthday in Tulum with the sparkler.  But our sweet little host was racing around like crazy and didn’t stop long enough for a proper video presentation of what was going on in the bowl.

ssn – don’t worry, I’ve got you. I finally managed to get this shot.

The Food

We decide that we had better try something to eat, so as not to let our readers down.  Just a small plate, since we still have sushi ahead of us.  We agree that Moo Sam Chan Tod Nam Pla is the winning choice, that’s fried marinated pork belly to us English speakers.

ssn – just yum!!!

I may have died and gone to heaven with those flavors but came right back to Earth when our cute little host set our very own sparkler shot bowl in front of us because he felt we needed to try it.  He explains there are four shots, the red is the spicy, Thai flavor shot, and the yellow shot is to smooth it out and make it all ok.

And far be it from us to question what is actually in them or to clarify what he means by spicy shot. It’s lit up and sparks are flying so we just go for it.  It was pretty much incredible.  We still don’t know what was in it, but it was an amazing flavor combination like nothing either of us had ever experienced.

As a side note, the people next to us were having a beef noodle bowl, and the fresh garden rolls, and everything looked amazing.

ssn – you know you’ve really hit on someplace special when the service, food & drink, and atmosphere are all in competition for the stand out part of the experience. This had all of them – very hard to choose which put it over the top!

Speakeasy – Bathtub Gin & Co

It was so sad to leave, but our time had come. We had just enough time for Bathtub Gin & Co before our dinner reservation, so we had to go!  Bathtub Gin turned out to be a little difficult to find, luckily Google had a photo of the door, and we had a bit of experience after our Savannah stumble to find Alley Cat.  We knew when it didn’t turn up on the street that we should check back behind the street in the alley.  And, boom, there it was, we are getting rather good at this.

A wooden door with a plain little sign telling you that you are there.  Walk into the landing, show vaccination cards, choice to go downstairs to actual seating or upstairs to the bar area was a no brainer.  Upstairs is a little 5-person bar and two small two person tables.

Again, right in front of the bartender with a great view of the drinks they were pouring.  Clearly a Gin joint, serving a plethora of gin varieties. I stepped out on a ledge with a carrot infused gin.  I do not recommend you do this in the future and if you do read all the ingredients. So you know it has Ancho Reyes Verde in it, proceed down the menu with caution to several of the other items that looked amazing. I have huge regrets about not ordering the Death Star.

The bartender can also help find you ideas within your wheelhouse as their gin selection is impressive.

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Sushi – Umi Sake House

And finally, we hit our reservation time for sushi.  I love sushi with my sister.  It’s one of my favorite things.  We eat well together and always share plates. Umi Sake House was our winner for the night.  It was beautifully decorated, the staff was friendly, the place was clean, and we had seats at the sushi counter.

We started with the uni, which was very sea water flavored, and good, but we don’t see what the fuss is.  Next up was the Bad Boy roll, followed by the Pretty in Pink, and ended with the Rainbow Tartare stack.  Everything was amazing, very fresh, well prepared.  We absolutely loved our sushi experience at Umi Sake.

And yes, of course we had the sake.  But no, of course we were past the point of remembering what kind we had, but it was amazing, and I remember it being whatever was on special. So, if you go, order the Sake special!

ssn – we had been wanting to try uni for so long and hate to say it was disappointing!! The menu was incredible and our other dishes were so, so delicious. Our server gave us the final recommendation for the Rainbow Tartare and it was a winner. I cannot wait to go back and try the rest of the menu!

I am already excited to go back to Bangrak, it was definitely the highlight of the night, and has inspired me to revisit the idea of going to Thailand in March after our Bali retreat.

ssn – we had a lovely, slightly buzzy, slightly giddy walk back to the hotel. Such a fun night!

Additional Tiki Bars and Speakeasies

Recently, we were in Seattle to see the play, Six – which happened to be on the same weekend as Taylor Swift, a Mariners game, Capitol Hill block party, a WNBA game – the city was madness! We, naturally, made some time to get a few new stops in. The first was a speakeasy on Whidbey Island – while technically not Seattle, it is certainly worthy of a ferry ride when you have time. The second was a tiki bar that Patti had been scoping out for a while – Inside Passage!

Speakeasy – Skein & Tipple

We found Skein & Tipple on TikTok and knew we had to make the trek to Whidbey Island! For those not familiar, Whidbey Island is a farily large island northwest of Seattle in Puget Sound. It can be accessed by ferry or across Deception Pass on its northern end. I could go on and on about Whidbey Island but I’ll save that for another post. Skein & Tipple is a yarn shop by day and speakeasy by night. To quote the website, “She’s Skein – she loves yarn. He’s Tipple – he loves cocktails. Together, they just might make it work!”. Let me just say, they were the loveliest people!

Tiktok tells you that you have to get there early because there will be a line to get into this 20-seat speakeasy when it opens at 5:00 pm. This was no lie. We got there about 10 minutes early and we were 17th & 18th in line!

Once inside the yarn shop, you are led through a curtain to the small, but perfectly decorated speakeasy. A little nautical, a little history, dimly lit but lively at the same time. We were offered a seat along the wall or on stage…no surprise which we chose! So from the stage, aka, our Thrones of Judgement, we enjoyed a fantastic evening!

The drink menu is full of inventive, interesting choices. All are prepared by the owner…it is damned impressive! And speaking of impressive….the glassware is handblown by a local artist and is like nothing I’ve seen. I’m a sucker for glassware and I am still, weeks later, obsessing over it!

Not Tiki – Inside Passage

Patti has had Inside Passage on her radar for a while and was so thankful to get a reservation despite the crowds in Seattle that day. Inside Passage is located in Rumba Bar (which is also beautiful!) in the Capital Hill neighborhood.

While we lump it in here as Tiki, Inside Passage does not consider themselves a tiki bar, but rather “an immersive underwater, tropical experience celebrating the uniqueness, history and beauty of the Pacific Northwest”. We now consider it absolutely perfect.

The decor is so elaborately true to theme and features at its center, Kiki, the giant tentacled sea monster. Inside Passage is known for its equally elaborate cocktail menu. Immersive drinks that are as over-the-top delicious as they are fun. And don’t pass on the food!! Three little words that changed my life…Shrimp.Corn.Dogs!! Throw in some Brie wontons…Amazing!

For more food and drinks, check out our Day Drinking adventures and Speakeasy Guides:

• Boise
• Seattle – part 2
• Savannah
• Dallas
• Kansas City
• Las Vegas Speakeasy Guide
• Chicago Speakeasy Guide