Bamboo Penny’s, new Leawood restaurant, fuses traditional Thai delicacies with KC favorites

The homeowners of KC Thai in Overland Park have opened a further cafe in Johnson County. Bamboo Penny’s debuted previously this thirty day period in Leawood.

Located at 5270 W. 116th Location in the Park Put browsing center, Bamboo Penny’s aims to be a extra upscale, wonderful eating expertise featuring Thai dishes that fuse Western with Eastern preferences, in accordance to wife-and-partner entrepreneurs Penny and Doug Mufuka.

“Unlike the other Thai restaurants that we have locally, this just one, she calls it her ‘steakhouse of Thai dining establishments,’” Doug claimed, referring to Penny. “She’s attempting to go a tiny far more elevated.”

In January, the few opened KC Thai at 135th and Quivira, then commenced turning their emphasis on this new upscale strategy. They celebrated the grand opening of Bamboo Penny’s on Friday, June 11.

“So pleased — essentially we’ve been waiting for 8 or nine months since of the pandemic,” Penny explained. “I’m so energized we’re heading to be open up in this position. This is one particular of my goals.”

Thai flavors with Western flair

Developed fully by Penny herself, the dishes on the menu shell out homage to the tropical notes witnessed in Thai cuisine — consider pineapple fried rice, which is served inside a freshly break up open up pineapple.

Some of the dishes are the Mufukas’ choose on street meals, typically marrying classic Thai flavors with Western aptitude.

For case in point, the drunken Thai barbecue ribs fuse Kansas City’s really like for barbecue by bringing grilled pork marinated in a purple wine reduction in mixture with a sweet Thai sauce that just about preferences like barbecue.

“Real, initial Thai food, I do not feel you men can take care of it,” Penny mentioned, laughing. “It is legitimate. Far too spicy, way too sturdy, far too fishy, you know? But when you cook with it, it tastes excellent. So which is why we halve it — halve with you fellas, halve with us.”

Dishes can be tailored on ask for. The Mufukas say numerous of their dishes are impressed by the tastes in Penny’s hometown of Phetchabun in central Thailand.

Penny reported several components in her dishes are inspired by the wares that merchants offer in the open-air markets of her hometown.

Bamboo Penny’s is only open for evening meal for now.

Meanwhile, buyers will see the dining space interior developed by Penny, which include the wallpaper imported from Thailand that commemorates the Thai New 12 months in April.

A comprehensive bar plan characteristics tropical cocktails, vodka infused with several fruits and beers from local breweries. The craft beverages are created to pair with dishes on the menu.

The lounge upstairs will open up in a couple of weeks (with any luck , by Independence Day, the couple claims), with a terrace overlooking the outdoor seating and shared garden beneath, and an open-air rooftop location.

“Basically, I’m content with the way the whole issue appears to be,” claimed Penny, noting that she’s significantly psyched about the shared patio in which the group can get and get pleasure from every single other’s enterprise with live entertainment, property video games and outside film showings.

Penny Mufuka has been in the restaurant marketplace given that she immigrated to the United States various many years in the past. The couple opened their initially local restaurant Thai Home at 99th and Holmes in Kansas Metropolis, Mo. They also possess a small avenue taco shop.

“People constantly ask her, how does she do it, how does she operate all these eating places, how does she make this kind of amazing meals,” Doug explained.

“Love — it has to appear from like,” Penny reported. “I love performing what I’m undertaking. When buyers say, ‘Oh, you have the very best food items,’ that would make me so happy. Which is how my foods comes out, it preferences very good: I notify them I transfer to the left, go to the right, verify and finished.”