In Japan, two new Thai entrants into the hospitality sphere are bringing vastly different styles of Thai dining to Japanese patrons. We look at how this marks an evolution in Japanese perceptions of Thai food from its humble beginnings
The sleek, freshly built Namba Parks shopping complex is the last place you’d expect to find a tuk-tuk in Osaka, but one particular specimen takes pride of place in Suan Bua, the resident Thai restaurant of the Bangkok-based Centara hospitality group’s first hotel property in Japan, which opened just last year.
Clocking in at 120 seats, it’s a far cry from the mom-and-pop Thai eateries that populate neighbourhoods across the Japanese archipelago, but true to its menu of home-style Thai cooking, the restaurant offers dishes that hew closely to traditional fare, such as gai hor bai toei (fried pandan leaf-wrapped chicken), phad se-ew (stir-fried flat noodles) and tub tim grob (a dessert of water chestnuts in coconut milk). Beyond food, Suan Bua also acts as a platform for Thai cultural events, including festivals like Loy Krathong in November, when lanterns are traditionally floated down a river.
“To bring Thai food to different countries and take it to [places like] here in the hotel and to really show it off: that’s what we’re doing,” says Gerard Eady, longtime Japan transplant and the hotel’s executive assistant F&B manager.
In Japan, however, the culinary philosophy of shun dictates a seasonal, non-interventionist approach where the freshness and the inherent flavours of ingredients play a central role, meaning that sauce- and spice-rich Thai cuisine has its work cut out. For this reason, the culinary programme of Suan Bua gets creative in infusing seasonal Japanese produce like strawberries with Thai flavours.
In many ways, it’s just the latest evolution of Thailand’s mixing of private and public enterprise to promote its cuisine abroad—except this new chapter sees the involvement of corporations like Centara in regions that are ripe for the export of a more elevated form of Thai cuisine.
Read more: A food lover's guide to Osaka, Japan
Just an hour away by train in Kyoto, another newly built Thai hotel is treading a different path. The 147-room Dusit Thani Kyoto is betting that gourmands in a city widely considered as the high seat of traditional Japanese culture will flock to Ayatana, which boasts a tasting menu designed by chefs Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava and Dylan Jones of Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurant Bo.lan.
“We wanted to create an essentially Thai restaurant with a real sense of place, one that is recognisably Thai but utilising as much of the local produce as possible,” Jones explains.
Guests arriving at Ayatana are first led through the hotel’s central garden to a lounge, where a hand-washing ceremony reminiscent of Buddhist purifying rituals takes place, before moving to a standing chef’s counter where seasonal amuse-bouches are prepared and served. Once diners are seated in the main dining room, the full tasting menu is presented: a procession of vegetable-forward bites showcasing local Kyoto produce and a main course of six dishes designed to be shared, family-style, with generous helpings of organic, new-season rice.
See also: A food lover's guide to Kyoto, Japan
