“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” – Brene Brown
The Gold Coast continues its fascination with Modern Asian food, especially inventive fusion dishes that are robust in both flavour and colour. ‘Elevated Thai cuisine’ has been a newcomer on the dining scene during the last couple of years, with Nahm Talay Thai, Valyn Thai and Limlay raising the bar on what we expect to see on Thai menus. Although traditional Thai cuisine is the foundation stone of ‘Elevated Thai’, the inventiveness of flavour combinations and presentation are new key ingredients in these dishes.
Behind ‘Elevated Thai’ and the new Thai street food trend is one name: Pat Jiranuchaiwattana, who co-founded the Nahm Group (including Nahm Thai Coomera, Nahm Talay Thai, and Limlay) with her husband Alex, and provided mentorship for others to follow in her footsteps.
Pat is a living example of what it takes to succeed in the hospitality industry. Set to open her twelfth restaurant later this year, she will be kicking off another trend of Thai street food as iconic to diners as the former ‘Charlie’s’ restaurant that previously occupied that site.
We meet in Valyn Thai, one of the couple’s most beautiful restaurants, complete with chandeliers and hanging greenery, the marble bar sparkling with the promise of happy times. Pat is the epitome of serenity and grace. With flawless skin and minimal makeup, she is elegantly dressed in a classic outfit, serene and unruffled by the rain pouring outside. So, I am surprised when she shares her thoughts: “When the first restaurant opened at this venue, we could not afford to dine here,” she says. “We were working seven days and seven nights every week. I never guessed that one day we would own a restaurant here.”
Raised and educated in Bangkok, Pat grew up in a family that valued experience. Though they were not rich, Pat’s parents gave their children a wide breadth of experiences, taking them overseas, out to eat, and broadening their vistas.
Soon after her father passed away, Pat (who was in her early twenties) took out a loan to pay for her Master of Creative Enterprise degree which she completed after her arrival in Sydney. It was there that she met her husband Vitchaya (Alex) Hasitawet, who was studying for a Master of Accounting.
In her studies, Pat theoretically learned to conceptualise, plan, produce and effectively manage within a creative enterprise, her new skills providing building blocks to live out her passion for food that had been ignited as a child. Because her parents worked, Pat spent her holidays in the Thai countryside with her grandmother.
“My grandmother did everything herself, catching fish, picking herbs from the garden, going to the market in her wooden boat to buy produce,” Pat tells me. “She was very traditional. My time with her helped me to appreciate fresh food, great ingredients, and the work it takes to put good food on the table. It was a grounding in traditional food, and I also got a sense of what flavours went together,” Pat adds.
Pat and Alex started their life together in Sydney with nothing but their student debt and their love for each other. However, news of Pat’s love of cooking soon spread around the Thai community and the couple started a food delivery service within that community, helping them to pay bills.
After completing her study, Pat was sponsored by a restaurateur to manage his restaurant in Canberra, then to open a restaurant for him on the Gold Coast.
But as many of us have experienced, a rocky road lay unseen around the corner. Pat was soon to learn that passion and sponsorship are not enough to survive in the industry. After a couple of failures she took the lessons onboard and changed direction.
“When I started off, I did the things that I wanted to do, such as introducing Thai street food to the Gold Coast. It was too early, and people weren’t ready. The location didn’t work either as it was tucked away around a corner. Because we did no marketing, people didn’t even know that we existed. We had no idea,” she candidly reflects.
Opening their own restaurant as a couple was a turning point, with Pat beginning to define her steps to success that she follows with every new establishment.
“Our success was partly driven by necessity. I gained a drive to succeed because that was the only way to pay off our debt,” she summarises, detailing the ups and downs of the next few years, saying she learned more from her failures than from her successes.
“I appreciate everything in my life,” Pat tells me. “I am even grateful for the hard times and the bad people who gave me lessons and experiences that made me grow stronger. I think that gratitude is a major factor in success,” she adds.
“I am so grateful to my team who have been beside me through the who journey. Since I started this business, they have never left me. During the most difficult times of my life when the business had failed, my husband Alex, my sister Nasa, and my team of chefs and managers stayed with me. We have been through a lot together. We have a strong team that is very passionate, grateful and big-hearted. We have given everything we had, and they gave just as much in return. They light my path.”
A second turning point was when Pat took three years out of the industry to have their child. This time to reflect allowed her to consolidate her ideas and refine how they operated. The couple then reinvested in hospitality during Covid when many others were closing their restaurants.
While operating Nahm Thai in Coomera, Pat saw the possibility of producing Thai food that was based on traditional Thai cuisine but presented in a new way. It was a concept that was to introduce a new, more elevated level of presentation than that seen in most Thai restaurants on the Gold Coast.
“For me, it was not only learning about trusting people, it was also about learning to trust myself and my own instincts. Every day I take time to reflect. I rethink my day and work out what we could have done better. I am not afraid to fail because I work on my failures until I understand them and why they happened. Now, I focus not on what Iwant but on the customer’s food experience and what they need to have to make them happy,” she tells me. “I sit or stand in this restaurant sometimes, soak it in and put it together in my head before we open.”
“The secret to success is the work put in behind the scenes. When we were planning this restaurant, I researched by walking around the area many times, looking at the people here, whether they were tourists or locals, what they were doing, what they were eating and even what they put in their shopping trolleys. Only then did I design the menu of food to match the clientele through consultation with the chef.”
“I trust what I do. I pick everything and make every single step, down to the plating, tableware and music.”
Pat and Alex continue to push boundaries with their cuisine. The food in Nahm Talay Thai, Valyn and Limlay is spectacular. Beautifully presented with flowers, rocks and tendrils of smoke, the beach and riverfront are constant themes running through many dishes. Each dish also uses top ingredients, Kingfish ceviche topped with a garland of fresh glory, the BBQ Wagyu steak magnificently graded 9+ perfectly cooked to medium rare. Then there is the signature Talay dessert, an edible representation of the seashore. This is Thai food to amaze and delight.
“Valyn Thai on Isle of Capri brings an elevated dining experience suited to its upmarket clientele, whereas Limlay in Burleigh brings Thai street food with quality ingredients to another generation,” Pat tells me.
“The standout flavours in our curries are what I learned from my grandmother. I love bringing back dishes that are traditional but forgotten. Some dishes on our menus, such as the watermelon with fish, are 200 years old. Others use gold leaf as it is served in the Thai palace. Such dishes are known as Royal Thai cuisine.
I also love reinventing traditional dishes such as Tom Ka soup that is made from scratch with a herb-infused purée and crispy enoki and sawtooth coriander on top. Sometimes we substitute Thai ingredients with native Australian ingredients (pink grapefruit for pomelo and native finger limes for limes). We grow cumquat and edible flowers at home, so we have a constant supply for our restaurants,” Pat adds.
I picture Pat as a child standing in her grandmother’s garden. Little did she know then that her love of food would blossom in a place so far from her home. Moreover, she would cross boundaries of cultures to the delight of diners who would travel to dine at her restaurants.
“I am following my passion, and I love what I am doing. It’s not just about making money. I love working as a waitress and cooking in the kitchen. I am very proud to produce Thai food, especially for people who have not tried food like this before. That is what success is to me. Making people happy with their dining experience so they are eager to try more.”