Who: Sway
What: Hip Thai Eatery with Open Kitchen
When: Sunday to Wednesday 11am – 10pm, Thursday to Saturday 11am- 11pm
Where: 1417 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704
Why: If you asked me where is my absolute favorite place to eat in Autin is, I would tell you Sway. I’ve been a big fan of theirs ever since they opened four years ago, and I had my first taste of their oysters and blue crab fried rice. I was hooked. From the open kitchen, where you can see all the work that goes into prepping and cooking the dishes. To the shared and family style seating, Sway makes you feel welcomed. In the warmer months I love to grab a seat outside in their whimsical patio space, but if you ever get the opportunity to sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen, please do it.
I was invited in to celebrate their four year birthday by dining on a special menu, which by the way you can still order until Dec 10th. This menu was one of the stronger anniversary menus that I’ve had the pleasure of tasting at Sway.
We started the meal off with the tuna tartare, daikon cakes, and the roasted eggplants. The eggplants were our favorite, like little bursts of flavor in your mouth. We also enjoyed the tuna tartare, the tuna was extremely fresh and served on these baguette crisp type chips that were perfect boats to bring the food to our mouths.
While Sway doesn’t have their liquor license, they do serve sake and had specialty sake drinks on the menu. One was a sparkling wine and sake mix called the Monarch, perfect to pair with dessert. And the other was a sake toddy which was very fitting because the weather has just dropped in Austin and this drink will warm you up.
For the main courses, we ordered the pork belly and the red fish curry. The other guests invited to try the menu each had a different experience with these dishes as they were both flagged as a bit on the spicy side. But our adventurous side prevailed and we dove into both. The Pork Belly ended up being the spicy dish for us, and the red fish curry had more of a flavorful spice reaction versus a hot or fiery one. Overall, both dishes really represented Sway well, with bold flavors and deliciously prepared protein.
Because I’m a dessert person, I persuaded my friend to order both desserts, so we had the hazelnut chocolate cake and the persimmon spiced cake. I wish you could have seen us, but maybe I’m glad you didn’t. The poor kitchen had to watch us practically lick both plates clean because they were both so good and I couldn’t pick just one. The hazelnut cake had a nice wafer crisp to it, and the persimmon spiced cake was paired with a ginger ice cream and it just melted in your mouth so perfectly.
This really and truly was a delightful anniversary menu and if you are looking for last minute date ideas, tonight you should make it Sway so you can check out this new menu! If you go, please tell them Dine With Shayda sen you. And be sure to follow along my daily adventures on Instagram @DineWithShayda.
