Khao San Sek, Bangkok
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There’s something liberating about handing over the menu and saying, “You choose.” At Khao San Sek, the latest culinary venture from the award-winning Chef “Pam” Pichaya Soontornyanakij, that trust feels well placed. The à la carte menu brimmed with such tempting options that we decided to experience the House Menu instead—placing the evening entirely in the hands of one of the world’s most celebrated Thai chefs.
Chef Pam, recently named The World’s Best Female Chef 2025 and Asia’s Best Female Chef 2024, has built her reputation on reinterpreting Thai cuisine through what she calls the “sacred ingredients” of her homeland—rice, chili, coconut, fish sauce and palm sugar—each sourced in its finest form. These building blocks, rich in cultural history, form the backbone of every dish at Khao San Sek, where the familiar is elevated and the traditional is reimagined.
The House Menu began with the catch of the day, served crudo with sato—a fermented rice beverage—bringing a beautifully balanced interplay of spicy, salty, sweet and savoury. It was a snapshot of Chef Pam’s style: bold but harmonious, rooted in tradition yet presented with a contemporary edge.
From there, the meal unfolded like a culinary story. The blue crab and crab roe arrived in a deeply flavourful “Khao San Sek” nam prik, a dish that spoke of the sea while carrying the fiery lift of chili. The grilled catfish, glazed with burnt palm sugar and paired with wild leucaena, offered an earthy sweetness that lingered. Then came the lamb ribs massaman, enriched with krabok seeds and coconut—slow-cooked to a tenderness that had the meat falling effortlessly from the bone.
Each course revealed another facet of Thailand’s culinary soul. Crisp onion flower stems were given an umami punch with fermented shrimp sauce and shards of chicharrón. Slow-cooked pork ribs in a “three gler” palm sauce were brightened with a herb salad, while pork soft bone ribs simmered in chili and fermented shrimp delivered a depth of flavour only possible through long, patient cooking.
Midway through the experience, our waiter urged us to try one of his personal favourites from the à la carte menu—a “Songkla” river prawn served with rich shrimp fat and a charred roots garlic pepper glaze. Monumental in size, perfectly grilled, and luxuriously sweet, it was a showstopper that justified its reputation.
Throughout, the rice of the day—in our case, nutty red rice—was replenished as often as needed, a quiet but telling reminder of rice’s central role in Thai dining. Dessert began with kanom-pum draped in palm sugar caramel, a sweet, comforting finish that tied back to the menu’s sacred ingredient philosophy. Curiosity, however, got the better of us, and we added one more from the à la carte list: a chili-salt meringue with grilled pineapple and green mango sorbet. The gentle heat of the chili against the tang of the mango was unexpected, clever, and addictive.
Dining at Khao San Sek isn’t just about eating well—it’s about tasting the essence of Thailand through the eyes of a chef who has made it her mission to honour and reimagine her country’s culinary heritage. Every plate feels personal, every flavour deliberate, and every ingredient cherished. In the hands of Chef Pam, the sacred becomes sensational.
Location: 1121 1123 Song Wat Rd, Khwaeng Samphanthawong, Khet Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
Phone: 097 016 9824
