After nearly a decade of serving Thai cuisine from a basement location accessible only by steep stairs, Tuk Tuk Thai Cuisine is preparing to relocate to a ground-level storefront at 44 South Main Street in Hanover.
Owner Pannipa Pace opened the restaurant in 2015 in its current below-ground location on a side street off South Main Street. The move became necessary when property owner Jon Livadas announced plans to demolish the 100-year-old building to develop a 35-unit residential property, according to Pace.
“I’m excited,” Pace, 43, said in a Wednesday interview at the current restaurant location. “We don’t have to be underground anymore.”
The demolition will displace both Tuk Tuk and Walt & Ernie’s Barbershop, which operates in the building’s annex. The front portion housing Dirt Cowboy, Murphy’s on the Green, and Simon Pearce will remain intact, according to the report.
Walt & Ernie’s already relocated to 42 South Main Street in early January, placing it adjacent to Tuk Tuk’s future location. “We were next to each other before, and we’ll be next to each other again. Who would have guessed,” barbershop owner Carol Eastman said.
Livadas does not have “a firm start date” for the demolition, he said Wednesday.
Pace’s husband Ken Pace has been overseeing renovations at the new location, with tentative plans to open in early April. He has installed epoxy floors and painted the space turquoise with white and gold accents to create an “ocean effect,” according to Ken Pace.
The West Lebanon couple plans to add outdoor seating and a custom-made tent to the restaurant’s patio during warmer months. “It’s tucked right in and you’re out of the wind,” Ken Pace said.
The new space seats approximately 130 people inside and outside and already contains a kitchen, though the couple is installing new equipment. Renovation costs, including new appliances, have reached about $150,000, with another $25,000 remaining in the project budget, according to Ken Pace.
The location has housed several previous restaurants. Market Table operated there for eight years before closing in fall 2020. Italian restaurant impasto followed, which owner Nigel Leeming later converted into an events space called Venue in early 2023. Leeming closed Venue after Pannipa Pace contacted him about relocating there.
“The new Tuk Tuk is going to be better than the old Tuk Tuk, based on location,” Leeming said. “It’s much more amenable to the public in that it’s on the ground floor.”
While the new location offers advantages including additional seating and natural light, it sits farther from Dartmouth College’s campus than the current spot. Ken Pace noted they currently “deliver all day long right across the street to Collis,” referring to the college’s student center.
“I’m just hoping (students) will walk those extra hundred yards,” he said.
Dartmouth senior Lucie Morton believes Tuk Tuk has enough “loyal customers” to succeed in the new location. She and friends regularly visit for dishes like spicy noodles with tofu, Tom Yum soup, and papaya salad.
The restaurant’s menu features traditional Thai dishes including Pad Ka Pao with ground chilis, basil leaves, green beans and bell peppers; Pad Kee Mao flat rice noodles; and various curries. Most entrees cost $18 to $20, according to the menu.
Pannipa Pace moved to the United States from central Thailand in 2005 before establishing the restaurant that has served the Hanover community with dishes like fragrant Tom Yum soup and drunken noodles for nearly a decade.
