Khao Restaurant
Khao, a Thai restaurant with a Chef who wants everyone to love rice.
Khao is a Thai restaurant based on the concept of Chef Vichit Mukura, a well-known Thai food chef who is known from the list of top Thai chefs who always have tips and tricks for selecting ingredients. With over 40 years of experience working as an international Thai food chef, Chef Vichit created Khao in Soi Sukhumvit 51, a Thai restaurant serving Chef’s Table only, before relocating Khao to Ekamai Soi 10. This branch of Khao has changed the layout to have a more family-friendly food menu and also Chef’s Table menu.
Chef Vichit is a person who takes ‘rice’ very seriously, believes that good rice will make that meal even more special. With a passion for selecting raw materials and wanting to learn more about rice Chef Vichit then experimented with farming. He grew organic rice to be used as a staple in the store and to communicate rice to customers more deeply. The design of Khao, Ekamai Soi 10 branch, puts details of Thai farming into the design and allow customers to experience the Thai style that chefs and I interpreted. Starting from the exterior structure, Chef Vichit wanted recall a rice barn, an architecture that can be seen commonly in farming areas throughout Thailand but is something that is difficult to find in the city. I applied the pattern of ‘pakon’, which is a popular wood decoration used in traditional Thai houses to design the building exterior and interior. And then I used clear glass between the wood to help increase the light in the restaurant to have more natural light to make the restaurant look airy and comfortable, suitable for dining with family. The round table used in the restaurant is a newly designed table to look like a random fish trap. If you look outside the glass room on the side of the restaurant, you will see a model farm planted by Chef Vichit for the urban residents to closely experience the atmosphere of farming.
Project: Khao, Ekkamai
Architecture and Interior: Tune Kantharoup with Spacy Architecture
Photography: Rungkit Charoenwat and Wison Tungthunya
