A simple Google search on just how many Thai restaurants there are in Metro Manila alone will show the Filipino’s love affair with this particular Asian cuisine. There are a lot and too many to include in this story, but a new Thai chef has taken over the Thai specialty menu of The Peninsula Manila’s Spices restaurant. Flying in four months ago following a three-year stint at Naam Thai Restaurant in Singapore, Chef Phaithoon Atthasarn has already hunkered down to business. He now follows a daily routine which has him literally up and running around the Makati Central Business District at the crack of dawn. By mid-morning, he’s off to his kitchen to whip up dishes for the lunch set. After his afternoon break, it’s back to work in time for the dinner crowd at 5 pm all the way to 10 in the evening. In the short time he’s been here in the country, Spices has become one of the top destinations for authentic Thai cuisine.
But what exactly makes Thai cuisine absolutely scrumptious? It uses strong aromatic ingredients perfectly complimented by a spicy edge. It plays around a myriad of different tastes, making sure to tickle all the senses. There are at least three, four or even five intermingling flavors in each Thai dish—sour, sweet, salty, bitter, spicy. In fact, it has been said that Thai cuisine is the most complex tasting cuisine in the world, demonstrating an intricate balance of texture, color, taste, appearance and smell, making use of the freshest natural ingredients available, including medicinal herbs and spices.
Despite not being fluent in speaking English, Chef Phaithoon has almost instantaneously become the country’s latest gastronomic ambassador. He generously shares his passion for authentic Thai cuisine and how everyone can learn to cook it in the comforts of home. He also shares his personal culinary journey that has seen him spending more than half his life in the kitchen, a career path he picked out on his own with no coaching from his parents. His father is an engineer while his mother is a homemaker, and none of his three older brothers are in the food business. At age 16, however, Phaithoon and a friend enrolled at a small culinary school in Chiangmai, landing both of them kitchen jobs at a local restaurant. The last two decades saw Chef Phaithoon through six years at the Westin Hotel in Chiangmai before moving to Singapore. He married his former protégé and they now have two daughters, aged 6 and 12.
During the recent opening salvo of the 2017 Peninsula Academy Cooking Class Series, titled “Thailand on My Plate”, held at The Peninsula Manila, Chef Phaithoon prepared and demonstrated in easy-to-follow steps how to whip up three authentic home-style Thai dishes: Som Tam (green papaya salad), Paneng Goong (dried red prawn paneng curry in coconut milk) and Khao Niao Mamuang (sticky rice with mango). It seemed easy enough to do and the ingredients can be bought from most major supermarkets. As expected, each dish presented to us filled the room with a distinctly Thai aroma—a mixture of lemongrass, ginger, coconut milk and curry. It further whetted our appetite and made us excited to try each one after each cooking demo.
For the Som Tam, the process starts with removing the skin of the green papaya and then using a grater to make fine slices, which are then soaked in cool water for five to 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, make the sauce by mixing lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar, after which, using a wooden mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and the bird’s eye chili, then add to the sauce. The next step is to strain the grated green papaya and add in the sauce mixture. The dried shrimp, sliced tomatoes, string beans, carrots are then added and tossed with a sprinkling of chopped roasted peanuts for garnish.
For the Paneng Goong, using a sauce pan on medium heat, add the oil to cook the dried Penang curry for a few minutes. Once cooked, put in the coconut milk and prawns. Add fish sauce and palm sugar to taste and simmer over low heat until the prawn is cooked. Add sliced chili, sweet basil and peanuts as a garnish.
Chef Phaithoon describes all his dishes as “Thai to the bone”, meaning every layer and every morsel of his dishes will taste undoubtedly Thai, and no part of it will be bland. As a personal preference, he likes his dishes extra spicy, but of course, the spiciness can be toned down to one’s personal preference.
The Peninsula Academy Thai Cooking Class is the first salvo of many more cooking classes to come. It will be held at the Spices pavilion, followed by an al fresco family-style dinner in the Spices Garden.
The cost per person is P2,017 net of taxes and includes The Peninsula Academy Cooking Class, a traditional Thai-style family dinner in Spices Garden, The Peninsula Academy apron and a special gift. Only 15 slots are available per class. For inquiries, call 887-2888, extension 6694 or visit www.peninsula.com.