The category of street food is always interesting. When served to customers, it is a simple dish with a final touch added, but it is a highly refined food culture that thoroughly adapts to local ingredients and regional lifestyles, and coexists with competition within the same street. No matter where you travel in the world, its charm speaks volumes, but Southeast Asia is a treasure trove of street food, and among them, Thailand's stands out for its quality, diversity, dynamism, and enjoyment.
In the dynamic and fiercely competitive world of Bangkok's fine dining, Chef Chalee Kader stands out as a true visionary, not for inventing a new cuisine but for masterfully elevating a street food staple to the level of Michelin-starred art. At his restaurant Wana Yook, Kader has taken the beloved Thai concept of "khao kaeng"—a simple dish of rice and curry—and transformed it into an elegant and profound culinary journey.
Prin was always in the background of the transformation of Thai food from ethnic cuisine to world cuisine. Sala Rim Naam restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental (then Mandarin) was his first workplace. He learned Thai cuisine in the restaurant that was the face of the hotel, which was also the face of Bangkok to the world.
It is said that 60-70% of starred restaurants in Tokyo use this duck. Chef Namae of L'effervescence had considerable sessions with Mr. Kato of Iyasaka until he was satisfied with the duck. Each of the three restaurants uses a different part of the duck, and each dish offers a special feeling to the customers.
Alexis MOKO is the chef/owner of a beautiful restaurant in a large converted Machiya townhouse in Marutamachi, Kyoto. In his second year of business, he has received a Michelin star. It seems like a good start, but it is only just beginning to come through the tunnel of trials and tribulations brought on by the pandemic storm.
Chef Iguchi has an excellent perspective that allows him to combine and balance flavours, textures, temperatures and changes over time. When working as a chef in a restaurant where creative skills are supposed to be the main theme, they can be blurred by factors that seep in from various expected angles.
