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| Chef Samphan Boonrat |
Interview with Chef Samphan Boonrat, The Surin, Phuket
What do you do and how did you get into the industry?
I began as a steward in the hotel and worked my way up from there.
Share with us an interesting story from behind the scenes.
I love to eat and taste food. That’s the reason why I’m so interested in raw materials, learning different cooking techniques, finding out how best to store ingredients and how to decorate to best present food to the customer. I love the entire process from start to finish.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
In my opinion there’s nothing that’s the best or worst. I just constantly try to make myself, my friends, my co-workers and customers feel happy with the things I do. We just have to try to continuously improve. When there are problems, we must accept and face them and use our learning from them to improve and be better.
What’s your personal favourite meal/ drink?
My comfort food is Rice with Kra Pao Kai (Fried Chicken with Hot Basil) and omelette paired with a Singha beer in my home.
Tell us a story about one of the dishes you prepare…
Rice with Kra Pao Kai and omelette I chose first to put on the menu as I have been making it for my family and it makes them happy. It is a good food and I can very easily find all of the ingredients.
The perfect day off would be…
… a day of activities with my beloved family.
A life in the day of a chef is…
Doing what I love (cooking!) and making other people satisfied and happy.
What do you do for fun?
I spend time with family and friends doing things such as going on an outing to the beach or having a BQQ dinner.
What’s something you’d like guests to know about the cuisine prepared at The Surin?
Food presentation, quality of ingredients and the history of food are all very important.
How do you select your ingredients and why?
I choose ingredients that are good quality, clean, fresh and easy to find locally. I believe fresh and unique local ingredients is the key to different tastes in different locations. I choose local because I want a flavour that is uniquely Phuket.