Pongtawat "Ian" Chalermkittichai, known in English as Ian Kittichai (born 27 January 1968), is a Thai

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

, and

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

writer. He and his restaurant, Issaya Siamese Club in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

, have earned acclaim from the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

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'', ''

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'' and other publications. Issaya Siamese Club has been listed on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, a division of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, most recently ranked number 39 in 2018. '' Australian Traveller'' magazine listed Issaya Siamese Club as one of the world’s hottest restaurants in 2018. Kittichai’s cookbook '' Issaya Siamese Club: Innovative Thai Cuisine by Chef Ian Kittichai'', released in April 2013, placed first in the Best Authors and Chefs category for Thailand, and third for the Best Cookbook of The Year in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2014 held in Beijing in May 2014. In 2006 and 2012 Kittichai appeared on the television show ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, whi ...

'' to compete with

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and Ne ...

and

Marc Forgione Marc Forgione is an American chef who formerly competed in Food Network's ''Iron Chef America'' and is now the owner of Restaurant Marc Forgione in Tribeca, New York City. He was born on December 16, 1978, and raised in Bellerose, New York. Chef ...

respectively. He also appears regularly on ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

Thailand'' as well as ''

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'' and ''

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''.

Early life and career

As a child growing up in Bangkok, Kittichai accompanied his mother on daily trips to local markets before school, and then sold her curry rice from a cart after school. While a student in London, Kittichai worked part-time at London's Waldorf Hotel, whose management paid for him to attend

cooking school A cooking school is an institution devoted to education in the art and science of cooking and food preparation. There are many different types of cooking schools around the world, some devoted to training professional chefs, others aimed at amate ...

at Southeast London Colleges for two years. He then moved to Sydney, where he apprenticed at Claude’s French restaurant in the mid-1980s and attended culinary school at

Sydney Technical College The Sydney Technical College, now known as the TAFE New South Wales Sydney Institute, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education i ...

. After returning to his home in Bangkok, Kittichai was hired at the Four Seasons Bangkok (now Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel), where he eventually became the world’s first Thai to be named executive chef of an international five-star hotel, in charge of the Four Seasons’ Thai, Italian, and Japanese dining outlets. In 2003, Kittichai opened Kittichai, a modern Thai restaurant in

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's SIXTY Soho (formerly 60 Thompson) which earned a listing in ''

'' magazine’s Best New American Restaurants 2004. The following year,

called Kittichai the best Thai restaurant in America, praising the elegant décor as well as the cuisine. In 2011, Kittichai established Issaya Siamese Club, a contemporary Thai restaurant in a 100-year-old villa in Bangkok. The restaurant has made Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, a list produced by UK media company

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, based on a poll of international chefs, restaurateurs, gourmands and restaurant critics. Most recently the restaurant was ranked number 39 in 2018. ''

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'' magazine in Australia also listed Issaya Siamese Club as one of the world’s hottest restaurants in 2018. That same year, Kittichai opened his second New York eatery, Spot Dessert Bar, where the chef’s skill with

pastries Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...

and desserts is showcased. Among the dessert “tapas” at Spot Dessert Bar is “The Harvest”, a combination of crumbled cookie and cake layered with fruits and cream to resemble a potted house plant. A second location for Spot Dessert Bar was established in New York’s Koreatown in 2012 and a Flushing location opened in 2016. In Bangkok, Kittichai joined Thai chef Arisara Chongphanitkul, who had been his pastry chef at Issaya Siamese Club, to open Issaya La Patisserie at

Central Embassy Central Embassy is the crown jewel in an illustrious series of high-profile projects by Thailand's largest retail chain, Central Group's new flagship property is Central Embassy. This unique architectural monument, with its daring curves and vibr ...

mall in 2014. Dedicated to pastry, dessert, and sweet creations blending Thai and international influences, the patisserie is now located in

EmQuartier The EmQuartier is a large shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand opened in May 2015. It is one of three malls planned for the "EM District", along with the existing Emporium, and the EmSphere. All three buildings will total an area of 2,500,000 squa ...

mall’s Helix Tower. The same year, the chef took over the cuisine at Tangerine restaurant at

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, focusing on a farm-to-table menu featuring both classic and contemporary Thai flavors. Also in 2014, Kittichai established Issaya Cooking Studio in Bangkok’s Central Embassy mall. Courses at the 170-square-meter cooking school facility range from classical and basic Thai cuisine to molecular and modern culinary technique, and from beginner to professional chef levels. The school is aimed at clients who are already familiar with Thai cooking. Kittichai also co-owns Bangkok’s Namsaah Bottling Trust, a gastropub located in a 20th-century villa previously used as a soda producer’s bottling office in the city’s

Silom Si Lom Road (also written as Silom, th, สีลม, ) is a major street in the Thai capital Bangkok, best known for its commercial neighbourhood, which, along with the nearby and roughly parallel Sathon Road, forms one of the city's main bus ...

district, and for which he designed a contemporary Asian menu. To coordinate Kittichai’s restaurant interests and consultative contracts around the globe, the chef and his wife Sarah Kittichai operate Cuisine Concept Co. Ltd., an international food and beverage industry consulting firm.Timothy Franc
“Bangkok’s home-grown, Waldorf-trained, world-famous chef”
“CNN Travel”, 26 July 2010.

Bibliography

*Kittichai, Ian. '' Issaya Siamese Club Cookbook: Innovative Thai Cuisine by Chef Ian Kittichai'' Avril Production, 2013 *Kittichai, Ian and Chongphanitkul Apisara. '' La Patisserie Issaya Pastry Cookbook'' Avril Production, 2016. *Kittichai, Ian. '' Chef Ian’s Kitchen Revealed'' Amarin Cuisine, 2011

References

Ian Kittichai Pongtawat "Ian" Chalermkittichai, known in English as Ian Kittichai (born 27 January 1968), is a Thai chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his restaurant, Issaya Siamese Club in Bangkok, Thailand, have earned acclaim from the ''New York ...

Male chefs

Living people 1968 births

Early life and career

Bibliography

References

External links