Hong Kong’s trendiest Thai restaurants bust authenticity myth and rely on deliciousness

Chefs at hip Thai restaurants such as My Tai Tai, Samsen, Soul Food Hong Kong and Apinara recreate a Bangkok shophouse ambience and prove that foreign cooks can master the spicy Asian cuisine

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Chef Amphon Phoomphookieo of My Tai Tai in Central.

Published: 6:00pm, 9 Nov 2016Updated: 9:11pm, 10 Nov 2016

Back when Hong Kong’s international airport was located at Kai Tak, the city's Thai community was based across the road in Kowloon City. The area was populated by Thai expats who, because of the proximity of the airport with frequent flights to and from Thailand, had ready access to essential ingredients.

Recently, chefs and restaurateurs have opened a number of quality Thai restaurants, the common denominator being their love of the cuisine.

Adam Cliff is chef/owner at Samsen in Wan Chai.

Australian Adam Cliff has worked at some of the world’s top Thai restaurants, most notably Nahm in both London and Bangkok, and Chachawan in Hong Kong. With his partner Bella Kong, he recently opened Samsen, a casual Thai restaurant inspired by the old shophouses in Bangkok.

Thai fried chicken wings at Soul Food Hong Kong in SoHo.

Also taking inspiration from the Thai capital’s shophouse eateries is Soul Food Hong Kong, a collaboration between Jarrett Wrisley, founder of Soul Food Mahanakorn in Bangkok, and local restaurant group Black Sheep Restaurants.

Jarrett Wrisley, owner of Soul Food Hong Kong.

Wrisley, an American, became interested in Thai food after spending eight years travelling the country as a food writer. He opened his first Soul Food in a converted shophouse in Bangkok’s popular Sukhumvit area. “The old shophouse restaurants [in Bangkok] – places like Jay Fai and Chote Chitr and others scattered across Chinatown, Dusit, and Sukhumvit – really influenced the food that we cook. Places that make everything from scratch, and source the best produce they can find,” Wrisley says.

Eggplant salad with duck egg at Soul Food Hong Kong.

Nahm, Australian chef David Thompson’s restaurant in London, became the first Thai restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star, and when he opened a branch in Bangkok, his non-Thai background sparked much debate. (Nahm London closed in 2012, with Thompson quoted as saying it was too difficult to import the correct ingredients due to strict EU regulations.)

Wrisley says he serves and cook the Thai food that he likes, and that he’s more concerned about deliciousness than “hedging to some idea of authenticity”.