2023 has already been a big year for chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn.
In March, after years of climbing up the ranks, the rising Thai chef secured the coveted No. 1 spot at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Singapore for his Michelin-starred restaurant Le Du, opened with long-time business partner Rungroj “Tao” Ingudananda. His second establishment, Nusara, scooped the No. 3 honour. (He is the only Thai chef to have two restaurants represented on the prestigious dining list.)
Weeks later, Tassanakajohn announced his third restaurant—in Hong Kong, no less.
“Hong Kong has always been a fascinating city to me,” says Tassanakajohn when asked about his choice for the destination of Le Du’s first international branch, in exclusive conversation with Robb Report Hong Kong at a preview for the new opening. “It’s like my second home. I still haven’t seen a good fine-dining Thai restaurant here, so I hope that Niras will fulfil that and make the city’s gastronomic scene much more exciting.”
Niras, due to open in late June, takes its cue from Le Du in many ways, honouring its lauded sibling not only through its leaf-adorned logo and Thai-inspired design accents but also its multi-course tasting menu, much of which is lifted from the Bangkok restaurant and transformed in subtle ways through the use of local ingredients. Modern Thai cuisine will continue to be the focus of the new restaurant to showcase the diversity of the country’s many regional flavours, elevated through Tassanakajohn’s French-European techniques, all the while preserving the authentic identity, essence, and taste of Thai food.
However, this is not to say that Niras will exist solely as a copy of the award-winning Bangkok original—Tassanakajohn is confident that his chosen head chef duo, Naruemon “Mai” Ratiphuthilap and Sarocha “Bua” Rajatanawin, will soon leave their own indelible mark on the restaurant’s culinary programme as Niras finds its groove.
“Both chefs are amazing. Chef Mai has worked with me for almost eight years now, so she knows everything about the identity of Le Du and myself. I believe this is the time for her to grow and create her own style,” Tassanakajohn tells Robb Report Hong Kong. “Chef Bua was the head chef of a very well-known and respected Thai restaurant in Bangkok. She’s amazing and I am sure that the combination of these two talents is bound to make Niras one of the best restaurants we have.”
In Tassanakajohn’s opinion, the appointment of two head chefs—so that there is “always at least one head chef in the kitchen”—is also crucial to the success of Niras, so that the “focus on preserving the authentic taste and essence of Le Du” is ensured. Tassanakajohn himself plans to make frequent returns to Hong Kong as well to oversee the new opening.
“We can do more than just street food. Thai cuisine can be sophisticated. With Le Du and with Niras, we want to make it easier for people to understand that and get an introduction to Thai food on a fine-dining stage without feeling intimidated,” he explains.
Lunch and dinner tasting menus overlap, but it’s the six-course signature menu that fully encompasses the breadth of Tassanakajohn’s culinary vision of redefining Thai food for the fine-dining plate. Oyster, Thai Sichuan pepper, and northern spice is a sleek reimagining of the classic Northern Thai larb, while the Australian Wagyu, fennel, and holy basil pays tribute to pad kra pao, replacing the typical ingredient of fried ground pork with seared beef. Mango sticky rice gets a souped-up remake as a dainty but dense black rice rectangle topped with fresh mango cubes with a side of quenelle-d homemade mango ice cream.
During a sneak-peek session, we ate our way through the banana prawn, seaweed, and spicy beetroot, dressed in three different types of seaweed, while the beetroot ice cream is matched with a tongue-tingling spicy seafood sauce; the grouper, Thai kale, and choo chee curry is beautifully tender, with a crisped textural skin, and the savouriness of the accompanying pork-shrimp-salted-fish ball balanced out the earthy kale purée.
Niras pays obeisance to Thai food, but its design is far from traditional, something the chef categorically wanted to avoid. No Buddha heads here—the modern space leans on nature, glass, green and gold colours, marble, wood, and textured murals to showcase the beauty of seasons, landscapes, and travel. After all, Niras’s name is derived from “an ancient Thai tradition in which poets travelled the world, chronicling their journeys through poetry.”
Niras finds its footing not only in the inventive cuisine that Tassanakajohn serves up, but also in the chef himself. He welcomes, he engages, and he charms, but he is also intensely serious about his craft, and it shows in his ultimate vision for Niras: “What we do with Niras is something very different to the Thai food found here in the city. I hope people will appreciate and accept the evolution; it’s the next step of Thai cuisine that we’ve presented at Le Du in Bangkok, which has been well received, and we hope it will be here, too.”
Shop 704, 7/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tel: (+852) 3905 3022
