THEGUIDE
thailand
104
FAHTHAI
A THAI CHEF’S TOUR OF SAMUI, CUSTOM-MADE FOR EPICUREANS
What do you like the most about southern Thai food?
The seafood, of course – it’s what my mum would
mostly cook. She encouraged us to eat a lot of
white fish – it’s good for one’s health and soul.
Southern Thai food uses loads of fresh veggies,
huge prawns and delicious lobsters. Oysters and
squid are fat and fantastic down here but eat them
in moderation as they’re high in cholesterol. Down
here we use lots of galangal. People often assume
Thai food should be super spicy but they’re
wrong; it’s about the balance of flavours – sour,
spicy, salty… it’s like a melody.
What can you get in the south that you can't get
elsewhere?
You can’t get the best southern Thai food
anywhere else apart from here and it all comes
down to having the freshest ingredients. There are
Thai restaurants everywhere but a Thai restaurant
in Brussels would have to fly everything in. Many
people don’t fully understand the complexity and
variety of ingredients we have here. We have so
many varieties of chillies – each one has a different
taste and suits a different dish. Chefs around the
world are obsessed with organic food but down
My
Samui
K O H S A M U I
Celebrated Thai chef
Woody has more than
28 years of high-end
hotel cooking under his
belt and his passion for
food is palpable. The
executive chef at the
cliff-side Conrad resort
reveals why you can’t beat
southern Thai cuisine
here nearly everything is and always has been
organic. In Samui, it’s all about the coconut, of
course – the shredded flesh from a coconut, the
milk. I use local fern leaves in a salad. It feels very
Samui.
What do you cook at home?
My wife is a chef too so we always spend the
day cooking together on our day off with our
baby daughter. We love to cook fresh Thai salads
together – not too heavy. One of my favourites is a
banana blossom salad. We have about 10 kinds of
banana in Thailand – some are sweet, some bitter,
so I search for the best.
Where's your favourite restaurant on Samui?
Down south in Samui I love Green Ta’lay for Thai;
the owner’s wife is from the north-west of the
country so it’s Isaan cuisine, something different.
The Five Islands restaurant is good for seafood.
There’s a place called The Local Kitchen in Lamai
and I go there for a very local dish – a stir-fry
of beef, chilli and local leaves. It’s an explosion
of flavours but it’s incredibly spicy so you must
wash it down with Thai whisky. I also love Indian
food; it’s close to Thai food but richer and denser.
I’ll often head to Noori India in Chaweng for
tandoori. It’s important to know all the cuisine
on the island so I can make recommendations to
guests. You need to love food to be a good chef.
What do you love about the south of Samui?
My office looks out at an amazing view of the
water and the five islands. I never, ever get bored.
It’s just beautiful. I like to contemplate and see
something far in the distance. Guests always say
how lucky I am to work with this backdrop.
What would you recommend at Jahn?
Our
tom yum goong
is playful and has so much
flavour. It’s a deconstructed, do-it-yourself soup
with fresh, juicy prawns. Our
tom kha gai
is
wonderful as well. The chicken soup is served in
a coconut shell that’s been roasted to give it an
amazing aroma. The Wagyu beef massaman is
another must, a premium cut of beef presented in
a contemporary way but with the traditional Thai
sauce. Finish off with our excellent elephant coffee
from Chiang Mai.
conradhotels3.hilton.com
TOP CHEF
Chef Woody’s
Massaman beef
and lemongrass
rice at Jahn
FUN FACT
Get your trainers on in Bangkok in November: on the 1st is a "music fun run", on the 2nd is the Cancer Care fun run and on the 16th is the Run for a Reason marathon
