Thai bowl: Serving up Thai at the Bay Bowl in Bremerton

In Thailand, the word Rimnam translates to “waterfront,” a logical name for the Bremerton restaurant founded in 2012 near the banks of the Port Washington Narrows in Manette. 

But when things didn’t work out in their initial location, Rimnam owner Fang Tuckawarut searched for a new home. She found one just up Lower Wheaton Way — luckily, a spot also nearby the waterfront.

So far, it’s a hit. Rimnam’s opening day inside the now defunct Bay Bowl was their busiest ever, surpassing all others inside the restaurant’s former location in Manette proper.

All come for the food. But some are nostalgic for the brick-lined building. After all, this was a home to bowlers for some 50 years.

“Some people say, ‘I can’t believe you turned the Bay Bowl into a restaurant,'” she said.

She credits Chris Campana, owner of the Bay Bowl, as having been a strong supporter of the move. Campana, who also owns the Italian restaurant of the same name in Poulsbo, has for several years tried to woo tenants inside. With Rimnam, he’s added two, having rented out the former bowling alley space to Delphinus, a nearby engineering firm, which stores equipment there.

There’s still a swanky martini bar in its upstairs that could open up if an interested tenant emerges.

Regardless, Rimnam’s been hopping. The place seats 45, and Tuckawarut has already hired two cooks and three servers, and is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. most days for lunch and 5 to 8:30 p.m. most everyday for dinner. The restaurant does takeout and Tuckawarut plans to soon start a delivery service, she said.

Rimnam was only open 11 months in its old location on East 11th Street. She blames a lack of traffic in the area as a cause, and one of the reasons she believes she’ll succeed this time around. There’s no shortage of cars going by the Bay Bowl, in an area situated in close proximity to Bremerton’s hospital district.

The new location is also bigger, at 1,200 square feet — 400 more, including a large round table in the back of the restaurant that has been popular thus far with big groups. The place is also filled with artifacts from Tuckawarut’s native Thailand.

In the summertime, Tuckawarut plans to put a patio out front. The Lower Wheaton Way street improvement project will not only lay down a new road before her business, it will put a 10-foot wide sidewalk right up to her door, helping improve the atmosphere.

The location might be different but the food is largely the same, with traditional Thai dishes spread out throughout the menu, along with some signature dishes like raspberry phad Thai, avocado green curry and drunken spaghetti.