The new owners of Wellesley’s Coconut Thai Cafe, the wife-and-husband team of Nui Phitpiboonlerd and John Mongkontavy, have dreamed of running their own restaurant for years. Both have worked at a number of other eating establishments since moving from Thailand to the United States in the 1990s, and while they’ve never owned those businesses, they’ve done nearly everything but. They were confident they could run a restaurant if the opportunity presented itself.
Any such plans were put on hold during the pandemic when Phitpiboonlerd returned to Thailand for more than a year to help her family. But the couple continued to talk of possibilities all the while.
Their first big step toward owning a restaurant brought them to Salem, N.H., where they went in on a partnership and refurbished the place. But before long, they realized it wasn’t the right fit, especially given the long commute to and from their Natick residence. Fortuitously, Phitpiboonlerd learned that the longtime owner of Coconut Thai Cafe, where she once worked, was looking to retire and sell the Wellesley Hills restaurant at 257 Washington St.
“I was so surprised when I asked and he said ‘yes,'” she said. “He’d been keeping quiet about his plans.”
The couple, who met in 2006 while working at Natick Center’s Dah-Mee restaurant (Nui a waitress, John a chef), refreshed the interior of Coconut Thai during a brief restaurant closure earlier this year as the business changed hands. They did most of the work themselves or with friends, removing or painting over wallpaper, replacing lights and fans, and adding floral arrangements and friendly wall decor. The makeover includes the bathroom, which Mongkontavy insisted I check out (it didn’t disappoint!).
“This space is just the right size, just what we wanted,” Mongkontavy said of the 12-seat restaurant, which does a brisk take-out business, too. “With a bigger place, finding help is really hard.”
The new owners will redo the exterior as well, but they’re going to catch their breath first.
They have revamped the menu though, slashing the number of items from about 100 to more like 30. Among the new attractions is a hot stone pot that includes a mix of a meat (usually beef), rice, egg, and vegetables, and that sizzles as you eat it. “It’s the kind of thing you’d otherwise need to go into Boston to find,” said Mongkontavy, who coincidentally used to work at Brown Sugar Cafe on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, a Thai restaurant I’d visited a few days before I met him at Coconut Thai.
Such connections within the restaurant community helped Coconut Thai’s owners get to where they are now, and will no doubt keep popping up.
Phitpiboonlerd said she was delighted when Coconut Thai’s first customer turned out to be a patron she knew from Dah-Mee.
Coconut Thai Cafe (257 Washington St., Wellesley)
781-235-8255
Take-out & dine-in (delivery coming soon)
More: Where to eat in Wellesley
I ordered two nights ago and the food was outstanding! We didn’t realize there were new owners! Congrats!!!! Keep up the delicious food!
I have been ordering take out and eating at CTC since it originally opened nearly 2 decades ago and considered it and ironically Brown Sugar Cafe perhaps the regions best Thai fair. My now grown children all in their late 20s and early 30s developed their taste for Thai offerings at this restaurant as young adolescents. They no longer live in town but have continually came back to eat at this spot. When we saw it had closed for a short period we were all concerned. However, our concerns proved unwarranted. I stopped in once for take out and also met for a dine in sit down to sample some of our historical favorites and the food is really terrific, very flavorful and light with just a perfect hint of Thai spice. The interior upgrade is a quite welcoming and fresh makeover. If you are an old customer or a newbie do not hesitate to stop in it was absolutely delicious.
Thanks for sharing this Michael…
I was a huge fan of Coconut Cafe before. What I particularly liked was that they would actually make dishes extra spicy when asked, and that I could get duck in most dishes.
One favorite which I haven’t found elsewhere was their Crystal Pad Thai extra spicy with duck.
I’ll have to stop in to try it out w/ the new owners.