Stir Fried: Talking Thai Chinese cuisine with Chef Pam
Pichaya Soontornyanakij is the first Asian woman to be named World’s Best Female Chef and she's taking Thai Chinese food to the next level
Thai Chinese cuisine is a sub cuisine of Thai food stemming from generations of Chinese immigration into Thailand.
Photo illustration by Ryan Quan; photos courtesy of GASTROFILM
Words by Clara Wang
Stir Fried: The story of any immigrant diaspora is the story of how outsiders became insiders, and nothing tells this story better than food. Names may get scrambled, languages forgotten, neighborhoods gentrified—but no matter how muddled histories become, the truth is served on a plate. Stir Fried breaks down the weird, messy, bastardized fusion cuisines that tell the story of Asian diaspora communities around the world.
More than 120 years ago, chef Pichaya Soontornyanakij’s great great grandfather traveled by boat from Jin Meng island, in what used to be part of China’s Fujian province (and is now part of Taiwan), to Thailand and built a pharmacy in the heart of Bangkok’s Chinatown. He named it Po Tong, or Simple Pharmacy, and it was where four generations of his descendents—like millions of other overseas Chinese—plied their trade humbly and eventually became part of the fabric of Thailand. Today, Chef Pam—as Soontornyanakij is best known to the public—is taking Thai Chinese food to new heights at her Michelin-starred restaurant Po Tong in her family’s building.
“When people think about Thai food, they think about Northern and Southern and Northeastern. But there’s actually another sub cuisine of Thai food: Thai Chinese cuisine,” the Thai Chinese Australian chef tells me over the phone.
Chef Pam was recently named World’s Best Female Chef 2025, becoming the first Asian woman to hold the title.
GASTROFILM
Thai Chinese cuisine is a sub cuisine of Thai food stemming from generations of Chinese immigration into Thailand. Since Chinese traders first began arriving in the Siamese Kingdom of Ayutthaya in the 13th Century, bringing soy sauce, tao chiao (fermented bean paste), and tofu, Chinese influence has thoroughly integrated into Thai cuisine. Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in the world, and generational Thai Chinese are one of the oldest and most prominent integrated overseas Chinese communities. In fact, King Rama I, founder of the present-day Thai royal family, was part Chinese through his predecessor King Taksin, the son of a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong and a Thai mother. While the official count of ethnic Chinese in Thailand is around 11 to 14 percent, nearly a thousand years of complex intermingling means the number of Thai people with Chinese ancestry is probably much higher.
“I think if you talk to 100 Thai people, most would say they have some Chinese blood in them,” Soontornyanakij says.
Chinese immigrants to Thailand are composed of four main ethnic groups, whose contributions are on display in any Thai hawker market. Hokkien sailors like Soontornyanakij’s great great grandfather, who settled mainly in the South, brought rice noodles and stir frying techniques that became pad thai. Hokkien influence can also be seen in the fragrant five spice braising liquid for khao kha moo, stewed pork with rice.
Popular Bangkok street foods like oyster omelettes, bitter melon soup, and gu chai (seasoned chive filling, wrapped in rice flour and steamed or fried) all originated from the Teochews, who came via the Gulf of Siam from the port city of Swatow and settled mostly around the Chao Phraya River. Chinese Muslims from Yunan who settled around Northern Thailand were instrumental in creating khao soi, the iconic Chiang Mai dish of egg noodles in a creamy curry soup topped with delicious crisps. Hakkas from China’s Guangdong province concentrated in Chiang Mai, Phuket, and the central western provinces. They left their mark with rice noodles, ba mii (clear egg noodle soup), khanom jeen (fermented rice noodles with curry sauces), and guay tiaw (Thai boat noodles).
The first Asian to win World’s Best Female Chef
For Soontornyanakij, Thailand tastes like pad kra pao—ground meat stir fried with holy basil, chilies, garlic, and topped with an egg. The basil is Thai, the wok is Chinese, and the result is one of the most popular Thai street foods of all time. It’s a synergy the 36-year-old chef displays at Po Tong, the culmination of her astounding career, where Soontornyanakij engineers her Thai Chinese heritage into nostalgic chemistry. A graduate of the venerable Culinary Institute of Arts, Soontornyanakij trained under Jean George Vongerichten at Jean-Georges in New York, was a judge on Top Chef Thailand, and became the first person to win the Michelin Opening of the Year Award and reach Michelin one-star status when she opened Po Tong in 2021—all by her 30th birthday. She was also recently named World’s Best Female Chef 2025, becoming the first Asian woman to hold the title.
Now the mother to a 5-year-old girl, Soontornyanakij and her husband and business partner Tor Boonpiti are hard at work on their next project, Sino House, a 400-square-meter dining room down the street from Po Tong, featuring Thai Chinese flavors with ingredients sourced from Bangkok’s Chinatown. And in 2023, she launched her Women-For-Women scholarship, which provides paid culinary training and internship programs for the next generation of female chefs.
“Even though I studied French and Western-style cuisine, when I came back to Thailand, I really wanted to do something that stands for my country and my heritage. That’s when I turned around and focused on the food I grew up eating, but utilizing all the techniques and knowledge I learned across the world,” Soontornyanakij says.
Each dish in Po Tong’s 20-plus course tasting menu incorporates Thai Chinese ingredients and techniques.
GASTROFILM
Along with her prestigious French training, Soontornyanakij also absorbed Teochow cooking techniques growing up with her 100 percent Chinese mother, who was a pro with the wok. “She would cook for me lad na (wide rice noodles covered in gravy), which is very Thai Chinese,” Soontornyanakij says. ”She would marinate meat in a Chinese way, with eggs and cornstarch or baking soda, and saute it in oil, which is a Chinese technique.”
Each dish in Po Tong’s 20-plus course tasting menu incorporates Thai Chinese ingredients and techniques through the lens of five elements: “Salt, acid, spice, texture, and the Maillard reaction,” as the restaurant’s website proclaims.
“Our signature dish is the duck. We use the Chinese method with Thai spices. We blanche the duck skin Peking duck style, but we don’t blow the duck like the Chinese do,” Soontornyanakij says, referring to the classic method of blowing air to separate skin and flesh for maximum crispiness.
Another example of Thai Chinese technique is their take on pad thai, a bite-sized assimilation of chai po (Chinese pickled turnip) and Thai rice noodles, resembling a fruit roll-up.
Po Tong's entrance.
GASTROFILM
The names of each dish, such as “mission,” “historical stories,” and “bold” are meant to recall a narrative structure and balance ingredients like a thoughtful prescription. More than any ingredient, the building that was once a Simple Pharmacy plays the starring role at Po Tong. Guests make their way through the hectic alleys of Chinatown into the tranquil oasis of Po Tong and go up a tiny elevator, getting a glimpse of each level as they slowly rise up to the fifth floor, which used to be the family’s living space. It’s a journey through time that helps guests imagine what it would’ve been like for generations of Soontornyanakij’s family to live and work in their new community.
“One of the reasons why the building is so meaningful is because each wall was designed and built by my ancestor,” Soontornyanakij says. “Every element of Po Tong means something for (my great great grandfather), and for my family.”
Published on May 16, 2025
Words by Clara Wang
Clara Wang is a freelance writer based in Austin, TX but often found wandering abroad exploring culture through the lens of food and drink. Her work has been featured in publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Eater Austin, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, the Austin American Statesman, and the Daily Dot. Her monthly column Stir Fried explores Asian diasporic cuisines around the world.
Art by Ryan Quan
Ryan Quan is the Social Media Editor for JoySauce. This queer, half-Chinese, half-Filipino writer and graphic designer loves everything related to music, creative nonfiction, and art. Based in Brooklyn, he spends most of his time dancing to hyperpop and accidentally falling asleep on the subway. Follow him on Instagram at @ryanquans.