After months locked out of its Gorey Pier home – and with hopes of a summer reopening dashed – a popular Thai restaurant is making an unexpected comeback thanks to a helping hand from another local business.
Tuk Tuk Thai has teamed up with Longbeach-based beach café The Hungry Whale, where it will be serving Thai food from 5pm until 8pm today, tomorrow and Wednesday.
Tuk Tuk had to close its operations at Gorey Pier in February after water leaked into its building and damaged the main fuse board at the Ports of Jersey-owned property.
Subsequent plans to reopen at the same location with a food truck instead were set back after it emerged that work to remove the deteriorating landing stage is not forecast to be complete before the last week of August.
When we heard Tuk Tuk Thai couldn’t open this summer because of the delays on Gorey Pier, it didn’t feel right to watch from the sidelines
The Hungry Whale
In a social media post, The Hungry Whale team wrote that: “Hospitality isn’t just about serving food. It’s about looking after each other.
“When we heard Tuk Tuk Thai couldn’t open this summer because of the delays on Gorey Pier, it didn’t feel right to watch from the sidelines.
“So we’re opening their kitchen at ours.”
The post continued: “For three evenings, Theo, Tui and the Tuk Tuk team will be cooking from The Hungry Whale while our team keeps everything else ticking along.
“Come hungry. Bring your friends. Show them some love. Let’s help give Tuk Tuk the summer they deserve.”
Also posting the announcement on social media, the Tuk Tuk Thai team said: “While we are waiting for our new Gorey Pier location to be ready, we didn’t want to spend the summer sitting on the sidelines.
“We wanted to keep cooking, keep serving our food, and most importantly, keep seeing all of you.”
The post went to thank The Hungry Whale team “for believing in us and helping us make this happen”.
“We know it’s only three evenings to start with, but we’re going to give it everything we’ve got!”
