A\u00a0new Asian fusion restaurant in Searsport offers sushi, poke bowls and unconventional takes on local favorites from a well-traveled chef.<\/p>\n
Sakura Harbour, located just over the Belfast line in the space that once housed Rio\u2019s Spiked Cafe, also is part homage by the owner, Supannee Saengwong, to her late mother.<\/p>\n
Saengwong is a restaurant industry veteran and daughter of Thai immigrants whose cooking is influenced by her travels to places like the Cayman Islands, Taiwan and Jamaica and her work in various restaurants in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Her decades of experience working in Asian cuisine from different cultures is evident in the menu, which ranges from classics like Pad Thai made using her mother\u2019s recipe, to a Thai-style lobster bisque made with lemongrass and coconut cream. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to do is not traditional,\u201d said Saengwong, whose restaurant is the latest in a surge of small businesses that have opened\u00a0in Searsport in recent years. <\/p>\n
The menu at the restaurant, which celebrated its grand opening on Friday, features a variety of noodles, from Vietnamese vermicelli to ramen to pesto pasta spiked with prik pao, a Thai roasted chili paste. <\/p>\n
Korean specialties that can be harder to find in Maine, such as beef bulgogi, kimchi pork stew, and scallion pancakes served with housemade kimchi, also are on the menu. <\/p>\n
Saengwong grew up steeped in the restaurant industry in the Boston area, where her parents worked in several Asian fusion restaurants. She has worked in eateries from Miami to Auburn, where she ran Jasmine Cafe until 2018. She also operates three food trucks specializing in Thai food, noodles and boba tea in Maine. <\/p>\n
Saengwong closed Jasmine Cafe after eight years in business because she was burned out, but dreamed of someday reopening another. <\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t intend for it to happen so soon. Saengwong was looking to rent a kitchen that she would use to supply her food trucks when she came across the Searsport space. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I walked in here, everything just attracted me,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of using the kitchen to prep for the food truck, I decided this would be a great opportunity to start again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant\u2019s septagonal dining room, anchored by a stone fireplace, is both airy and cozy. In a separate room there is a smaller dining area and bar. The restaurant serves sake from several regions, a wide variety of wines, and nonalcoholic beers and drinks. Saengwong enjoys helping patrons pair lesser known beverages with their meals.<\/p>\n
To staff her new restaurant, Saengwong brought friends and former colleagues from Miami and Chicago as well as family members, including her father.<\/p>\n
The presence of Saengwong\u2019s mother, Somrudee, who died of cancer two years ago, is everywhere in the restaurant. The name, Sakura, is the Japanese word for cherry blossom, reminds her of her mother who loved the flowers.<\/p>\n
Many of the recipes are also based on Somrudee\u2019s recipes, including the ones for Korean specialties like kimchi stew that her mother traded with a Korean chef when they worked together at a fusion restaurant. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to honor her,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mother\u2019s recipe has her signature, her flavor in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the restaurant\u2019s soft launch period, which began in mid-July, Saengwong has been pleasantly surprised by how many locals, many of them small business owners themselves, have come in. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe locals have been so cute, they\u2019re really generous,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want to test it out and make sure that I pass the test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sakura Harbour, located at 357 West Main St. in Searsport, is open 11:30-9 Tuesday through Sunday, and open for dinner only on Mondays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A\u00a0new Asian fusion restaurant in Searsport offers sushi, poke bowls and unconventional takes on local favorites from a well-traveled chef. Sakura Harbour, located just over the Belfast line in the space that once housed Rio\u2019s Spiked Cafe, also is part homage by the owner, Supannee Saengwong, to her late mother. Saengwong is a restaurant industry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[5310,5308,5306,5309,5307,6911],"class_list":["post-17620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-maine","tag-maine","tag-maine-dining","tag-maine-food","tag-maine-grocery-stores","tag-maine-restaurants","tag-surprise"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117291138667918929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}