#FOOD: INTRODUCING CHEF NUTCHA PHANTHOUPHENG

We’d love to introduce you to West Coast sensation Chef Nutcha Phanthoupheng whose acclaimed restaurant Baan Lao has been named one of Canada’s Best New Restaurants in addition to landing on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2022. In Vancouver, she’s been voted Best Chef three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023, an incredible feat. Baan Lao landed six awards each year, including Best Restaurant Overall, Best Fine Dining, Best Hidden Gem, Most Romantic, and Best Thai.

We shamelessly drool every time we see a post about Baan Lao’s exquisite Thai High Tea offerings.

We hear Chef Nutcha will be making her way to Toronto and can’t help but wonder if this means that the discerning Toronto set might get a chance to try some of her creations in the future?

Some things to know about this culinary wizard:

-Hailing from Isaan region, she began her journey as a nurse. She was committed to learning more about the impact of food on our health, she obtained her MBA and became a cancer researcher at Princess Chulaborn Hospital.

-Her husband encouraged her to pursue her true passion in life, food

-As a woman chef, she has successfully overcome barriers in both Asia and North America in a male-dominated industry

-Sustainability: With her personal and professional ethos built solidly on a foundation of sustainability (both environmentally and with people resources). A key example: She does not keep a freezer in her restaurant – that is how fresh and local all her ingredients are that she uses daily.

-Fine dining – Royal Thai cuisine is NOT street food. Chef Nutcha is determined to share virtues of Thai fine dining with Canada and beyond.

-She is the first chef to create a royal Thai high tea experience in North America 

-Business perspective: Not just a culinary creative, but a powerhouse business-minded entrepreneur. She has some very ambitious expansion plans in the works.