Ben Hopkins meets the world famous Chef Ken Hom in Bangkok’s Mason Chin Restaurant

Photographs by Louis Teran

Back in the late 1970’s Chinese cuisine in the UK was in its infancy. Pork balls drowning in soy sauce alongside prawn crackers were considered exotic.

And then we evolved.

By the early eighties the media at large began feeding the hunger for more knowledge while Chinese restaurateurs across the land dared us to experiment further. The forces behind the evolution of Chinese food throughout the West were many but if one individual can lay claim to the greatest influence it has to be Ken Hom.

Born of Chinese descent in Chicago 1949 Ken was thrown into the deep end of commercial cooking at a young age. His father died when he was eight months old leaving himself and his mother struggling to make ends meet. By the age of 11 the future world famous chef was working in his Uncle’s kitchen, gaining knowledge of a trade he’d later fall in love with.

In 1977 he became an instructor at San Francisco’s California Academy and in 1982 was spotted by the BBC and given his own prime time spot on TV, Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery. The show opened the British public’s eye to the secrets and pleasures of Chinese cuisine while the companion book became one of the best selling cookbooks ever published by the BBC, selling more than 1.2 million copies.

His career has traversed the globe and to his name stand countless best sellers, TV shows and business interests too numerous to mention.

When I meet Ken Hom it’s Friday afternoon in Mason Chinh, the restaurant adjoining Bandara Suites that he runs alongside his Thai colleague Chef Narakhorn – nickname Khun Pop. He’s quick to apologize for missing our scheduled meeting yesterday afternoon. He’d just flown in from Europe and found himself stuck in gridlock.

Horrendous traffic isn’t enough to sway his affection for Thailand. Today he spends six months of the year based in Thailand, the rest between France and the UK.

THE INTERVIEW

What led you to take on the running of Mason Chin and what attracts you to Thailand?

My links with Thailand go back to the early eighties when I did consulting work with the Oriental Hotel. I’ve been coming and going from Thailand ever since. About six or seven years ago I bought property here and just over a year ago we opened Mason Chin.

What attracts me to Thailand? I’ve just always liked the way the people are, the culture, the order under the chaos, the food… probably many of the same reasons you choose to live here.

What are the most profound changes you’ve noticed in the Thai hospitality industry over the past 25 years?

Well (pauses) there have been huge changes. I never imagined how much Thailand, and Asia as a whole, could have changed within my lifetime. Only 20 years ago you’d have had to go to the Oriental to find anything modern in Bangkok. Now it’s easy to find anything you want – organic vegetables, French, Italian cuisine… fish and chips… anything.

Can you imagine, the first time I cooked at the Oriental I had to carry 25 boxes of organic salad from San Francisco via Hong Kong, can you imagine that today.

When did the changes really begin?

The changes began in the 1990’s – 15 to 20 years ago. More tourists were coming in with ideas but also more Thais were traveling abroad and bringing the influence home. Twenty years ago I wrote a book, East and West, about the modern concept of what Asian food is about. We have our heritage but we’re also modern, forward looking. Mason Chin and Thailand as a whole reflect this today.

Having plied your trade in the West what are the main contrasts and challenges relating to work culture between Thailand and say, the UK?

There is a difference. Compared to London or the US you find people don’t move as quick here. Having said that, if you have patience with your employees you find they end up doing the job better than you.

Pop (his Thai colleague at Mason Chin) had been working outside of the country for 20 years, working in Australia and the UK where the work culture is very different. He became used to the way they do things over there and was afraid of how coming back would affect his work. His question was; “Will I be able to do here what I was doing there?” He had to relearn the work culture again but he’s been successful.

At University you studied Art History. What made you switch to becoming a chef and what (if any) influence did your art studies have on your work as a chef?

Well, I’d been cooking in my Uncle’s restaurant since 11 and I thought, ‘I don’t want to stay in this business, it’s too tough’. Studying art history gave me a background to write and taught me how to teach. I’m a teacher – I’m good at conveying ideas. I do both – convey ideas and cook.

In your opinion, where are the best Thai dishes to be found, in the 5 star hotels and dining establishments of Bangkok or the outdoor kitchens frequented by locals?

(Laughs) That’s a loaded question. I’ve always found the best Thai cuisine is done at home. On the streets people adjust to their clientele but the best Thai food I’ve had has been at peoples homes.

Other establishments, like hotels, refine the cuisine to address their audience. Having said that Chinese food in the UK was Anglicized for a British market for many years, now the clientele has become more sophisticated so has the food. If you go to China Town in London you’ll no longer find Chop suey, people will eat what the Chinese eat. People have become more adventurous.

Do you feel the World Wide Web and global communications has a lot to do with people’s growing awareness of international cuisine?

Absolutely, the internet has changed cooking all over the world – if someone finds something delicious in a Bangkok restaurant today it can be known a day later on the other side of the globe. For example, in 1993 I wrote a 300 word piece praising a Taipei restaurant. The review was read around the world. Now the owner has an empire of 29 restaurants. He took the story and bronzed it. It shows what mass communication has done for food. It’s so easy to research food culture now.

The general public is becoming more aware. Foreigners visiting Thailand often know the names of dishes before they get here.

Thais as well are learning quicker than ever. Many of the staff here don’t have university degrees but they’re learning new things all the time.

What is your role at Mason Chinh?

I’m the consultant. I design the menu and collaborate with Khun Pop. We come to each other with ideas and develop them. We worked together for almost nine years in London.

I try to spend six months of the year in Thailand and when I’m not here we work together over the internet. We’re always in touch. We’ll read all the customers comments and work out how to improve their experience.

How would you describe the food at Mason Chinh?

The food is a triangle of French, Italian and Asian. To describe it as fusion lends a miss conception. In the same way that nouvelle cuisine has taken on negative connotations. Mason Chin completes what Marco Polo started!

When you’re not in Thailand where else might you be?

I also live in Paris and London. We used to have a group of 16 restaurants in London but sold that group. I’m still involved with restaurants and I write a lot to. It’s part of teaching, I have a column in the London Financial Times and I find it fascinating.

I also travel quite a bit. After Bangkok I’m off to Chiang Mai and then moving onto Los Angeles. You know what’s happening there, the Korean community has started up something called tofu trucks. They’ll drive around the city cooking up food and serving it from the backs of truks (his features broaden like a child who has just discovered something new and exciting).

I can’t wait to see this, perhaps it could happen here in Bangkok if they could find the parking space.

So what essential food items do you always travel with?

I always take two things, chili oil and paste. I need something tasty.

And what interests do you have beyond work?

My work is something I love but I’m not a workaholic. I enjoy my friends, I swim a lot and I love snorkeling, not so much diving but snorkeling.

And how did you come to receive an Honorary Order of the British Empire – OBE?

Oh (laughing) I think they thought I’d been around for so long they may as well give it to me. But seriously, it was a special honor to receive that.

With that Ken Hom wishes me the best and hurries back to conduct the night’s events from the kitchens of Mason Chin. Tonight’s big event is being held in conjunction with SCAD (Soi Cats and Dogs) an organization that aims to limit the suffering of stray cats and dogs on the streets of Bangkok. Too modest to admit it this, along with several other charities he’s involved himself with over the years is the real reason he was awarded an OBE by the Queen of England.

That  –  and I suspect, a partiality for Chinese cuisine in the House of Windsor.

Mason Chin

Tel: 02 636 1281

www.bandarabangkok.com

BTS Sala Dng

Ground Floor Bandara Suits

Silom Bangkok