Thai Krathong in Duluth, MN

Jena Modin / Heavy Table
Jena Modin / Heavy Table

Editor’s Note: Thai Krathong is now closed.

Ingredients mean quality to Duangrudee Benkoski of Thai Krathong in Duluth, MN. Having the right piece of ginger or the perfect lemongrass doesn’t mean finding the right food supplier — it means being your own supplier. Every year Benkoski travels back to Thailand to bring back ingredients and ideas for her restaurant, located in Canal Park of Duluth. “Here they don’t always have what I need,” she says.

Benkoski goes back to the province of Udon Thani where she studied cooking for six years and worked in a family-run restaurant. “I go out to restaurants to get ideas to bring back to my own,” says Benkoski. After working and living in Thailand Benkoski says: “I came to Duluth because there were no other Thai restaurants.”

Her trips to Udon Thani keep her on the cutting edge of ingredients and evolutions in Thai cuisine. Everything is built from the ingredients up. Benkoski’s salad rolls ($5) are a blend of rice noodles, fresh cilantro, and lettuce wrapped in fresh rice paper and served with a homemade sweet peanut sauce. The Chu Chee Curry ($17) is served in a fish-shaped bowl and comes with shrimp, scallops, mussels, and fresh red peppers. Benkoski garnishes the dish with a radish carved into a flower. All of her dishes can be washed down with a Mai Tai ($12) served in a carved-out pineapple.

Benkoski’s Thai Krathong has been in Canal Park since the beginning of the year. The space is much larger than the original space on West 1st Street, where Thai Krathong operated for six years.

Thai Krathong

308 Lake Ave S
Duluth, MN 55802
218.733.9774
HOURS:

Sun-Thu 11am-10pm
Fri-Sat 11am-11pm
RESERVATIONS:
Yes
BAR
: Full

Jena Modin / Heavy Table
Jena Modin / Heavy Table

5 Comments

  1. Mona

    We recently went to Thai Krathong and had a terrible experience. The food was bland, the noodles over cooked, our server was unfamiliar with Thai food in general, and vegetables were not fresh.

    Finally, it took nearly thirty minutes for the server to run our check card. This was not the server’s fault – only a manager can remove an item from a ticket (we ordered Thai coffee but then canceled it when they couldn’t find a to-go cup) and the manager was unavailable for a half hour. Restaurants that have those types of limitations on their registers should make sure a manager is always available.

    I wish I could give a positive review – we love Thai food and really wanted to enjoy it.

  2. C.

    I’m not sure what Mona is talking about because I think the food of Thai Kathrong is amazing. Not many restaurants serve fresh from-scratch food these days, but Thai Kathrong does. I definitely recommend this restaraunt to anyone looking for a change of pace from the bland cooking most people in this area of Minnesota are used to. Brava Thai Kathrong for adding great taste to the Duluth area!

  3. sue key

    the food here sucks….. bland…service sucked….defenantly not a thai person cooking my food.

  4. patty reed

    We just at here last night 10/15/2011
    we had a family of 5 and arrived about 6:00
    order app. some of which were not avaiable.
    Our order came in shifts and then they were out of
    rice which after waiting 20minutes we still did not recieve.
    Our poor waitress was running her but off they were very short staffed.
    When we tried to pay for our meal there was no one available to take our money it was not a good experience.

  5. Chris Anstett

    As the head manager at Thai Krathong It is my duty to make sure customers have a happy positive experience dinning in. Patty, I am sorry about your experience at Thai Krathong and am working on making sure these under staff days never happen because simply bad service, means customers never come back. That cant happen!

    In Regards to Sue Key: There is Thai cooks as our cooks, Based on the fact I cant under stand them most of the time.

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