Jonathan Porter
On the first leg of a global tour in order to bring her national cuisine to the world, Thai Prime Minister Yinglak Shinawatra tells an audience in Sydney that her Thai Kitchen program will be a boon to global food security.
“We will expand the role of agriculture and promote value adding through high technology systems,’’ she says after launching the Thailand: Kitchen to the World at the city’s Shangri La hotel.
“Thailand’s great assets of land, water and productive farm land on one hand and the creativity of Thai cooks and entreprenuers on the other make our food and agriculture industry highly competitive.’’
In an exclusive interview with Lunch Magazine, Thailand’s Trade Commissioner ML. (Luke) Bhuthong Thongyai says the PM was relaunching a program that had languished since its last incarnation.
“We launched a program about six of seven years ago to promote Thai restaurants around the world that started off with a Thai Select campaign which is a guarantee for people that if they see that logo they know there are gettig authentic Thai food in terms of flavour, quality, atmosphere and cleanliness at the highest level you can get without being in Thailand.
“It slowed down for a few years but the new PM wants to kick start that campaign under the Thai Kitchen to the World slogan - Australia is the first country where she has launched this campaign.’’
After the launch the PM threw together a Som Tum (papaya salad) cooking for selected guests, assisted by famed Australian chef David Thompson.
From 28 May 2012 the Shangri La Hotel hosts a week long festival that celebrates the diversity of this exotic cuisine. ‘Kitchen to the World’ will be held at the hotel’s popular Mix Café, and will allow diners to experience the breadth of Thai food in one location.
Mr Thongyai says: “Renowned for its unmistakable balance of sweet, salty and sour, it is no wonder that Thai food has been embraced to become one of Australia’s most popular cuisines.”
“We are excited to be working with Shangri La Hotel, Sydney to showcase the best of Thai and indeed Lanna style cuisine”.
Steven Krasicki, Executive Chef at Shangri La Hotel, says: “We are looking forward to partnering up with our Chiang Mai colleagues to learn more about the food of Northern Thailand.”
At the festival, diners will be treated to extensive lunch and dinner buffets of northern ‘Lanna’ style cuisine, such as Khao Soi and Hunglay curry. There will also be a wok station manned by the two chefs from Shangri La Chiang Mai, so guests will be able to enjoy the theatre involved in creating their food.
Lanna style food hails from Chiang Mai which is nestled amongst the mountains of Northern Thailand. The food is distinctly different to many of the well-known seafood dishes from the coastal regions of the country. Sticky rice features prominently along with pork dishes and Thai salads.
Making the journey from Thailand to ensure an authentic food experience are chefs Sirima Sributta and Chef Sorada Intaprom Shangri La Hotel, Chiang Mai. The chefs have both worked extensively in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and are excited to now work alongside the team at the team at Shangri La in Sydney for this very special occasion.
Chef Sributta says “We will be sharing some of our country’s most significant dishes with diners at Shangri La in Sydney, and look forward to giving them a new northern Thai food experience. ‘Kitchen to the World’ is a concept we are particularly excited to promote through our extensive use of local ingredients in the dishes we create.”
The festival will run over lunch and dinner. Cost is A$48 for the lunch buffet and A$68 for dinner buffet. Bookings are recommended. Please contact Café Mix at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney on (02) 9250 6206 to book. Lunch is available from 12pm-2.30pm and dinner from 6pm-10.30pm daily.
Shangri La Café Mix
http://www.shangri-la.com/sydney/shangrila/dining/restaurants/cafe-mix/
Thailand Kitchen of the World
http://thailand.prd.go.th/ebook/kitchen/
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