Thai food has become one of the most influential cuisines in the world. Nowadays, you can find many Thai restaurants in Kuching. One of them is Thai House, which emphasises the use of original herbs, spices, and other ingredients from the Land of the White Elephant in efforts to maintain its authentic flavour in every dish.
Enjoy en-Thai-cing cuisine at Thai House
Here’s some good news for Thai food lovers — another Thai restaurant has now opened in Petra Jaya!
Members of the public can now try and enjoy their favourite Thai cuisine at any restaurant close to them, thanks to the increase in these businesses.
Thai House, located in Jalan Merdeka, is a brand-new eatery that opened on January 11. What makes it unique from other Thai restaurants is that the owner emphasises the use of original herbs, spices, and other ingredients from the Land of the White Elephant in an effort to maintain its original flavour in every dish.
When met by New Sarawak Tribune, the owner Grace Toh Shu Ngik said she placed a high value on the flavour and quality of every dish served at Thai House, assuring customers that they would be able to enjoy authentic Thai cuisine.
“I take our ingredients very seriously, so I put a lot of effort into sourcing herbs and spices that the Thai people use in order to give our clients the original flavour of Thai food.
“I’m willing to fly to Thailand to purchase the herbs or spices if they are not sold or grown locally.
“I am determined to maintain the supply of ingredients, even if I have to start planting them myself to ensure the supply is not interrupted,” she said, adding that she was extremely fortunate to have family members with in-depth expertise in cultivating various plants, including herbs and spices, who are assisting her in growing and caring for all the plants.
This Kuala Lumpur-born woman also mentioned that in addition to exerting significant effort to preserve the authentic flavour, she consistently emphasised the importance of the 3G (Good Food, Good Service, and Good Experience) to all her staff members, including herself, to ensure that customers always receive first-rate service and have an amazing experience while dining at their restaurant.
She added that one of the other strong qualities of Thai House is that they have already planned to bring festivities and cultures from the Land of the White Elephant to Kuching, such as the Songkran Festival, in order to introduce and increase awareness of Thai culture and its beauty among the local populace.
Speaking on how she started the business, the 39-year-old entrepreneur cited her passion to share the beauty of Thai culture and delicious food as the main reasons for establishing Thai House.
According to her, she had great respect for the Thai people, their cultures, and their food. She revealed that she frequently visits Thailand in order to have these experiences.
“Thailand is always one of my favourite holiday destinations. I find all the cuisine there to be very exquisite and beautiful in its own unique way; this has inspired me to open a Thai restaurant so I can share the gastronomic treat with the local people.
“I want to be able to share with you some of Thailand’s mouth-watering cuisine, beautiful culture, as well as crafts, without you having to travel there.
“In addition, I’m also blessed to have family members from Thailand who inspire, motivate, and support me, which serves as a driving force for me to start this business.
“Since they are skilled cooks, and I myself love Thai cuisine, I thought this was a great opportunity to start something together.
“After much brainstorming, we manage to establish Thai House. We work extremely well together; we did all the concept designing and decorations by ourselves, and this marks the beginning of my dream of bringing Thailand to my people,” she said.
When asked about the menu, Toh, who was raised in Kuching, said that she started with the popular Thai foods to introduce Thai House to the locals; currently, there are about 40 types of food on their menu.
According to her, she will occasionally update and add to the menus in order to keep customers excited about Thai’s scrumptious cuisines, apart from preventing them from getting bored of the same menu.
At the moment, their top sellers are Seafood Tom Yum, Thai Shrimp Cake, Steamed Lime Fish, and Fried Fish in Special Thai Chilli Sauce.
“As I mentioned before, we at Thai House place a high value on the quality and flavour of the food. We strive to preserve the true flavour of Thai cuisine without altering it to adapt to local tastes.
“I will introduce a variety of Thai foods to the menu from time to time in addition to introducing elements of surprise (in terms of the menu offered),” said the winner of Mrs Queen of the World International Malaysia 2020.
Speaking of difficulties, this mother of two said that thus far, she has not encountered any significant issues because, in her opinion, introducing Thai dishes to Sarawak wasn’t all that tough given that the local people really enjoy spicy, sour, and sweet foods.
According to her, what is most challenging at the moment is for her to ensure that she always has access to the herbs, spices, and other ingredients that are authentic to Thailand in order to run her business to her expectations.
When questioned about her future plans, Toh said she is already planning to open another branch in the near future in order to reach more people and further expose the scrumptiousness of Thai food and the uniqueness of its culture to the locals and tourists.
“I hope the local community will love and enjoy the authentic Thai dishes at Thai House, Jalan Merdeka, as much as I do.
“With the opening of this first branch, I hope both locals and tourists will be able to enjoy more food options in Kuching,” she said.
Meanwhile, for only RM19.99, Thai House is currently offering three Solo Thai Lunch sets, with customers able to select from the Chicken Tom Yum set served with white rice, Crispy Omelette, and Thai Herb House Drink; the Chicken Green Curry set served with white rice, Crispy Omelette, and Thai Herb House Drink; or the Fried Chicken Wing set served with Thai fried rice, Sunny Egg, and Thai Herb House Drink.
In conjunction with the upcoming month of Ramadan, they also offer Buka Puasa Buffet (breaking fast buffet) for as low as RM24.99 for children and RM49.99 for adults.
Dine-in customers can select from up to 10 delectable Thai buffet dishes, as well as a huge variety of colourful desserts and unlimited house beverages.
For reservations, the public can reach them at 017-5624134, message them on their Facebook page and TikTok accounts, Thai House in Borneo and @thaihouseinborneokch, respectively, or google Restoran Thai House.
Members of the public can also directly go to their restaurant at Riveredge Commercial Centre in Jalan Merdeka (near Teh Tarik Kafeteria) to experience the true taste of Thai cuisine, which will definitely capture your heart (and tummy) as well.
