Thai Tide

“Of all the countries I have visited and the cuisines I have tasted,I find comfort in Thai cuisine. I believe that this cuisine explores more street food than any other country. This inspired me to bring my culture to the city,” says Pattanachaen. To build the ambience,the food will be served out of hand-drawn carts. The menu is exhaustive with Kamom Tokyo — a pancake wrapped with spicy mixed vegetable meant to be eaten with tomato sauce,mayonnaise or spicy sauce; Som Tom-Kao Neaw-Gai Yang — a Thai green papaya salad with sticky rice; Kao-Pad Kra Pao-Kai Dow — steamed jasmine with chicken basil and fried egg; and Tab Tim Krob — water chestnuts prepared in cold sweet coconut.

But dishing up an authentic flavour for Puneites is a hard game for the chef because Thai food is essentially based on shrimp paste,fish sauce,red chillies and garlic. “It is hard to mix with the local taste since there are many who prefer vegetarian dishes. I don’t want them to miss out on the fiery and pungent flavours of the Thai cuisine,so I have replaced shrimp paste and fish sauce with soya sauce and reduced the levels of concentrations of garlic to suit the Indian requirement,” she says. But the chef says that she does find traces of similarities in Indian and Thai flavours.

Bringing Thai food to town is not all that the chef is up to during this visit. She is also taking notes on the dishes she can take from India to her land. Looking to experiment with the marination sauce used in Chicken tikka,she says,“The sauce tastes like a kick of chillies in my mouth. I am looking forward to serving it in Thailand. I am sure the people there would love it.”