The Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas, Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, Hua Hin Marriott Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Hua Hin and Intercontinental Hua Hin Resort will have their chefs out in force preparing amazing five-course banquets on the soft sands of Hua Hin Beach.

The culinary journey begins at 5pm at the Hyatt with a starter of local Burrata cheese and smoked eggplant. Then it’s a short stroll to the InterContinental for a second starter of seared octopus with risotto, salmon roe and pea flowers.

Next, the Marriott has the first main course ready – fillet of sea bass with garlic, Parmesan and pesto. The Centara takes up the baton with Chicken Ballotine with Madeira sauce.

And dessert awaits at the Hilton – coconut pannacotta, purple sweet potato ice cream and passion-fruit sauce.

The whole affair lasts until about 9pm, affording ample time to stroll in the sand and paddle in the surf. If you’re not up for the walk, transportation is available on request.

The five-course feast costs Bt2,499-net with Monsoon Valley wine and Evian and Badoit mineral water. Only 50 people can be accommodated each evening, so book in advance at (032) 512 021.

The dinner features five live food and wine pairing stations epitomising elegant French cuisine. The focus is on Ropiteau Freres wines from Burgundy, where respect for an ideal vine growing climate and fertile soil produces complex wines that are renowned the world over.

Ropiteau Freres wines are hand crafted and oak aged to produce wellstructured red wines and refined whites, with harmonious distinctions.

Diners can indulge panoramic rooftop views from the central light bar, plush dining areas and hidden lower sofas. With an ambient soundtrack to the mix and mingle French soiree, DJ Jerome spins chic beats while guests sip and savour in limitless free flow style.

La Chablisienne Petit Chablis will be served with the Escargots de Beignet while the Ropiteau Les Plants Nobles Pinot Noir is paired with Rillettes de canard et condiments. Ropiteau Bourgogne Pinot Noir AOP is the perfect accompaniment to Cote de boeuf sauce vin rouge.

Antonin Rodet Coteaux Bourguignons Gamay complements the meaty flavours of Lamb alla Navarin and Ropiteau Bourgogne Chardonnay AOP perfectly pairs with an exotic dessert of MilleFeuille of Lychees.

Dinner is priced at priced at Bt999plus per person and starts from 7.30pm. Make a reservation at by calling (02) 210 9000 extension 4304.

Fujio’s impressive signature dish called “Across the Sea” wowed the esteemed grand jury during the announcement in Milan.

In winning the prestigious title, the young Japanese chef goes down in history alongside previous champions Mark Moriarty (2015) and Mitch Lienhard (2016) and also stands as a beacon of opportunity as he embarks on an exciting journey to help shape the future of gastronomy.

“I’m a little bit scared because I’m going to have to work even harder. Holding the title of S Pellegrino Young Chef is a big responsibility. What I’m going to do from now on is turn that fear into courage,” he said.

Chosen by the grand jury made up of giants of global gastronomy, Virgilio Martinez, Margarita Fores, Brett Graham, Annie Feolde, Dominique Crenn, Ana Ros and Paul Pairet, Fujio captivated the panel who were also enthralled with the overall standard of competition. The young chef was able to tell his own story in an original way through his signature dish.

“And now that we have closed our third edition of S Pellegrino Young Chef, we can say that it is really achieving purpose – supporting and developing young talent. The best we can do for gastronomy is to nurture talent and passion,” said Federico Sarzi Braga, president and chief executive officer of Sanpellegrino Group.

For the first time this year, 21 chef Mentors assigned the special recognition “Taste of Authenticity by Acqua Panna Award” that was also awarded to Fujio in recognition of his ability to value the local ingredients of Japan and highlight the richness of his own cultural background. Finally 30,000 voters, making up the online community of Fine Dining Lovers (www.finedininglovers.com) supported the progression of women in gastronomy by crowning Elizabeth Puquio Landeo (representing South America) with its People’s Choice Award.

Nahm opened its doors in 2010 and quickly became one of Bangkok’s most celebrated eateries, consistently rated in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and in Asia’s 10 Best Restaurants. It also received one star at the inaugural Michelin Guide Bangkok last year.

Chef Pim intends to uphold Nahm’s original roots in traditional Thai cuisine while also injecting her personal style and flavours to the menu.

A Bangkok native, Pim gave up her Silicon Valley career to pursue her passion for cooking. Her blog Chez Pim was an instant success when it launched in 2003 and was voted as one of the most influential food blogs in the world by British newspaper The Guardian.

Pim realised her dream of becoming a chef in 2014 with the launch of her first restaurant Kin Khao in San Francisco, which won international acclaim. Kin Khao received its first Michelin star the following year.

Pim attributes her cuisine to Thai culture and Thai women, who have a deep-rooted tradition in passing on their skills and recipes to the next generation. She is looking forward to developing closer relationships with farmers and artisan food producers across Thailand to ensure only the most exceptional produce makes it onto Nahm’s menus.

“I want diners who visit Nahm to feel as though they’ve been invited to the home of their Thai friends and to experience an authentic cuisine that’s rich in flavours and cooked from the heart,” she says.

FOR ONE OF THE best-known Thai dishes in the world, phad thai had a surprisingly humble start in life.

Its story can be traced back to World War II when the country was suffering shortages of basic foodstuffs and the prime minister at that time, Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, known familiarly as Chomphon Por, encouraged Thais to eat noodles due to the high cost of rice production. That instruction gave birth to Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee, an eatery credited with the original phad thai recipe.

Chefs work at their outdoor cooking stations.

Located at the capital’s Pratoopee intersection, close to Wat Saket and the Giant Swing (Sao Ching Cha), Thipsamai Padthai started life as a nameless street stall and prepared food for its customers every night on a small charcoal stove. Plaek ate there and declared the noodles the best he had ever tasted and in 1966, Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee was formally created.

This year the restaurant was awarded a Bib Gourmand (inspectors’ favourite for good value street food) by Michelin Guide.

Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee’s signature dish is the stirfried, long and tender chan noodle cooked in shrimp oil, and thinly wrapped with egg.

The dish that won this accolade from the food bible is simply called “Superb”. Priced at Bt90, it combines stir-fried, long and tender chan noodles with shrimp oil, herbs and fresh deep-sea prawns, all wrapped in egg.

Another favourite, phad thai song krueng (Bt300) combines various quality ingredients, including shrimp oil, fresh extra-large deep-sea prawns, and sliced squid. Customers can choose between chan noodles and glass noodles and the dish is garnished with crabmeat and sliced raw mango instead of lime juice.

Phad thai song krueng

Traditional phad thai, known here as “Basic” and costing Bt60 for a generous portion, gives off the sweet scent of palm sugar, which combines well with tofu, radish pickles, dried shrimp, and egg.

The flavour is slightly sweet and the tastiest part is the thin egg wrap drizzled with shrimp oil sauce.

Phad thai “Basic”

The eatery is today in the hands of Dr Thanyanan Reungwetwattana MD and her husband, Dr Sikarachat Baisamut, the son of the founders.

“Sikarachat’s mother, Samai, taught us everything about the restaurant from cleaning to serving to cooking and my husband helped at the stall as a youngster. Today our challenge is to maintain the quality and taste of this famous dish,” she says.

 Long queues form every night outside Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee but the turn-around is quick.

And in this, the couple have been successful with Thipsamai’s phad thai so popular that a long queue forms well before the restaurant opens at 5pm. Bookings are not accepted but patrons are content to wait, breathing in the sweet fragrance of the wok-fried noodles as they are cooked.

Thanyanan Reungwetwattana

“Kuay taew phad or fried noodles is a favourite dish everywhere. The Chinese have many famed noodle dishes so our Thai-style fried noodles – phad thai – are distinguished from the rest not only by the cooking techniques but also the main ingredients. We use sen chan, long thin rice noodles which are a little sticky yet tender, shrimp oil, prawns and fish sauce rather than black sweet soy sauce and pork, which are more Chinese style,” she explains.

The dish is still cooked on a charcoal stove, with the charcoal coming from local producers in Samut Songkhram.

Phad thai in its signature egg wrap

“It is very important to find the right type of charcoal that has a consistently high temperature yet produces less smoke. We use only good-quality mangrove charcoal on our three stoves,” Thanyanan says.

The noodles are best washed down with either fresh orange juice, the price of which is determined by the market, or fresh coconut water.

The restaurant is decorated in the style of a traditional Thai style house.

The restaurant itself has the ambience of a traditional Thai house with plenty of old cooking utensils on display. The cooking is done in front of the customers and industrial-sized fans keep the air circulating.

Thanyanan credits the charm of Thai culture for drawing tourists to the country.

“Food, culture, beautiful landscapes, and easy-going hospitality are our assets and we must put every effort into preserving these. Although as a medical doctor, I would like to see better hygiene in the preparation of street food, we should always keep our cuisine tasty and authentic.”

OODLES OF NOODLES

The restaurant is open daily from 5pm to 2am. Though the queues are long, it rarely takes more than 15 minutes to fill an order.

There are three branches:

313-315 Mahachai Road, Samranrat, Pranakorn, Bangkok, call (02) 226 6666

Buddha Mondhol Sai 4, 99/11 Moo 6 Hwy 3310, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, call (086) 429 9999

King Power Complex, Phaya Thai Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok

For more information, email: info@thipsamai.com