A kitchen that fed a whole street
Baan Krua means kitchen house. It began as a plastic stool and a clay pot of curry outside a Bangkok shophouse.
Khun Yai and the clay pot
In 1987 our grandmother, Khun Yai Malee, began cooking for neighbours on Soi Rim Khlong. One pot of green curry, one pot of rice, and a line that grew every week.
She never wrote a cookbook. She wrote cards, in pencil, with the chilies counted out. We still cook from them.
Four rules from Khun Yai
They are taped inside the kitchen door. Nobody is allowed to forget them.
- 01
Pound by hand
Pastes are made fresh every morning, never bought, never stored past the day.
- 02
Taste at every step
Salt, sour, sweet, heat. A dish is balanced only when none of them shouts.
- 03
Cook to order
No pot sits warming. Your plate is cooked when you ask for it.
- 04
Feed everyone
Nobody leaves hungry, and a regular always gets one more spoon of rice.
A room that feels like home
We opened this dining room in 2014, three generations later. The shutters came from an old teak house in Ayutthaya, and the tables from the same carpenter.
The lamps are low on purpose. Dinner is for talking, and for passing dishes.