Bangkok chef on bringing back forgotten flavours and proving his parents wrong
- Chalee Kader, owner of Bangkok restaurants 100 Mahaseth and Surface, quit the University of California and went on to become a successful chef and restaurateur
- He is now on a mission to ensure local Thai produce gets the respect it deserves
Tell us about the food you ate growing up. “I was born and raised in Bangkok. My mum is Thai-Chinese from the south of Thailand and my dad is from Chennai, southern India. They have a love of food and that rubbed off on me. Dad made Indian food every Saturday or Sunday.
“He would cook Indian curries and mutton fry, where they curry the mutton, then fry it. That is something he still uses to lure us back home. On weekdays, my mum cooked everyday Thai-Chinese food.”
What were you doing in California? “I was studying marketing psychology at the University of California, Riverside, but that got boring so I went to San Francisco and to college there for two years but never finished.
“I’d work for two days in a restaurant for extra money, then go to school for five days, but it ended up being five days of working, two days of school. When I was at college, I thought going to culinary school would be fun, but having Asian parents, that was a no-no.”
I didn’t want my first restaurant to be another jambalaya of pastas and f***ing steak and burgers. But it is what it is
What did you do when you went back to Thailand? “After four years in San Francisco I came back to see what home had to offer. I did sourcing for a food-import company where I got to travel and source food like olive oil, cheese and meats.
