Sway Thai recently opened their second location on Rock Rose in the Domain, and it features their signature minimalistic design style, family style seating plan, and impeccable plating. I have not been to their other location, so I was super excited to finally try their food!
First up was a thai iced tea, which features black tea, clove, cinnamon, star anise, and full cream condensed milk. The flavoring tasted similar to a chai tea and was definitely on the sweet end, which I personally enjoyed!
APPETIZERS:
For appetizers, we ordered the tom kha gai soup, satay, and shu mai.
I am not huge on super spicy food, so I had them dial it back a notch on the tom kha gai soup, and I'm glad I did! Even dialed back it still has a solid kick to it. It is served with bamboo shoots, baby corn, hon shimeji mushrooms, and snow peas, which all tasted fresh and perfectly cooked. To me, a soup is immediately ruined if the veggies are overcooked! The broth itself is a chicken lemongrass coconut broth that was so smooth and addicting I honestly would have been happy slurping just that!
On to the satay, which is served with one skewer each of charcoal grilled pork, shrimp, and tofu with kewpie mayo and satay sauce. The pork I honestly could have done without, the majority of the flavor came from the sauce it is served with. The shrimp was good, but slightly overcooked (sorry, I'm a seafood snob.....I'm a true Floridian lol). For me, the star was the tofu! It had a beautiful crispness on the outer edges and was actually very flavorful! I would order a satay plate with three of these guys if it was an option.
As you can tell from the photo, these guys are not your traditional shu mai but this was actually my favorite appetizer! The flavor combination from the pork, shrimp, and fermented bean filling plus the chili vinegar dipping sauce is a perfect pairing. I will 100% be back just for this!
ENTREES:
Fried rice is such a simple dish but when done well, it is one of my favorite foods! I actually used to make this at 2 a.m. pretty consistently during my grad school years...my old roommate can vouch! The flavors of this dish were ON POINT and they did not skimp on the crab which I appreciate (especially for $20!). My only complaint is I wish the rice had been fried slightly longer to get a touch more bite to it. But aside from that, I would definitely get it again!
So I must admit, I only tried a piece of the Texas wagyu beef with some of the coconut cream. I tried to avoid the curry portion because this is apparently the second spiciest dish they serve and y'all KNOW I am not about that life. The beef that I tried was SO GOOD, though! It was incredibly tender and flavorful, and the creaminess of the coconut was such a nice compliment. If you are into supa spicy things, 10/10 would recommend!
DESSERT:
The only thing I did not take a photo of, and it ended up being my favorite part of the entire meal! We ordered the jasmine tea panna cotta and it was honestly everything I didn't know I've always wanted from a dessert. Yes, it was a little busy texture-wise with the whole sorbet+panna cotta+grapes+crunchy amaranth, but omfg the FLAVORS. Since eating this, I have craved it every single day. I'm working on convincing David to get me this dessert (at least) weekly from now on, because honestly who cares about abs when you can have freaking jasmine tea panna cotta?
Overall, I had a really great experience here and will definitely be back! The food was fantastic, the plating is impeccable (gotta get them good Insta pics, amiright?), and the vibe is warm and inviting. My only downside is since it is family style seating, you will probably have to speak to other people at some point (something which my introvert self avoids AT ALL COSTS). The chairs are also spaced a bit too close for comfort... I rubbed elbows with the dude next to me on various occasions. But aside from that, the food does make up for it and I will absolutely be returning!
What are your favorite restaurants to eat at in Austin? Leave me a comment below and let me know!
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