What are some specific challenges you face when it comes to Thai cuisine?
Hing: The spice level of the food is the main challenge. In addition, I would say that many people still don’t have enough knowledge of Thai cuisine. We hear ‘I’ve been to Thailand and this was done differently in there’. Street food may be slightly different than the food served in restaurants.
Konluk: It’s a little difficult getting people to differentiate the approaches to Thai food. Most people think of heavy, rich, and royal Thai cuisine, however, when it comes to Fuchsia we have a totally different approach. Our dishes are light, fresh and healthy. They are taken from traditional Thai cuisine but with a modern twist.
Khamwong: In our case, at Lemongrass Thai Restaurant, the challenge is really to remain as authentic as possible, this has been our mission from the start in 2002, and I believe our customers recognise and appreciate that about us.
Boonsrang: The biggest challenge is to provide a menu that offers a variety of choices while maintaining the cuisine’s authenticity. I learned to cook from my father and stay true to his technique, using fresh ingredients and making dishes that are packed with well-balanced flavours.
Thani: To stay as authentic as possible! A lot of traditional Thai dishes are prepared by mixing a variety of fresh ingredients. I would argue that authenticity is key to Thai cuisine with the best produce coming from the country of origin.
Tumya: The level of spiciness is definitely a challenge to keep up with considering that Dubai is a mix of ethnicities and nationalities resulting in highly varied spice tolerance depending on the individual taste. Thai street food needs a basic level of spiciness, which can be perceived as very hot for a person with no tolerance for spices.
Is it easy to source the ingredients that you need?
Hing: We have had some sourcing problems back in the UK due to local regulations however, here in Dubai, we have only faced some minor problems which haven’t affected our operations.
Konluk: While we manage to source most of the ingredients that we want, they aren’t always available on a consistent basis. It’s tough because sometimes we’ll introduce something on our menu and have to remove it the next week.
Khamwong: Sourcing quality and authentic Thai products is not an easy task in Dubai. We need to comply with the local culture and cannot use non-halal products. All the Thai vegetables that we use are sourced straight from Thailand and are shipped by air freight.It is a challenge to balance high quality, with reasonable cost prices in order not to affect our customer's bill.
Boonsrang: I have not faced any challenges in doing so. I grow my own herbs in a small garden within the grounds of Park Hyatt Dubai while key produce is flown in from Thailand ensuring the ingredients remain as fresh and authentic as possible.
Thani: Sourcing the right quality of ingredients is not always easy, however we work with a number of Thai speciality suppliers who assist us in ensuring Thiptara remains as authentic and true as possible.
Tumya: We do have Thai suppliers who import all the authentic Thai ingredients that we need and we also grow some of Thai herbs in-house. However, as we are striving to use only the fresh ingredients in our kitchen every day, importing everything does become a challenge. Thanks to our very professional suppliers, we do not face that problem often.
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