Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is planning to launch 30 Italian family-style restaurants in Asia, with the first one set to open its doors to his gastronomic followers in Hong Kong early next year.
The move marks the first step in taking his chain Jamie's Italian - which now has five eateries in England - outside his homeland, to a region which takes price in its rich diversity of international cuisine and where the economy is picking up faster than anywhere the economy is picking up faster than anywhere else in the world.
"Why Asia? Of all the markets, it has by far the fastest-growing economy," said Edward Pinshow, president of Tranic Franchising, which has joined with Jamie's Italian International for the Asia expansion.
"The Chinese have become extremely fond of Italian food. In Japan, Jamie's become a household name," he said on Tuesday.
Pinshow added that the first stage of the expansion was to open six restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore, for which he is now raising about US$200 million (Bt6.8 billion).
They plan to roll out another 24 eateries in other parts of the region over the next five years, with China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea among the most likely candidates for location.
Pinshow said they are now working hard to get their first restaurant - a 460-square-metre, 180-seat venue in Hong Kong - ready for opening in the second quarter of next year.
He said the menu would offer a full-course meal with antipasti, main dish, dessert, plus a glass of Italian wine, for an avarage of 300 Hong Kong dollars (about Bt1,300) per head.
"At Jamie's restaurants, you will often find a blue-collar worker, a student, and the chairman of a blue-chip company side by side having a meal," he said, while stressing that everything they served would be "natural and organic".
Hong Kong will also be established as the development hub, providing all regional support in licensing, real estate, training and logistics for the project.
Meanwhile, Pinshow said Oliver also had his eyes set on Europe for his chain's international expansion.
Oliver, 34, shot to fame in 1999 with his cooking series "The Naked Chef". He has since featured in numerous television series, and sold millions of copies of his cookbooks worldwide.
His 2005 television documentary "Jamie's School Dinners" sparked a national debate on nutritional issues in Britain, and is credited with changing many people's eating habits.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
TOO HOT TO HANDLE!
There is a noticeable distinction between what is known as "Tex-Mex" food and authentic Mexican cuisine.First popularised in border states like Texas and other Southwestern parts of the United States, Tex-Mex utilises local ingredients, including using more cheese and sour cream than traditional Mexican food, and in some cases, imported spices such as cumin.
Tex-Mex also has its own unique dishes, such as the chimichanga; an otherwise relatively healthy burrito, deepfried to augment the texture before topping it with a layer of cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa.
Authentic Mexican cuisine is quite similar to Thai food;it's light, tangy and spicy thanks to the use of ingredients that can be easily found in both countries, such as fresh herbs, lime juice, chillies, peppers and other fruits.
After nine years of living in Thailand, tired of eating an American variation of the food from his homeland, Mexican Jorge Bernal took the logical step of preparing his own dinner a few steps further and opened the original Tacos & Salsa in Sukhumvit Soi 18.
The first T&S was a hole-in-the-wall establishment with only four tables, but as business began to pick up, Jorge decided to rent a five-storey shophouse on Sukhumvit Road, in between Emporium and Soi 22.
Currently, only the ground floor is open while the other levels are being renovated to become another dining area, a lounge, and very possibly an area for salsa dance classes.
Parking here is surprisingly abundant.The Washington Square car park is connected to the back entrance of T&S, so you don't have to worry about having to park all the way at Emporium then walking a laborious 300-metres in the heat.
The pink building that houses T&S is possibly one of the hardest things to miss as a pedestrian walking along Sukhumvit.It's five stories of pinkness, way more pink than five Elton Johns.
The inside is thankfully not pink, but a mixture of psychedelic orange and blue that pretty much spells out "party time" like a teenaged Sean Penn. The entire ambience is matched by appropriately dressed staff, clad in black mariachi-like costumes against the backdrop of a Mexican soundtrack.
The food here is back-to-basics goodness. Just about
every dish contains some form of tortilla,a flour or corn flat bread which is a staple of the Mexican diet, much like the way we eat rice with everything here.For example, instead of our khao tom (rice porridge),the Tortilla soup (B80) at T&S is a spicy chicken broth with shreds of chicken breast and whole pieces of crispy tortilla chips soaking it all in.
A traditional Mexican favourite is the Alambre (B220); two individual soft wheat tortillas filled with fried peppers, onions, cheese,stewed beef and several other ingredients. It's a light sandwich that pairs beautifully with the complimentary salsa.
Speaking of salsa, T&S does not take its spice levels mildly.Oh no, the salsa here is like the death metal of spice.
T&S serves three different complimentary salsas to be used as condiments and as dips for tortilla chips. One is a fresh tomato salsa made with tomatoes, onions, salt,chillies and lime juice, which is relatively mild, unless you bite into one of the chillies.
Then there is a red chilli sauce, made with pureed red tomatoes and red chilies, which is quite hot.
However, if you're the kind of person that likes a good whipping in the bedroom (i.e. a masochist) then go green with the sweat-inducing, fiery green salsa, made with green tomatoes, lime juice and copious amounts of chillies... but don't have too much of this; chillies are a natural laxative and we all know what that leads to.
T&S is an awesome place for breakfast and for afternoons when your hangover just won't go away. The Breakfast
burrito (B130), a serving of eggs scrambled in onions,
tomatoes, bell peppers and cheese, served
with two rashers of bacon
and two flour tortillas, is the kind of meal fit to fuel one eighth of Michael Phelps.
If you're recovering from a disastrous night out, go for Chila quiles (B90) a plate of tortilla chips smothered in a mild sauce made from green chilies, tomato and garlic, for the ultimate hangover remedy.
With crazy colours, servers in cultural uniforms, spicy, exciting cuisine and some marvellous cures for "Friday gone wrong"syndrome, there isn't much more to ask for from T&S. Well,except for maybe a cool, wet towel for all the chilli-induced sweat... but then again there's always those refreshing Mexican beverages we're not allowed to write about.
Tex-Mex also has its own unique dishes, such as the chimichanga; an otherwise relatively healthy burrito, deepfried to augment the texture before topping it with a layer of cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa.
Authentic Mexican cuisine is quite similar to Thai food;it's light, tangy and spicy thanks to the use of ingredients that can be easily found in both countries, such as fresh herbs, lime juice, chillies, peppers and other fruits.
After nine years of living in Thailand, tired of eating an American variation of the food from his homeland, Mexican Jorge Bernal took the logical step of preparing his own dinner a few steps further and opened the original Tacos & Salsa in Sukhumvit Soi 18.
The first T&S was a hole-in-the-wall establishment with only four tables, but as business began to pick up, Jorge decided to rent a five-storey shophouse on Sukhumvit Road, in between Emporium and Soi 22.
Currently, only the ground floor is open while the other levels are being renovated to become another dining area, a lounge, and very possibly an area for salsa dance classes.
Parking here is surprisingly abundant.The Washington Square car park is connected to the back entrance of T&S, so you don't have to worry about having to park all the way at Emporium then walking a laborious 300-metres in the heat.
The pink building that houses T&S is possibly one of the hardest things to miss as a pedestrian walking along Sukhumvit.It's five stories of pinkness, way more pink than five Elton Johns.
The inside is thankfully not pink, but a mixture of psychedelic orange and blue that pretty much spells out "party time" like a teenaged Sean Penn. The entire ambience is matched by appropriately dressed staff, clad in black mariachi-like costumes against the backdrop of a Mexican soundtrack.
The food here is back-to-basics goodness. Just about
every dish contains some form of tortilla,a flour or corn flat bread which is a staple of the Mexican diet, much like the way we eat rice with everything here.For example, instead of our khao tom (rice porridge),the Tortilla soup (B80) at T&S is a spicy chicken broth with shreds of chicken breast and whole pieces of crispy tortilla chips soaking it all in.
A traditional Mexican favourite is the Alambre (B220); two individual soft wheat tortillas filled with fried peppers, onions, cheese,stewed beef and several other ingredients. It's a light sandwich that pairs beautifully with the complimentary salsa.
Speaking of salsa, T&S does not take its spice levels mildly.Oh no, the salsa here is like the death metal of spice.
T&S serves three different complimentary salsas to be used as condiments and as dips for tortilla chips. One is a fresh tomato salsa made with tomatoes, onions, salt,chillies and lime juice, which is relatively mild, unless you bite into one of the chillies.
Then there is a red chilli sauce, made with pureed red tomatoes and red chilies, which is quite hot.
However, if you're the kind of person that likes a good whipping in the bedroom (i.e. a masochist) then go green with the sweat-inducing, fiery green salsa, made with green tomatoes, lime juice and copious amounts of chillies... but don't have too much of this; chillies are a natural laxative and we all know what that leads to.
T&S is an awesome place for breakfast and for afternoons when your hangover just won't go away. The Breakfast
burrito (B130), a serving of eggs scrambled in onions,
tomatoes, bell peppers and cheese, served
with two rashers of bacon
and two flour tortillas, is the kind of meal fit to fuel one eighth of Michael Phelps.
If you're recovering from a disastrous night out, go for Chila quiles (B90) a plate of tortilla chips smothered in a mild sauce made from green chilies, tomato and garlic, for the ultimate hangover remedy.
With crazy colours, servers in cultural uniforms, spicy, exciting cuisine and some marvellous cures for "Friday gone wrong"syndrome, there isn't much more to ask for from T&S. Well,except for maybe a cool, wet towel for all the chilli-induced sweat... but then again there's always those refreshing Mexican beverages we're not allowed to write about.
ATTACK ON THE SENSES!
The concept of "sensual" eating may conjure up thoughts of aphrodisiacs. But who needs fancy-schmancy ingredients, when all your gastronomic desires can be satisfied in one place? We've got four vouchers to dine at the Sensual Restaurant, valued at B500 each.
Giveaway prizes courtesy of the Sensual Restaurant (Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Soi 15,02-676-1653. Open daily 10:30am-2pm,5:30pm-12:30am). While aphrodisiacs don't dominate the menu here, you can be sure that you'll be fulfilled in other ways.The Sensual Restaurant has a lush, yet cosy ambience given that it's been converted from a 1960s Thai house. There's a wine garden, and the Cakeaholic bakery, featuring decadent homemade delights. At dinner the Thai and international cuisine is complemented perfectly by easy-listening acoustic music.
CONGRATULATIONS
Well-done to Siriporn Prueksavanakij, Porntip Wangkaisit,Kamolphan Jaengsawangwong, Mao Yamamoto, Frederique Timson, and Sally Shilling who won funky SuperZaaap! t-shirts.
For each prize category,e-mail your answer to guru@bangkokpost.co.th with your name and full contact details. Deadline Aug 31. Winners will be randomly drawn and notified by e-mail. Winners must pick up their prize at the Display Department, The Post Building, by Sep 11.
Giveaway prizes courtesy of the Sensual Restaurant (Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Soi 15,02-676-1653. Open daily 10:30am-2pm,5:30pm-12:30am). While aphrodisiacs don't dominate the menu here, you can be sure that you'll be fulfilled in other ways.The Sensual Restaurant has a lush, yet cosy ambience given that it's been converted from a 1960s Thai house. There's a wine garden, and the Cakeaholic bakery, featuring decadent homemade delights. At dinner the Thai and international cuisine is complemented perfectly by easy-listening acoustic music.
CONGRATULATIONS
Well-done to Siriporn Prueksavanakij, Porntip Wangkaisit,Kamolphan Jaengsawangwong, Mao Yamamoto, Frederique Timson, and Sally Shilling who won funky SuperZaaap! t-shirts.
For each prize category,e-mail your answer to guru@bangkokpost.co.th with your name and full contact details. Deadline Aug 31. Winners will be randomly drawn and notified by e-mail. Winners must pick up their prize at the Display Department, The Post Building, by Sep 11.
World-class culinary showcase
Bangkok will play host to an extensive international culinary event when Asia's 1st Culinary Cup 2009 comes to Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon, from September 2-5. It will coincide with the Food & Hotel Thailand 2009,one of the kingdom's biggest hospitality trade exhibitions featuring food and drink, hotels, catering, bakery, restaurants and kitchen equipment, retail supplies and services.
Asia's 1st Culinary Cup will be the first international culinary art contest and convention, and a platform where professionals from all over the world can showcase their talents. The event is organised by the Thai-Swiss Culinary Consultants in association with the Thai Chef's Association, the Thai Hotels Association and the Thai Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), with experts from World Association of Chef's Societies (WACS) as consultants.
"More than 200 award-winning chefs from around the world have confirmed their attendance," said Jamnong Nirangsan, president of the Thai Chefs Association."The competition will follow the rules of similar projects in Germany,Singapore and France, and the judges will be well-known culinary experts, most of whom are WACS approved international judges.
"Taking part in the competition will be teams from national and regional culinary associations as well as individual professionals from around the world.So far,12 countries have already registered - Australia, Austria, China, UAE,Holland, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan and Thailand."
The four-day Culinary Cup will see competitions in various fields including fruit and vegetable-carving, ice-carving,Thai cooking, Asian cooking, Western cooking, US turkey-cooking, modern sandwich-making, breakfast-cooking,cake-dressing, meat and poultry-cooking,Italian pasta dishes, petits fours/pralines/tea pastries, dessert-making, East meets West cooking, a Gourmet Team Challenge and the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge
"Apart from the culinary competitions,the event will become a platform for the Asian industry for presenting a range of related activities, business opportunities,and the chance to explore what Bangkok has to offer in terms of hospitality and culinary arts," said Jamnong.
"The flourishing infrastructure that Bangkok can provide in terms of its hotels,great restaurants and food facilities will add significantly to the experience of what will probably be the best culinary event ever held in Asia," he said.
Food & Hotel Thailand 2009 is expected to bring together more than 25,000 hoteliers, chefs, hypermarket executives,restaurant owners and managers, caterers, housekeeping managers and other related professionals. It will also coincide with Hostec Asia, the only international trade event for Asia's food and hospitality professionals; the Asean Hotel Congress;the Thai Restaurant Conference; the Thai Retailers Summit and the Food & Beverage Association of Thailand's International Wine Challenge.
Food & Hotel Thailand 2009 and Asia's 1st Culinary Cup 2009 and other related shows will all be held at Royal Paragon Hall on the fifth floor of Siam Paragon from September 2-5, daily from 10:30am-6:30pm. For more information, please visit www.foodhotelthailand.com or www.asiaculinarycup09.com.
Asia's 1st Culinary Cup will be the first international culinary art contest and convention, and a platform where professionals from all over the world can showcase their talents. The event is organised by the Thai-Swiss Culinary Consultants in association with the Thai Chef's Association, the Thai Hotels Association and the Thai Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), with experts from World Association of Chef's Societies (WACS) as consultants.
"More than 200 award-winning chefs from around the world have confirmed their attendance," said Jamnong Nirangsan, president of the Thai Chefs Association."The competition will follow the rules of similar projects in Germany,Singapore and France, and the judges will be well-known culinary experts, most of whom are WACS approved international judges.
"Taking part in the competition will be teams from national and regional culinary associations as well as individual professionals from around the world.So far,12 countries have already registered - Australia, Austria, China, UAE,Holland, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan and Thailand."
The four-day Culinary Cup will see competitions in various fields including fruit and vegetable-carving, ice-carving,Thai cooking, Asian cooking, Western cooking, US turkey-cooking, modern sandwich-making, breakfast-cooking,cake-dressing, meat and poultry-cooking,Italian pasta dishes, petits fours/pralines/tea pastries, dessert-making, East meets West cooking, a Gourmet Team Challenge and the Hans Bueschkens Junior Chefs Challenge
"Apart from the culinary competitions,the event will become a platform for the Asian industry for presenting a range of related activities, business opportunities,and the chance to explore what Bangkok has to offer in terms of hospitality and culinary arts," said Jamnong.
"The flourishing infrastructure that Bangkok can provide in terms of its hotels,great restaurants and food facilities will add significantly to the experience of what will probably be the best culinary event ever held in Asia," he said.
Food & Hotel Thailand 2009 is expected to bring together more than 25,000 hoteliers, chefs, hypermarket executives,restaurant owners and managers, caterers, housekeeping managers and other related professionals. It will also coincide with Hostec Asia, the only international trade event for Asia's food and hospitality professionals; the Asean Hotel Congress;the Thai Restaurant Conference; the Thai Retailers Summit and the Food & Beverage Association of Thailand's International Wine Challenge.
Food & Hotel Thailand 2009 and Asia's 1st Culinary Cup 2009 and other related shows will all be held at Royal Paragon Hall on the fifth floor of Siam Paragon from September 2-5, daily from 10:30am-6:30pm. For more information, please visit www.foodhotelthailand.com or www.asiaculinarycup09.com.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Pizza eyes bigger slice
The Pizza Company is confident of pizza's potential, despite rising competition from other foods, and forecasts 400 pizza outlets in Thailand in two or three years.
Currently, there are about 290 pizza outlets nationwide, of which 204 belong to The Pizza Company. The company expects to be responsible for half of the more than 100 outlets forecast to open in the next few years.
Pizza has plenty of opportunity to attract Thai consumers, despite Thailand being a rice-consuming country, said Andy Holman, general manager of Minor Food Group, the operator of The Pizza Company chain. Japan, which also has rice as a staple food, has more than 1,000 pizza restaurants, he said.
Yet many other food sectors are growing faster than pizza, although more pizza outlets open every year. With this in mind, the Pizza Company has recently added pasta to its menu.
"Our pasta business grew 50% in the first seven months of this year, compared with an earlier target of 8%. We know that rice is an important part of the Thai diet so we have launched rice-based menus as a third strategic product to drive our future growth," he said.
Yesterday, the company launched eight baked-rice Italian risotto dishes,which have been adjusted to suit Thai palates and sell at 79 baht.
Italian baked-rice dishes have been launched in China and Middle East, and had a very positive response, he said.
The company expects the dishes to repeat their success in Thailand and targets sales of 150 million baht by the year-end. The firm will spend 50 million baht to promote its rice dishes this year.
The Pizza Company will also add six branches by the year-end and focus on its delivery service outside Bangkok.
The company expects its sales to grow by 8% over 2009, the rate of increase already seen in the first seven months of the year. The Pizza Company expects the pizza business in Thailand to be worth five billion baht in 2009, with the company holding a 70% market share.
Currently, there are about 290 pizza outlets nationwide, of which 204 belong to The Pizza Company. The company expects to be responsible for half of the more than 100 outlets forecast to open in the next few years.
Pizza has plenty of opportunity to attract Thai consumers, despite Thailand being a rice-consuming country, said Andy Holman, general manager of Minor Food Group, the operator of The Pizza Company chain. Japan, which also has rice as a staple food, has more than 1,000 pizza restaurants, he said.
Yet many other food sectors are growing faster than pizza, although more pizza outlets open every year. With this in mind, the Pizza Company has recently added pasta to its menu.
"Our pasta business grew 50% in the first seven months of this year, compared with an earlier target of 8%. We know that rice is an important part of the Thai diet so we have launched rice-based menus as a third strategic product to drive our future growth," he said.
Yesterday, the company launched eight baked-rice Italian risotto dishes,which have been adjusted to suit Thai palates and sell at 79 baht.
Italian baked-rice dishes have been launched in China and Middle East, and had a very positive response, he said.
The company expects the dishes to repeat their success in Thailand and targets sales of 150 million baht by the year-end. The firm will spend 50 million baht to promote its rice dishes this year.
The Pizza Company will also add six branches by the year-end and focus on its delivery service outside Bangkok.
The company expects its sales to grow by 8% over 2009, the rate of increase already seen in the first seven months of the year. The Pizza Company expects the pizza business in Thailand to be worth five billion baht in 2009, with the company holding a 70% market share.
VN, INDIA FRANCHISES SIGNED
The Pizze Company, the leader in the local pizza-restaurant market, has expanded its business to Vietnam and India, in line with plans announcd earlier this year.
General manager Andrew Holman yesterday said the company had signed agreements with local investors in Vietnam and India to establish The Pizza Company restaurants as franchise operations.
"We expect to have the first pizza restaurant in vietnam by the end of this year. In India, we're not sure that we will have the first branch operating this year, because the world economic slowdown has affected investment there," he said.
Paul Kenny, CEO of the Minor Food Group, operator of the Pizza Company, earlier this year said the Company, earlier this year said the company planned to enter India and Vietnam to seek business opportunities in the two big markets.
The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. At present, it stands at 20 per cent.
Holman said The Pizza Company expected India to become one of its biggest foreign markets, like China, where the company now has 18 outlets.
Revenue growth of the Pizza Company restarurants in China is now better than in Thailand, were first half sales grew 8 per cent year on year.
At present, The Pizza Company has 40 restaurants in China, the Middle East and Cambodia. In Thailand, The Pizza Company has 204 branches and expects the number to increase to 208 this year.
The company believes Thailand has the capacity for at least another 50 branches over the next three years, Holman said.
Meanwhile, The Pizza Comapny has launch a new food menu: Italian baked rice, with eight different dishes. Its flagship dishes are pizza and pasta, and Italian baked rice will be its third food segment. It expects baked-rice dishes to attract a sales volume similar to pasta, which now contributes 15 per cent of sales.
The Pizza Company has a 70-per-cent share of the Bt5-billion Italian fast-food-restaurant market. Seventy-five per cent of its revenue comes from pizza.
Holman said that since the company had focused more on pasta menus earlier this year, sales of this kind of food had grown 50 per cent year on year. It expects the same kind of growth from its baked-rice dishes, because Thais are familiar with rice.
"Apart from pizza, I would like to see consumers order baked rice and pasta as additional items," he said.
Although its pasta revenue grew 50 per cent in the first half, The Pizza Company's overall revenue in that period grew only 8 per cent. The company has adjusted its pizza prices in a bid to make them more affordable.
Holman expects the new baked-rice menu to help the comapny generate second-half revenue of Bt150 million to Bt200 million, allowing it to maintain revenue growth of 5-10 per cent.
The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. It now stands at 20 per cent.
General manager Andrew Holman yesterday said the company had signed agreements with local investors in Vietnam and India to establish The Pizza Company restaurants as franchise operations.
"We expect to have the first pizza restaurant in vietnam by the end of this year. In India, we're not sure that we will have the first branch operating this year, because the world economic slowdown has affected investment there," he said.
Paul Kenny, CEO of the Minor Food Group, operator of the Pizza Company, earlier this year said the Company, earlier this year said the company planned to enter India and Vietnam to seek business opportunities in the two big markets.
The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. At present, it stands at 20 per cent.
Holman said The Pizza Company expected India to become one of its biggest foreign markets, like China, where the company now has 18 outlets.
Revenue growth of the Pizza Company restarurants in China is now better than in Thailand, were first half sales grew 8 per cent year on year.
At present, The Pizza Company has 40 restaurants in China, the Middle East and Cambodia. In Thailand, The Pizza Company has 204 branches and expects the number to increase to 208 this year.
The company believes Thailand has the capacity for at least another 50 branches over the next three years, Holman said.
Meanwhile, The Pizza Comapny has launch a new food menu: Italian baked rice, with eight different dishes. Its flagship dishes are pizza and pasta, and Italian baked rice will be its third food segment. It expects baked-rice dishes to attract a sales volume similar to pasta, which now contributes 15 per cent of sales.
The Pizza Company has a 70-per-cent share of the Bt5-billion Italian fast-food-restaurant market. Seventy-five per cent of its revenue comes from pizza.
Holman said that since the company had focused more on pasta menus earlier this year, sales of this kind of food had grown 50 per cent year on year. It expects the same kind of growth from its baked-rice dishes, because Thais are familiar with rice.
"Apart from pizza, I would like to see consumers order baked rice and pasta as additional items," he said.
Although its pasta revenue grew 50 per cent in the first half, The Pizza Company's overall revenue in that period grew only 8 per cent. The company has adjusted its pizza prices in a bid to make them more affordable.
Holman expects the new baked-rice menu to help the comapny generate second-half revenue of Bt150 million to Bt200 million, allowing it to maintain revenue growth of 5-10 per cent.
The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. It now stands at 20 per cent.
Publican offers 30,000 baht
The owner of the Santika pub - which erupted into a deadly inferno in the first few seconds of this year - has told a court he could offer just 30,000 baht in compensation to relatives of the dead and to surviving victims.
The blaze killed 66 people and injured hundreds. The offer was part of a second round of court settlement talks between pub owner and operator Suriya Ritrabue and the victims at Phra Khanong Provincial Court yesterday.
A lawyer representing Mr Suriya told complainants the pub owner had no more money to pay compensation.
Families affected by the Santika fire have filed seven civil suits against Mr Suriya demanding compensation totalling 105.7 million baht.
But the initial court settlement process was required before civil suits could begin.
The lawyer said the pub owner could not afford to pay more than his offer but a victim who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the management and business partners of the pub should share responsibility to compensate fire victims.
Chairat Saeng-arun, who is an adviser to the Foundation for Consumers that has supported the Santika fire victims'fight for compensation, said the pub owner would be given one last chance to make an acceptable offer in the next court settlement negotiation set for Nov 25.
If the talks fail again, victims and relatives of the dead would launch legal proceedings against the 33 Santika pub management members and business partners who should be held responsible for the consequences of the fire, Mr Chairat said.
More than eight months after the inferno, no victims have received compensation. Forty more complaints have been lodged against the pub operator.
The blaze killed 66 people and injured hundreds. The offer was part of a second round of court settlement talks between pub owner and operator Suriya Ritrabue and the victims at Phra Khanong Provincial Court yesterday.
A lawyer representing Mr Suriya told complainants the pub owner had no more money to pay compensation.
Families affected by the Santika fire have filed seven civil suits against Mr Suriya demanding compensation totalling 105.7 million baht.
But the initial court settlement process was required before civil suits could begin.
The lawyer said the pub owner could not afford to pay more than his offer but a victim who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the management and business partners of the pub should share responsibility to compensate fire victims.
Chairat Saeng-arun, who is an adviser to the Foundation for Consumers that has supported the Santika fire victims'fight for compensation, said the pub owner would be given one last chance to make an acceptable offer in the next court settlement negotiation set for Nov 25.
If the talks fail again, victims and relatives of the dead would launch legal proceedings against the 33 Santika pub management members and business partners who should be held responsible for the consequences of the fire, Mr Chairat said.
More than eight months after the inferno, no victims have received compensation. Forty more complaints have been lodged against the pub operator.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Jamie's Italian coming to Asia
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is planning to launch 30 Italian family-style restaurants in Asia, with the first one set to open its doors to his gastronomic followers in Hong Kong early next year.
The move marks the first step in taking his chain Jamie's Italian - which now has five eateries in England - outside his hometown, to a region which takes pride in its rich diversity of international cuisine and where the economy is picking up faster than anywhere else in the world.
"Why Asia? Of all the markets, it has by far the fastest-growing economy,"said Edward Pinshow, president of Tranic Franchising, which formed a venture with Jamie's Italian International for the Asia expansion.
"The Chinese have become extremely fond of Italian food. In Japan, Jamie's become a household name," he said in Hong Kong yesterday.
Pinshow told AFP that the first stage of the expansion was to open six restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore,for which he is now raising about US$200 million.
They plan to roll out another 24 eateries in other parts of the region over the next five years, with China, Japan,Taiwan and Korea among the most likely candidates for location.
Pinshow said they were now working hard to get their first restaurant - a 5,000-square-foot,180-seat venue in Hong Kong - ready for opening in the second quarter of next year.
He said the menu would offer a fullcourse meal with antipasti, main dish,dessert, plus a glass of Italian wine, for an average of HK$300(US$38.5) per head.
"At Jamie's restaurants, you will often find a blue-collar worker, a student, and the chairman of a blue-chip company side by side having a meal," he said,while stressing that everything they served would be "natural and organic."
Hong Kong will also be established as the development hub, providing all regional support in licensing, real estate,training and logistics for the project.
Meanwhile, Pinshow said Oliver also had his eyes set on Europe for his chain's international expansion.
Oliver,34, shot to fame in 1999 with his cooking series The Naked Chef . He has since featured in numerous television series, and sold millions of copies of his cookbooks worldwide.
His 2005 television documentary Jamie's School Dinners sparked a national debate on nutritional issues in Britain,and is credited with persuading some people to change their eating habits.
The move marks the first step in taking his chain Jamie's Italian - which now has five eateries in England - outside his hometown, to a region which takes pride in its rich diversity of international cuisine and where the economy is picking up faster than anywhere else in the world.
"Why Asia? Of all the markets, it has by far the fastest-growing economy,"said Edward Pinshow, president of Tranic Franchising, which formed a venture with Jamie's Italian International for the Asia expansion.
"The Chinese have become extremely fond of Italian food. In Japan, Jamie's become a household name," he said in Hong Kong yesterday.
Pinshow told AFP that the first stage of the expansion was to open six restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore,for which he is now raising about US$200 million.
They plan to roll out another 24 eateries in other parts of the region over the next five years, with China, Japan,Taiwan and Korea among the most likely candidates for location.
Pinshow said they were now working hard to get their first restaurant - a 5,000-square-foot,180-seat venue in Hong Kong - ready for opening in the second quarter of next year.
He said the menu would offer a fullcourse meal with antipasti, main dish,dessert, plus a glass of Italian wine, for an average of HK$300(US$38.5) per head.
"At Jamie's restaurants, you will often find a blue-collar worker, a student, and the chairman of a blue-chip company side by side having a meal," he said,while stressing that everything they served would be "natural and organic."
Hong Kong will also be established as the development hub, providing all regional support in licensing, real estate,training and logistics for the project.
Meanwhile, Pinshow said Oliver also had his eyes set on Europe for his chain's international expansion.
Oliver,34, shot to fame in 1999 with his cooking series The Naked Chef . He has since featured in numerous television series, and sold millions of copies of his cookbooks worldwide.
His 2005 television documentary Jamie's School Dinners sparked a national debate on nutritional issues in Britain,and is credited with persuading some people to change their eating habits.
Monday, August 24, 2009
THAI FOOD A TOURISM DRAWCARD
Allied organisations in the tourism industry will stage two major events next month aimed at boosting domestic toruism and promoting Thai products in global markets.
The events, both concerning Thai cisine, will be called "Amazing Taste of Thailand" and "Thailand Brand".
The first, to be held in Bangkok from september 24-28, will be staged by the Toruism Authority of Thailand (TAT),the Department of Export Promotion, the Thai Hotels Association, the Association of Domestic Travel and the Thai Restaurants Association.
Juthaporn Rerngronasa, deputy governor for marketing communications at the TAT, said Thai cuisine was one of the authority's foremost priorities linked with trave and tourism.
The Commerce Ministry plans to increase the number of Thai restaurants abroad form 13,000 now to 15,000 next year as part of the second phase of Thailand's Kitchen of the World" project, she said.
Many of the restaurants, ranging from elegant upmarket outlets to fast-food takeaways, are set up by This living abroad, Thai wives of expats and former students, as well as foreign entrepreneurs who simply fall in lovewith Thai food.
In 2007, vistors to Thailand spent an average of Bt4,120 per person per day, of which Bt731, or 17.74 per cent, was spent on food and beverages.
The second event will be held simultaneously in Bangkok and other leading tourist destination. It will be targeted at chefs and owners of Thai restaurants abroad who will meet local restaurant owners, chefs and companies invloved in the production and distribution of Thai agricultural products.
"About 500 participants will join this campaign, including woners, managers, chefs of Thai restaurants abroad, famous chefs from man parts of the world and food critics and writers," Juthaporn said. "The two events will provide opportunites for operators to expand their businesses, both in Thailand and abroad."
The events, both concerning Thai cisine, will be called "Amazing Taste of Thailand" and "Thailand Brand".
The first, to be held in Bangkok from september 24-28, will be staged by the Toruism Authority of Thailand (TAT),the Department of Export Promotion, the Thai Hotels Association, the Association of Domestic Travel and the Thai Restaurants Association.
Juthaporn Rerngronasa, deputy governor for marketing communications at the TAT, said Thai cuisine was one of the authority's foremost priorities linked with trave and tourism.
The Commerce Ministry plans to increase the number of Thai restaurants abroad form 13,000 now to 15,000 next year as part of the second phase of Thailand's Kitchen of the World" project, she said.
Many of the restaurants, ranging from elegant upmarket outlets to fast-food takeaways, are set up by This living abroad, Thai wives of expats and former students, as well as foreign entrepreneurs who simply fall in lovewith Thai food.
In 2007, vistors to Thailand spent an average of Bt4,120 per person per day, of which Bt731, or 17.74 per cent, was spent on food and beverages.
The second event will be held simultaneously in Bangkok and other leading tourist destination. It will be targeted at chefs and owners of Thai restaurants abroad who will meet local restaurant owners, chefs and companies invloved in the production and distribution of Thai agricultural products.
"About 500 participants will join this campaign, including woners, managers, chefs of Thai restaurants abroad, famous chefs from man parts of the world and food critics and writers," Juthaporn said. "The two events will provide opportunites for operators to expand their businesses, both in Thailand and abroad."
Chokdee to raise funds from MAI for expansion
Chokdee Dimsum Restaurant plans to grow domestically and venture abroad in the next three years with funds to be raised from the stock market.
Managing director Dheeraphop Siraprapathum said last week that the company was working with a financial adviser to prepare for listing on the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI).
According to the listing plan, it has already separated its business into three companies.
Chokdee International Food operates the central kitchen and distributes frozen dim sum to all branches nationwide.
Chokdee Dimsum Restaurant operates the dim sum restaurants.
And Chokdee International Franchise oversees its franchised restaurants.
Listing on the MAI would be the springboard for expansion, Dheeraphop said.
Domestically, Chokdee Restaurant would like to enter department stores and shopping centres, while it would like to penetrate overseas markets such as China.
"To have a restaurant in one shopping mall, we need at least Bt4 million. Meanwhile, if we would like to have a Chokdee Dimsum Restaurant overseas, we have to set up a central kitchen. Therefore, the investment will increase to Bt20 million per branch, which is too much for us. We need to mobilise funds from the bourse," he said.
The enterprise would grow rapidly after listing on the MAI, he said.
Since its establishment in 2000, it has multiplied to 18 branches, of which nine operate around the clock.
"We are the first dim sum restaurant in Thailand that sets reasonable prices, which everyone can afford and is open for 24 hours. This is our strength. We can utilise every resource such as employees for the most effective results to gain more money. And night-time is a good period for making money," he said.
The company plans to increase its coverage by six branches this year, of which three have already been created by franchising both in Bangkok and upcountry.
Managing director Dheeraphop Siraprapathum said last week that the company was working with a financial adviser to prepare for listing on the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI).
According to the listing plan, it has already separated its business into three companies.
Chokdee International Food operates the central kitchen and distributes frozen dim sum to all branches nationwide.
Chokdee Dimsum Restaurant operates the dim sum restaurants.
And Chokdee International Franchise oversees its franchised restaurants.
Listing on the MAI would be the springboard for expansion, Dheeraphop said.
Domestically, Chokdee Restaurant would like to enter department stores and shopping centres, while it would like to penetrate overseas markets such as China.
"To have a restaurant in one shopping mall, we need at least Bt4 million. Meanwhile, if we would like to have a Chokdee Dimsum Restaurant overseas, we have to set up a central kitchen. Therefore, the investment will increase to Bt20 million per branch, which is too much for us. We need to mobilise funds from the bourse," he said.
The enterprise would grow rapidly after listing on the MAI, he said.
Since its establishment in 2000, it has multiplied to 18 branches, of which nine operate around the clock.
"We are the first dim sum restaurant in Thailand that sets reasonable prices, which everyone can afford and is open for 24 hours. This is our strength. We can utilise every resource such as employees for the most effective results to gain more money. And night-time is a good period for making money," he said.
The company plans to increase its coverage by six branches this year, of which three have already been created by franchising both in Bangkok and upcountry.
Green group targets McDonald's
A Hong Kong green group has called for a levy on disposable cups and cutlery after revealing McDonald's had given away around 400 million such items during lunchtimes alone in the last three years.
Green Senses is demanding the government introduce a levy of 6 US cents on every item given to customers in a bid to force the fastfood chain to cut down on the number it uses. The environmental group based its estimate on a survey, which had tracked 50 of the McDonald's Hong Kong outlets since 2006.
It claimed the 210 outlets in Hong Kong had used more than 11 million cups, paper boxes and pieces of plastic cutlery within a two-hour period in one month. This amounted to 400 million pieces over the three years of the survey, equating to almost 60 items for every man, woman and child in the city of 7 million.
A McDonald's spokeswoman denied it had been unwilling, telling local media that the chain had "continously come up with viable green campaigns" and had adopted a 3R policy of reduce, reuse and recycle. She said waste volume had fallen by 80 per cent since it had replaced styrofoam boxes with paper ones. The chain now also recycles used oil.
Green Senses is demanding the government introduce a levy of 6 US cents on every item given to customers in a bid to force the fastfood chain to cut down on the number it uses. The environmental group based its estimate on a survey, which had tracked 50 of the McDonald's Hong Kong outlets since 2006.
It claimed the 210 outlets in Hong Kong had used more than 11 million cups, paper boxes and pieces of plastic cutlery within a two-hour period in one month. This amounted to 400 million pieces over the three years of the survey, equating to almost 60 items for every man, woman and child in the city of 7 million.
A McDonald's spokeswoman denied it had been unwilling, telling local media that the chain had "continously come up with viable green campaigns" and had adopted a 3R policy of reduce, reuse and recycle. She said waste volume had fallen by 80 per cent since it had replaced styrofoam boxes with paper ones. The chain now also recycles used oil.
DONE'TIL DELECTABLE
The glass-wrapped Vie Wine & Grill on the 11th floor of the Vie Hotel offers international cuisine, sweet temptations and wine, and a spectacular night cityscape.
While the hotel's exterior is modern, with glass from top to toe, the retaurant is decorated in dark, earthy tones of brown and orange, with woven copper mesh curtains clsed for privacy.
The dark couches are given traditional accents with silk cushions upholstered in orange, green and copper, while the ceiling lamps created from hundreds of silkworm cocoons give warm lighting. There is a private function room at one end and a well stocked wine cellar at the other.
The cuisine has been created by executive chef Supat Chinsangtip, and the highlight is a technique called sous-vide-French for "under vacuum", in which dishes are cooked under pressure at a controlled temperature below 100 degrees for a long time, sometimes up to 24 hours.
Unlike using a slow cooker, sousvide requires airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well belwo boiling point, usually around 60 to 62 degrees.
An "(s)" mark beside the dish on the menu indicateds it's cooked with this technique.
"Sous-vide was first used to cook foie gras to redce the shrinkage and retain flavour," says Supat. "But it was later developed for other dishes - from fish and tough cuts of meats to vegetable cookery. The advantage of cooking this way is that ingredients lose very little of their natural juices and nutrients."
A good starter is zucchini and basil soup with parmesan cheese for Bt150, and it's well follow with a Caesar made with cos lettuce and a slow cooked egg salad for Bt260.
For a main dish, Supat presents a rib-eye steak for Australian Rangers Valley beef for Bt1,235. Theat's 240 gra,s. amd ot cp,es wotj a cjpoce pf saices" Cafe de {aros. red wome. Bermaose. jprseradosj pr cream.
The sous-vide chicken breast with Cafe de Paris sauce servd with asparagus and french fries for Bt450 is supremely tneder thanks to the long cooking time.
Or you can try grilled tuna with asparagus and potatoes in a romesco sauce for Bt360, or the sous-vide salmon fillet with Moroccan eggplant salad with capsicum dressing for Bt330.
Sweet treats of home-made ice cream and various traditional French desserts like creme brulee served with strawberry ice cream will complete a perfect meal.
The restaurant also has "Wine Flight" promotion for Bt450 - three glasses of red or white wine and three tapas, such as risotto balls, grilled beef with romesco sauce and deep-fried crabmeat with minced pork.
The white wines on offer are Chardonnay Pupilla, Chardonnay Db Selection and Sauvignon Blanc la Chapelle, while the red wine lists include Cabernet Sauvignon Pupilla, Shiraz Db selection de Bortoli and Merlot la Chapelle.
>> LIFE IS GOOD
- The Vie Wine & Grill is open diaily from 6 to 10pm.
- It's on Phya Thai Road and is easily reached from the Skytrain's Rajthevee station.
- Call (02) 309 3939 or visit www.VieHotelBangkok.com.
While the hotel's exterior is modern, with glass from top to toe, the retaurant is decorated in dark, earthy tones of brown and orange, with woven copper mesh curtains clsed for privacy.
The dark couches are given traditional accents with silk cushions upholstered in orange, green and copper, while the ceiling lamps created from hundreds of silkworm cocoons give warm lighting. There is a private function room at one end and a well stocked wine cellar at the other.
The cuisine has been created by executive chef Supat Chinsangtip, and the highlight is a technique called sous-vide-French for "under vacuum", in which dishes are cooked under pressure at a controlled temperature below 100 degrees for a long time, sometimes up to 24 hours.
Unlike using a slow cooker, sousvide requires airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well belwo boiling point, usually around 60 to 62 degrees.
An "(s)" mark beside the dish on the menu indicateds it's cooked with this technique.
"Sous-vide was first used to cook foie gras to redce the shrinkage and retain flavour," says Supat. "But it was later developed for other dishes - from fish and tough cuts of meats to vegetable cookery. The advantage of cooking this way is that ingredients lose very little of their natural juices and nutrients."
A good starter is zucchini and basil soup with parmesan cheese for Bt150, and it's well follow with a Caesar made with cos lettuce and a slow cooked egg salad for Bt260.
For a main dish, Supat presents a rib-eye steak for Australian Rangers Valley beef for Bt1,235. Theat's 240 gra,s. amd ot cp,es wotj a cjpoce pf saices" Cafe de {aros. red wome. Bermaose. jprseradosj pr cream.
The sous-vide chicken breast with Cafe de Paris sauce servd with asparagus and french fries for Bt450 is supremely tneder thanks to the long cooking time.
Or you can try grilled tuna with asparagus and potatoes in a romesco sauce for Bt360, or the sous-vide salmon fillet with Moroccan eggplant salad with capsicum dressing for Bt330.
Sweet treats of home-made ice cream and various traditional French desserts like creme brulee served with strawberry ice cream will complete a perfect meal.
The restaurant also has "Wine Flight" promotion for Bt450 - three glasses of red or white wine and three tapas, such as risotto balls, grilled beef with romesco sauce and deep-fried crabmeat with minced pork.
The white wines on offer are Chardonnay Pupilla, Chardonnay Db Selection and Sauvignon Blanc la Chapelle, while the red wine lists include Cabernet Sauvignon Pupilla, Shiraz Db selection de Bortoli and Merlot la Chapelle.
>> LIFE IS GOOD
- The Vie Wine & Grill is open diaily from 6 to 10pm.
- It's on Phya Thai Road and is easily reached from the Skytrain's Rajthevee station.
- Call (02) 309 3939 or visit www.VieHotelBangkok.com.
WORK CAN WAIT...YOU TRIED THE LOBSTER?
For India's hungry hordes of office workers, the old-fashioned work canteen is past its sell-by date. In the brave new world of IT and business outsourcing companies, sophisticated cafeterias now rule.
Salary slaves are set free at lunchtime with live kitchens, multi-cuisine offerings, brightly themed colour schemes with furniture and fixturs to match, vending machines, music system, TVs and the all-machines, music system, TVs and the all-important Internet connectivity.
"The availability of cafeterias and the upgrade fo services is like moving from Web 1.0 to 2.0," says Romit Dasgupta, director of Globsyn Business School. He adds that like many upgrades on the Net, it's also community driven.
Over at Google's India headquarters the story is the same. Here, the philosophy is "no employee pays for food" and the food served is often raved about, reviewed and compared to reputed restaurants.
According to Dasgupta, "These are basic innovations for providing psycholgical comfort to the talent pool. In a scenario where software experts anre spending long hours at their computers, it is a bbout providing them with the playround that allows themto come back and write those priceless codes."
And a superior cafe cn play a role in attracting that talent to a company in the first place. Though an IT professional's criteria for a preferred company to work for will include good projects, pay structure, interpersonal relationships and career opportunities, infrastructure facilities like cafeteries definitely appear on the list.
According to IBM's Rajeev Mathur, regional manager of site operations for South Asia, cafeterias "act as a retention policy and enable the organisation to keep employee moral and motivation igh".
The glass-domed cafeteria on IT giant Wipro's sprawling Kolkata complex is designed to satisfy everythingk from short snacking breaks to serious gastronomic urges. Brands like Baskin Robbins, Barista, Expresso and Java Green offer 24-hour service.
And with the vast choice comes subsidised prices. A peek into the IBM cafeteria at lunchtime reveals software workaholics catching up on a spread consisting of South Indian thalis, snacks of samosas and bhajis, soups, grilled sandwiches, pasta, pizza and noodles.
If the deliciously cold air-conditioning is not enough, you can beat the sweltering summer heat or the sultry monsoon by heading for the ice-cream parlour or the juice bars.
The counters at the cafeteria attract queues for feshly prepared food, with employees helping themselves to across-the-counter breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, dinner. Alternatively, they can order the regular berad and breakfast or items prepared at the onsite kitchen such as pizzas, dosas and meals of Indian, Chinese or fusion food, vegtarian or non vegetarian.
But, as Dasgupta notes, the choice and comfort has a higher objective than satis fying the appetities of workers: "In the case of IT giants like IBM and Wipro where there is a disconnect between various rungs, add-ons like cafeterias are the intermediaries that help keep the show ticking."
Salary slaves are set free at lunchtime with live kitchens, multi-cuisine offerings, brightly themed colour schemes with furniture and fixturs to match, vending machines, music system, TVs and the all-machines, music system, TVs and the all-important Internet connectivity.
"The availability of cafeterias and the upgrade fo services is like moving from Web 1.0 to 2.0," says Romit Dasgupta, director of Globsyn Business School. He adds that like many upgrades on the Net, it's also community driven.
Over at Google's India headquarters the story is the same. Here, the philosophy is "no employee pays for food" and the food served is often raved about, reviewed and compared to reputed restaurants.
According to Dasgupta, "These are basic innovations for providing psycholgical comfort to the talent pool. In a scenario where software experts anre spending long hours at their computers, it is a bbout providing them with the playround that allows themto come back and write those priceless codes."
And a superior cafe cn play a role in attracting that talent to a company in the first place. Though an IT professional's criteria for a preferred company to work for will include good projects, pay structure, interpersonal relationships and career opportunities, infrastructure facilities like cafeteries definitely appear on the list.
According to IBM's Rajeev Mathur, regional manager of site operations for South Asia, cafeterias "act as a retention policy and enable the organisation to keep employee moral and motivation igh".
The glass-domed cafeteria on IT giant Wipro's sprawling Kolkata complex is designed to satisfy everythingk from short snacking breaks to serious gastronomic urges. Brands like Baskin Robbins, Barista, Expresso and Java Green offer 24-hour service.
And with the vast choice comes subsidised prices. A peek into the IBM cafeteria at lunchtime reveals software workaholics catching up on a spread consisting of South Indian thalis, snacks of samosas and bhajis, soups, grilled sandwiches, pasta, pizza and noodles.
If the deliciously cold air-conditioning is not enough, you can beat the sweltering summer heat or the sultry monsoon by heading for the ice-cream parlour or the juice bars.
The counters at the cafeteria attract queues for feshly prepared food, with employees helping themselves to across-the-counter breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, dinner. Alternatively, they can order the regular berad and breakfast or items prepared at the onsite kitchen such as pizzas, dosas and meals of Indian, Chinese or fusion food, vegtarian or non vegetarian.
But, as Dasgupta notes, the choice and comfort has a higher objective than satis fying the appetities of workers: "In the case of IT giants like IBM and Wipro where there is a disconnect between various rungs, add-ons like cafeterias are the intermediaries that help keep the show ticking."
PATTAYA BARS WANT TO OPEN LATER
Nightspot operators yesterday lodged a petition with Pattaya mayor Itthipol Khunpluem seeking longer operating hours to help ease economic hardship.
Led by former MP Charnyut Hengtrakul, the operators claimed strict enforcement of operating hours was making it harder for them to make ends meet.The industry had already been hit by the economic downturn.
The petition was accepted by deputy mayor Ronnakij Ekasingh who promised to forward it to Bang Lamung district and to the Chon Buri governor.
Mr Charnyut, an adviser to night entertainment business operators, said yesterday that extending operating hours was a short-term measure.
He said the law governing opening hours should be amended to allow longer operating hours for nightspots in the entertainment zone.
He also said authorities lacked understanding about the tourism industry,especially tourist towns such as Pattaya,Phuket and Chiang Mai.
It was a shame that efforts to loosen up operating hours which started under the Thaksin administration stalled following the 2006 coup.
"This is a critical problem. If no action is taken, we could end up in serious trouble. Those in related businesses will also suffer," he said.
Mr Ronnakij said Pattaya city administration would call a meeting with business operators to discuss the problem.
Under the law, nightspots in entertainment zones have to shut at 2am while those outside the zone must close at 1am. Night entertainment venues used to close at 4am.
Meanwhile, immigration police yesterday arrested an Australian man and a Thai woman on charges of human trafficking and prostitution in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district.
The authorities also detained 21 women including two 17-year-olds from the two-storey Coyote A-Go-Go club in the raid.
Trevor James Holley,52, denied any involvement while his alleged accomplice Watcharee Batpho,44, admitted the prostitution charge. The suspects were handed over to Muang Pattaya police for further questioning.
Led by former MP Charnyut Hengtrakul, the operators claimed strict enforcement of operating hours was making it harder for them to make ends meet.The industry had already been hit by the economic downturn.
The petition was accepted by deputy mayor Ronnakij Ekasingh who promised to forward it to Bang Lamung district and to the Chon Buri governor.
Mr Charnyut, an adviser to night entertainment business operators, said yesterday that extending operating hours was a short-term measure.
He said the law governing opening hours should be amended to allow longer operating hours for nightspots in the entertainment zone.
He also said authorities lacked understanding about the tourism industry,especially tourist towns such as Pattaya,Phuket and Chiang Mai.
It was a shame that efforts to loosen up operating hours which started under the Thaksin administration stalled following the 2006 coup.
"This is a critical problem. If no action is taken, we could end up in serious trouble. Those in related businesses will also suffer," he said.
Mr Ronnakij said Pattaya city administration would call a meeting with business operators to discuss the problem.
Under the law, nightspots in entertainment zones have to shut at 2am while those outside the zone must close at 1am. Night entertainment venues used to close at 4am.
Meanwhile, immigration police yesterday arrested an Australian man and a Thai woman on charges of human trafficking and prostitution in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district.
The authorities also detained 21 women including two 17-year-olds from the two-storey Coyote A-Go-Go club in the raid.
Trevor James Holley,52, denied any involvement while his alleged accomplice Watcharee Batpho,44, admitted the prostitution charge. The suspects were handed over to Muang Pattaya police for further questioning.
Friday, August 21, 2009
AMPOL EXPANDS EXPORT FOCUS
Popularity of Thai restaurants abroad leads food processing company to stretch its overseas goals, writes Walailak Keeratipipatpong
The rising number of restaurants serving Thai food abroad reflects the popularity of Thai cuisine,which has also fed large exports of ingredients and food from Thailand in recent years.
About 15,000 Thai food restaurants operate around the world and their number shows steady growth, according to a report from the Commerce Ministry.
The appeal of Thai food is expected to help export revenue from ready-toeat and ready-to-cook products to pass 330 billion baht this year, out of an estimated 722 billion baht in food exports.
The sector's export growth has lured many Thai food companies, including Ampol Food Processing Co, to map out expansion plans for more countries.
"We have set an ambitious goal to distribute products to 65 countries by next year, up from 20 at present," says managing director Kriengsak Theppadungporn.
The company's key product lines Chaokoh coconut milk, V-Fit beverages and the new Roi Thai ready-to-cook curries - all are in UHT packages that have established themselves strongly in Asian markets.
New markets in the pipeline include Europe and the United States, where the company has sought permission from the Food and Drug Administration to sell its ready-to-cook lines.
Roi Thai will be a leading brand for new markets, to which more varieties of curry and soup base will be added including ready-to-cook tom yum ,tom kha (tom yum-like mild-coconut milk soup with galangal), rice noodles in fish curry sauce - on top of ready-to-cook red, green and yellow curry soup, peanut curry soup and massaman curry soup.
"A lot of our consumers have a fondness for the hot and spicy taste of Thai curries, but we tend to customise the tastes for a mass market's acceptance,"he said.
Traditional shops and grocery stores will be the company's key focus rather than newer trade channels, said Mr Kriengsak.
Ampol's strategy is to reposition itself as a maker of ready-to-cook food, rather than a ready-to-eat processor or a supplier of food ingredients. The expansion
could also raise income from exports to equal that from domestic sales in the near future.
Ampol Food reported 1.4 billion baht in sales in 2008, of which 30%was derived from exports.Kriengsak: Plan to To support the ship to 65 countries new business positioning, the company plans to set up a new company,Ampol Food and Beverage Co, and to invest about 300-400 million baht in building a manufacturing plant to process ready-to-cook products, said marketing manager Kritsada Sopa.
The plant, on an 80-rai plot in Ratchaburi, will be Ampol's most modern food and beverage production facility.
"The compound will be a venue for us to showcase coconut and coconutbased food industries. We will try to establish a demonstration plantation for all coconut varieties in the area," said Mr Kritsada.
The new plant will support research and innovation from the company's new 180-million-baht research and development centre in Nakhon Pathom,which is designed to host research into new food and beverage products by several food institutes and universities.
The centre will help add more cereal and health drinks to the brown rice milk and corn milk produced at the firm's current facilities.
One product in the production pipeline is an energy drink similar to current market leaders such as Gatorade.
Ampol Food and its parent company, Theppadungporn, are market leaders in Thailand's coconut milk industry. The Chaokoh brand controls about 70% shares of local business while the remaining shares go to the Aroy-Dee and Tip brands.
To help explore export markets,the company has teamed up with government agencies on roadshows and exhibitions abroad, said Mr Kritsada. The events allow the company to make market surveys, and look at consumer habits and product preferences in each market it visits, he said.
"For example, we learned that even though there are more than 3,000 Thais living largely in Johannesburg and Cape Town, our real customers for the products there are not Thais but foreigners," he said.
"In Laos, Roi Thai red curry soup is the best seller while Japanese consumers prefer green curry."
Ampol Food has yet to set up representative offices overseas. Mr Kriengsak said he would rather strengthen the foreign market team to increase export activities.
The rising number of restaurants serving Thai food abroad reflects the popularity of Thai cuisine,which has also fed large exports of ingredients and food from Thailand in recent years.
About 15,000 Thai food restaurants operate around the world and their number shows steady growth, according to a report from the Commerce Ministry.
The appeal of Thai food is expected to help export revenue from ready-toeat and ready-to-cook products to pass 330 billion baht this year, out of an estimated 722 billion baht in food exports.
The sector's export growth has lured many Thai food companies, including Ampol Food Processing Co, to map out expansion plans for more countries.
"We have set an ambitious goal to distribute products to 65 countries by next year, up from 20 at present," says managing director Kriengsak Theppadungporn.
The company's key product lines Chaokoh coconut milk, V-Fit beverages and the new Roi Thai ready-to-cook curries - all are in UHT packages that have established themselves strongly in Asian markets.
New markets in the pipeline include Europe and the United States, where the company has sought permission from the Food and Drug Administration to sell its ready-to-cook lines.
Roi Thai will be a leading brand for new markets, to which more varieties of curry and soup base will be added including ready-to-cook tom yum ,tom kha (tom yum-like mild-coconut milk soup with galangal), rice noodles in fish curry sauce - on top of ready-to-cook red, green and yellow curry soup, peanut curry soup and massaman curry soup.
"A lot of our consumers have a fondness for the hot and spicy taste of Thai curries, but we tend to customise the tastes for a mass market's acceptance,"he said.
Traditional shops and grocery stores will be the company's key focus rather than newer trade channels, said Mr Kriengsak.
Ampol's strategy is to reposition itself as a maker of ready-to-cook food, rather than a ready-to-eat processor or a supplier of food ingredients. The expansion
could also raise income from exports to equal that from domestic sales in the near future.
Ampol Food reported 1.4 billion baht in sales in 2008, of which 30%was derived from exports.Kriengsak: Plan to To support the ship to 65 countries new business positioning, the company plans to set up a new company,Ampol Food and Beverage Co, and to invest about 300-400 million baht in building a manufacturing plant to process ready-to-cook products, said marketing manager Kritsada Sopa.
The plant, on an 80-rai plot in Ratchaburi, will be Ampol's most modern food and beverage production facility.
"The compound will be a venue for us to showcase coconut and coconutbased food industries. We will try to establish a demonstration plantation for all coconut varieties in the area," said Mr Kritsada.
The new plant will support research and innovation from the company's new 180-million-baht research and development centre in Nakhon Pathom,which is designed to host research into new food and beverage products by several food institutes and universities.
The centre will help add more cereal and health drinks to the brown rice milk and corn milk produced at the firm's current facilities.
One product in the production pipeline is an energy drink similar to current market leaders such as Gatorade.
Ampol Food and its parent company, Theppadungporn, are market leaders in Thailand's coconut milk industry. The Chaokoh brand controls about 70% shares of local business while the remaining shares go to the Aroy-Dee and Tip brands.
To help explore export markets,the company has teamed up with government agencies on roadshows and exhibitions abroad, said Mr Kritsada. The events allow the company to make market surveys, and look at consumer habits and product preferences in each market it visits, he said.
"For example, we learned that even though there are more than 3,000 Thais living largely in Johannesburg and Cape Town, our real customers for the products there are not Thais but foreigners," he said.
"In Laos, Roi Thai red curry soup is the best seller while Japanese consumers prefer green curry."
Ampol Food has yet to set up representative offices overseas. Mr Kriengsak said he would rather strengthen the foreign market team to increase export activities.
FLOWER POWER!
Despite its French-sounding name, Le Lys serves authentic, homemade Thai food
Wow I'm going to a French restaurant!I thought, as I received the news that I would be checking out a place called Le Lys.Images of fleur de lys (lilies:the national flower of France)flashed across my mind. I pictured a grand dining room and a suave waiter in a tuxedo with a pencil moustache,complimenting all my choices with the words,"Oui !Tres bien monsieur !" his eyes closed and his face tilted 45 degrees in the air.
That wasn't the case unfortunately but that's not to say that Le Lys was a disappointment.
Patty, a Thai, met her husband Philippe during her years working as a travel agent in Saint Tropez,France. After a while they married and became Mr and Mrs Delmas.
After many years of running a Thai restaurant in the land of lilies they moved to Thailand and opened the original Le Lys in 1998. They have since moved location twice, most recently opening for business in Nang Linchee Soi 6.
The current Le Lys is in a renovated home, with the restaurant divided into two sections; an outdoor section on the ground floor covered by a roof, and an air-conditioned dining section on the mezzanine floor.
The ground floor features a heavily stocked garden, full of plants, flowers and trees. It gives the whole place a,"Am I really still in concrete city Bangkok?" kind of feel.
Old metallic fans hang from the pillars of the ground floor, while random antiques and rustic furniture give the place a homely, colonial furbish. There is also a large projector here, accompanied by an even larger bar that's used for watching football and rugby matches on TV."My husband loves rugby and French soap operas," Patty explains.
The beautiful and elegant part of this restaurant is definitely contained in the mezzanine floor. Dimly lit, dark wooden floors, antique furniture, a large mirror and very high ceilings allows one to bask in a feeling of intimate opulence.
Another French touch is a petanque court outside, with Le Lys almost performing the secondary role of a clubhouse for players of the sport. For those not in the pentanque scene, this is a game popular in France, which involves the accurate throwing of three metallic balls as close as possible to small wooden ones placed on the court.
There is also a sculpture of a lady with exceptionally large - but perfect - buttocks on the wall of the court for anyone who manages to lose a game 13-0(lowest point of epic fail possible) to publicly humiliate him/herself by kissing her big ceramic buns.
The concept of the food here is what Patty describes as "homemade Thai food". However, I can assure you that I rarely ever get to see homemade Thai food done so well unless I am invited to some hi-so friend's house, who employs cordon bleu chefs. Which is never.
Though the food here - simple, done well, without any pretentious aesthetic elements and priced fairly - is essentially Thai, some dishes take inspiration from French cooking.
"When I came back to Thailand I noticed how expensive escargot snails were and you know, I love those things so I had to come up with my own variation of them," our sassy friend Patty recalls.
"So I replaced the snails with baby clams and added lots of curry powder." This item is simply labelled as Baby clams (B120) on the menu, and boy is it a tasty Thai twist, filled with crunchy, aromatic garlic that somehow doesn't turn you into vampire mace.
"People worried about the authenticity of the Thai food in a restaurant that has a French name but they were wrong. We don't compromise the Thai roots of our dishes," Patty says.
To demonstrate that outlook, the Panang duck breast (B180) features succulent chunks of seared duck breast in a rich panang curry, with crispy basil leaves on the side. It makes a great dinner entree to share between friends.
I also tried Stuffed squid (B180), two relatively large marine cephalopods stuffed - actually, packed to the brim would be more appropriate - with a combination of vermicelli, minced pork and spices, served with a tangy sauce.
Single rice dishes are also a feature of the menu and are subject to a discount during lunch hours.Assorted shrimp paste fried rice costs B120 at lunch and B150 at dinner. Patty believes that dinner is a time for sharing entrees with your friends and not a time for single dishes.
What really makes this place shine is not just the food but the whole family feel of the entire experience. Patty and Philippe will automatically make you right at home and if you are into rugby you'll make a new friend.
The only downside was the lack of a Frenchman in a tuxedo with crazy man-whiskers. However, my slight disappointment vanished when I saw a photograph of Philippe taken many years back of him sporting possibly one of the most epic moustaches to grace the 20th century.
Thai 148/11 Nang Linchi Soi 6 Open daily 11:30am-10:30pm 02-287-1898-9
Wow I'm going to a French restaurant!I thought, as I received the news that I would be checking out a place called Le Lys.Images of fleur de lys (lilies:the national flower of France)flashed across my mind. I pictured a grand dining room and a suave waiter in a tuxedo with a pencil moustache,complimenting all my choices with the words,"Oui !Tres bien monsieur !" his eyes closed and his face tilted 45 degrees in the air.
That wasn't the case unfortunately but that's not to say that Le Lys was a disappointment.
Patty, a Thai, met her husband Philippe during her years working as a travel agent in Saint Tropez,France. After a while they married and became Mr and Mrs Delmas.
After many years of running a Thai restaurant in the land of lilies they moved to Thailand and opened the original Le Lys in 1998. They have since moved location twice, most recently opening for business in Nang Linchee Soi 6.
The current Le Lys is in a renovated home, with the restaurant divided into two sections; an outdoor section on the ground floor covered by a roof, and an air-conditioned dining section on the mezzanine floor.
The ground floor features a heavily stocked garden, full of plants, flowers and trees. It gives the whole place a,"Am I really still in concrete city Bangkok?" kind of feel.
Old metallic fans hang from the pillars of the ground floor, while random antiques and rustic furniture give the place a homely, colonial furbish. There is also a large projector here, accompanied by an even larger bar that's used for watching football and rugby matches on TV."My husband loves rugby and French soap operas," Patty explains.
The beautiful and elegant part of this restaurant is definitely contained in the mezzanine floor. Dimly lit, dark wooden floors, antique furniture, a large mirror and very high ceilings allows one to bask in a feeling of intimate opulence.
Another French touch is a petanque court outside, with Le Lys almost performing the secondary role of a clubhouse for players of the sport. For those not in the pentanque scene, this is a game popular in France, which involves the accurate throwing of three metallic balls as close as possible to small wooden ones placed on the court.
There is also a sculpture of a lady with exceptionally large - but perfect - buttocks on the wall of the court for anyone who manages to lose a game 13-0(lowest point of epic fail possible) to publicly humiliate him/herself by kissing her big ceramic buns.
The concept of the food here is what Patty describes as "homemade Thai food". However, I can assure you that I rarely ever get to see homemade Thai food done so well unless I am invited to some hi-so friend's house, who employs cordon bleu chefs. Which is never.
Though the food here - simple, done well, without any pretentious aesthetic elements and priced fairly - is essentially Thai, some dishes take inspiration from French cooking.
"When I came back to Thailand I noticed how expensive escargot snails were and you know, I love those things so I had to come up with my own variation of them," our sassy friend Patty recalls.
"So I replaced the snails with baby clams and added lots of curry powder." This item is simply labelled as Baby clams (B120) on the menu, and boy is it a tasty Thai twist, filled with crunchy, aromatic garlic that somehow doesn't turn you into vampire mace.
"People worried about the authenticity of the Thai food in a restaurant that has a French name but they were wrong. We don't compromise the Thai roots of our dishes," Patty says.
To demonstrate that outlook, the Panang duck breast (B180) features succulent chunks of seared duck breast in a rich panang curry, with crispy basil leaves on the side. It makes a great dinner entree to share between friends.
I also tried Stuffed squid (B180), two relatively large marine cephalopods stuffed - actually, packed to the brim would be more appropriate - with a combination of vermicelli, minced pork and spices, served with a tangy sauce.
Single rice dishes are also a feature of the menu and are subject to a discount during lunch hours.Assorted shrimp paste fried rice costs B120 at lunch and B150 at dinner. Patty believes that dinner is a time for sharing entrees with your friends and not a time for single dishes.
What really makes this place shine is not just the food but the whole family feel of the entire experience. Patty and Philippe will automatically make you right at home and if you are into rugby you'll make a new friend.
The only downside was the lack of a Frenchman in a tuxedo with crazy man-whiskers. However, my slight disappointment vanished when I saw a photograph of Philippe taken many years back of him sporting possibly one of the most epic moustaches to grace the 20th century.
Thai 148/11 Nang Linchi Soi 6 Open daily 11:30am-10:30pm 02-287-1898-9
When Bo met Dylan
Mutual love of Thai food leads to a very special partnership
"The taste and aroma was so good. Thai food requires so many different types of seasonings. The end result is a wonderful blend with great taste. Other foreign cuisines are not like this.
When I found out that a Thai woman was joining our kitchen staff, my impression was that this woman had to be good since she was a native Thai. Her knowledge about Thai food must be impressive to say the least.I was intimidated even before she arrived. But when I actually met her, she wasn't at all scary.
Two people in love with each other need not necessarily have to share the same tastes.But if they do happen to share the same tastes in a particular direction then the result is a harmonious blend. This leads to a bond that enables a relationship to grow into something beautiful, or what is commonly known as love.
This applies to the owners of a Thai restaurant called Bo.lan. The name is derived from a Thai chef called Duangporn "Bo"Songvisava and her Australian partner Dylan Jones.
Both are connoisseurs of Thai food who are enchanted by the art of Thai cooking.They trained in the art of Thai cuisine separately until fate saw to it that they met one another at the Nahm Thai restaurant of famous Michelin-starred chef David Thompson at London's Halkin Hotel. Of course,Dylan was a chef at that swanky place.
Learning about Thai food ... And each other
"When I found out that a Thai woman was joining our kitchen staff, my impression was that this woman had to be good since she was a native Thai. Her knowledge about Thai food must be impressive to say the least. I was intimidated even before she arrived. But when I actually met her, she wasn't at all scary," said Dylan as he recalled his first meeting with Bo.
Bo said that initially she was a really slow worker despite the fact that she read Thai gastronomy for her Master's degree at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and even had a previous stint as an assistant to chef Amanda Gale at The Met Bangkok.
But working in a family-style environment at the Nahm restaurant was a totally different experience when compared to other places because of the highly detailed nature of creating dishes.
"Most kitchens usually prepare ingredients for their dishes. For example, staff would peel prawns or prepare the meats for each dish by meticulously weighing and slicing them into the proper sizes ahead of time,"said Bo.
"But at Nahm each chef is much more than that. Each dish they prepare will be personally done from the beginning till the end. They'd peel their own prawns, make their own curry paste and seasoning. As for vegetables, it can only be varieties that are indigenous to the area.
"Even though I am a Thai, I never heard of most of the vegetable varieties which other Thai restaurants would never use. I had to start learning from square one again.
"I realised that Dylan was much more knowledgeable about Thai food than I was.He knew more than most Thais. He taught
me a lot.
"Even the tasks such as lifting heavy pots,he would help out throughout my two years at Nahm. He was kind to me."
In love with BBQ fermented pork,Tom Yum spare ribs and a Thai woman
Dylan has been in love with Thai cuisine for as long as he can remember. He worked in Thai restaurants in Australia before travelling to London. Before that he came to Thailand as a tourist.
It was nothing short of heaven, he said, as he treated his palate to endless dishes, both home-cooked and at restaurants around Thailand.
He made it a point not to visit touristy establishments because he wanted the real Thai taste.
"The first Thai dish that I fell in love with was naem yang or barbecued fermented pork.I was so surprised by how tasty it was," said Dylan.
"The taste and aroma was so good. Thai food requires so many different types of seasonings. The end result is a wonderful blend with great taste. Other foreign cuisines are not like this."
Dylan then spoke about the love of his life and what captivated him to pursue this Thai woman. He recalled Bo's first stint at Nahm and described her as a painfully slow worker,but within six months she developed her skills gradually and became the fastest worker in the kitchen, plus she was diligent and determined to learn.
"Her learning technique was extremely proficient. She was very serious and whatever you taught her was memorised rapidly. Once work was done and the guys treated themselves to a beer or two, she'd prepare a real sour and spicy tom yum kradook orn (pork spare ribs) soup and serve it to go along with the beer," Dylan said.
Chasing dreams back home
After Dylan and Bo had accumulated seven years' experience between them at Nahm restaurant they decided that it was time to move on to Thailand and open their own restaurant. Bo.lan was to become their new abode in Bangkok.
Bo.lan is based on a slow food philosophy and was inspired by David Thompson because of his attention to natural and seasonal ingredients.
"Both of us are chefs by profession which is why there will always be quarrels in the kitchen. Though we trained at the same es-tablishment we have different styles which is why we don't agree on some issues and get angry with each other - but only for a short while," said Bo.
"But in general, Dylan is the boss in the kitchen so there's no confusion in the chain of command. I help out when it comes to changing new menus and help teach the new staff as Dylan's proficiency in Thai isn't that good yet.
"But once he's in the zone, he ushers me out of the kitchen because he doesn't want me to interfere too much.
"It's fine by me as long as he makes my breakfast of boiled rice with pork spare ribs,I let him have his way most of the time.
"I have to admit he knows more than me when it comes to Thai food but in the area of tasting I have the upper hand. I have a Thai tongue, so to speak, so I can tell him whether the taste is right or not. This is one advantage that he cannot argue about."
Bo.lan restaurant primarily serves dinner after Bo and Dylan are done with their morning shopping chores at the market.
"Finding the right ingredients is very important. Take Klong Toey market for instance.We need to know the exact time to arrive in order to get just the right vegetables we want,"said Bo.
"If we come at night or close to dawn then we'll get vegetables from the North. If we come in the afternoon we get vegetables from Isan.
"Some types of vegetables need to be sourced directly from the local farmers. Some which are hard to find have to be bought at Ta Chang market. Even the Or Tor Kor market is a great place for its variety."
Dylan and Bo design the menu together.When it's fruit season, there will be a combination of main dishes and sweets which use fruits as ingredients.
For example there's a delicious soup made from rambutans, or a special kaengsom dish made from longans.
Then there are vegetables such as pak tiew, yodmakok, baichaplu, or yodkratue,adapted for their signature dishes in spicy salads and chilli dips.
Unfortunately, many traditional Thai dishes are not recorded in a systematic manner but are usually passed on from generation to generation.
Meanwhile, seasoning and other ingredients are flexible in terms of portions or amount due to the fact that many varieties of vegetables are seasonal and mature at different times of the year."This is the charm of Thai food,"Dylan said."Thai recipes may not be able to stipulate exact and precise portions of ingredients.
"Sugar processed from different regions have a different sweet factor. Nam pla might not have the same saltiness due to the different fermentation processes. Limes taste different in the various seasons. If you don't have limes then there's always a substitute.
"This is what makes Thai food so special.This is why I believe that there is no cuisine like Thai food.
"And I also believe that Thai cooking schools should not teach the art of Thai food based on similar recipes or methods like other styles of cooking because Thai food is much richer in variety and has its own unique personality."
Bo is immensely proud and happy of any praise that might come from diners as Thai cuisine conveys the culture and society of Thai people.
"Some customers tell me that the dishes we prepare remind them of what they ate when they were children. It was what their grandmothers made for them.
"In other cases customers exchange recipes and share their kitchen secrets with us. This enriches our knowledge. Take somsa or example, a customer told us that in the old days somsa was eaten after kao chae in the summer season.
"Different dishes eaten in different climates tend to have a profound affect on one's health it seems."
The passion for Thai food in both Bo and Dylan led to their eventual meeting which grew into love.
Both hope that conveying the value of Thai food through their signature dishes at Bo.lan, all made with love and meticulous attention to detail, will eventually make people understand and learn more about Thai culture and society.
"The taste and aroma was so good. Thai food requires so many different types of seasonings. The end result is a wonderful blend with great taste. Other foreign cuisines are not like this.
When I found out that a Thai woman was joining our kitchen staff, my impression was that this woman had to be good since she was a native Thai. Her knowledge about Thai food must be impressive to say the least.I was intimidated even before she arrived. But when I actually met her, she wasn't at all scary.
Two people in love with each other need not necessarily have to share the same tastes.But if they do happen to share the same tastes in a particular direction then the result is a harmonious blend. This leads to a bond that enables a relationship to grow into something beautiful, or what is commonly known as love.
This applies to the owners of a Thai restaurant called Bo.lan. The name is derived from a Thai chef called Duangporn "Bo"Songvisava and her Australian partner Dylan Jones.
Both are connoisseurs of Thai food who are enchanted by the art of Thai cooking.They trained in the art of Thai cuisine separately until fate saw to it that they met one another at the Nahm Thai restaurant of famous Michelin-starred chef David Thompson at London's Halkin Hotel. Of course,Dylan was a chef at that swanky place.
Learning about Thai food ... And each other
"When I found out that a Thai woman was joining our kitchen staff, my impression was that this woman had to be good since she was a native Thai. Her knowledge about Thai food must be impressive to say the least. I was intimidated even before she arrived. But when I actually met her, she wasn't at all scary," said Dylan as he recalled his first meeting with Bo.
Bo said that initially she was a really slow worker despite the fact that she read Thai gastronomy for her Master's degree at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and even had a previous stint as an assistant to chef Amanda Gale at The Met Bangkok.
But working in a family-style environment at the Nahm restaurant was a totally different experience when compared to other places because of the highly detailed nature of creating dishes.
"Most kitchens usually prepare ingredients for their dishes. For example, staff would peel prawns or prepare the meats for each dish by meticulously weighing and slicing them into the proper sizes ahead of time,"said Bo.
"But at Nahm each chef is much more than that. Each dish they prepare will be personally done from the beginning till the end. They'd peel their own prawns, make their own curry paste and seasoning. As for vegetables, it can only be varieties that are indigenous to the area.
"Even though I am a Thai, I never heard of most of the vegetable varieties which other Thai restaurants would never use. I had to start learning from square one again.
"I realised that Dylan was much more knowledgeable about Thai food than I was.He knew more than most Thais. He taught
me a lot.
"Even the tasks such as lifting heavy pots,he would help out throughout my two years at Nahm. He was kind to me."
In love with BBQ fermented pork,Tom Yum spare ribs and a Thai woman
Dylan has been in love with Thai cuisine for as long as he can remember. He worked in Thai restaurants in Australia before travelling to London. Before that he came to Thailand as a tourist.
It was nothing short of heaven, he said, as he treated his palate to endless dishes, both home-cooked and at restaurants around Thailand.
He made it a point not to visit touristy establishments because he wanted the real Thai taste.
"The first Thai dish that I fell in love with was naem yang or barbecued fermented pork.I was so surprised by how tasty it was," said Dylan.
"The taste and aroma was so good. Thai food requires so many different types of seasonings. The end result is a wonderful blend with great taste. Other foreign cuisines are not like this."
Dylan then spoke about the love of his life and what captivated him to pursue this Thai woman. He recalled Bo's first stint at Nahm and described her as a painfully slow worker,but within six months she developed her skills gradually and became the fastest worker in the kitchen, plus she was diligent and determined to learn.
"Her learning technique was extremely proficient. She was very serious and whatever you taught her was memorised rapidly. Once work was done and the guys treated themselves to a beer or two, she'd prepare a real sour and spicy tom yum kradook orn (pork spare ribs) soup and serve it to go along with the beer," Dylan said.
Chasing dreams back home
After Dylan and Bo had accumulated seven years' experience between them at Nahm restaurant they decided that it was time to move on to Thailand and open their own restaurant. Bo.lan was to become their new abode in Bangkok.
Bo.lan is based on a slow food philosophy and was inspired by David Thompson because of his attention to natural and seasonal ingredients.
"Both of us are chefs by profession which is why there will always be quarrels in the kitchen. Though we trained at the same es-tablishment we have different styles which is why we don't agree on some issues and get angry with each other - but only for a short while," said Bo.
"But in general, Dylan is the boss in the kitchen so there's no confusion in the chain of command. I help out when it comes to changing new menus and help teach the new staff as Dylan's proficiency in Thai isn't that good yet.
"But once he's in the zone, he ushers me out of the kitchen because he doesn't want me to interfere too much.
"It's fine by me as long as he makes my breakfast of boiled rice with pork spare ribs,I let him have his way most of the time.
"I have to admit he knows more than me when it comes to Thai food but in the area of tasting I have the upper hand. I have a Thai tongue, so to speak, so I can tell him whether the taste is right or not. This is one advantage that he cannot argue about."
Bo.lan restaurant primarily serves dinner after Bo and Dylan are done with their morning shopping chores at the market.
"Finding the right ingredients is very important. Take Klong Toey market for instance.We need to know the exact time to arrive in order to get just the right vegetables we want,"said Bo.
"If we come at night or close to dawn then we'll get vegetables from the North. If we come in the afternoon we get vegetables from Isan.
"Some types of vegetables need to be sourced directly from the local farmers. Some which are hard to find have to be bought at Ta Chang market. Even the Or Tor Kor market is a great place for its variety."
Dylan and Bo design the menu together.When it's fruit season, there will be a combination of main dishes and sweets which use fruits as ingredients.
For example there's a delicious soup made from rambutans, or a special kaengsom dish made from longans.
Then there are vegetables such as pak tiew, yodmakok, baichaplu, or yodkratue,adapted for their signature dishes in spicy salads and chilli dips.
Unfortunately, many traditional Thai dishes are not recorded in a systematic manner but are usually passed on from generation to generation.
Meanwhile, seasoning and other ingredients are flexible in terms of portions or amount due to the fact that many varieties of vegetables are seasonal and mature at different times of the year."This is the charm of Thai food,"Dylan said."Thai recipes may not be able to stipulate exact and precise portions of ingredients.
"Sugar processed from different regions have a different sweet factor. Nam pla might not have the same saltiness due to the different fermentation processes. Limes taste different in the various seasons. If you don't have limes then there's always a substitute.
"This is what makes Thai food so special.This is why I believe that there is no cuisine like Thai food.
"And I also believe that Thai cooking schools should not teach the art of Thai food based on similar recipes or methods like other styles of cooking because Thai food is much richer in variety and has its own unique personality."
Bo is immensely proud and happy of any praise that might come from diners as Thai cuisine conveys the culture and society of Thai people.
"Some customers tell me that the dishes we prepare remind them of what they ate when they were children. It was what their grandmothers made for them.
"In other cases customers exchange recipes and share their kitchen secrets with us. This enriches our knowledge. Take somsa or example, a customer told us that in the old days somsa was eaten after kao chae in the summer season.
"Different dishes eaten in different climates tend to have a profound affect on one's health it seems."
The passion for Thai food in both Bo and Dylan led to their eventual meeting which grew into love.
Both hope that conveying the value of Thai food through their signature dishes at Bo.lan, all made with love and meticulous attention to detail, will eventually make people understand and learn more about Thai culture and society.
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