Siam Taste managing director Phaitoon "Tony" Siri, a Thai, says there is still room for one more Thai restaurant in the market. He says that it is difficult to find a Thai restaurant that caters to the discriminating tastes of Thais in the Philippines. The good ones are pricey establishments, while the more affordable restaurants do not serve authentic Thai food at all.
"Many of us go out to eat often, trying the different Thai restaurants in Metro Manila, and based on the comments from friends, most of them don’t offer authentic Thai food," says Siri.
After five years of residence in the Philippines, he and his friends considered setting up their own Thai restaurant. After a year of work, finalizing the look of the restaurant and food tasting the menu, they opened their first Siam Taste branch.
Fact is, Phaitoon’s firm, Aroy Global Kitchen Restaurant, has been operating a Thai food kiosk, Thai Express, at the food court area at GT Tower Ayala in Makati City. The Alabang outlet presents Thai food in a contemporary casual dining setting that makes the Thai dining experience an unintimidating one.
Siri says Thai food is slowly becoming one of the most popular world cuisines, just behind Chinese and Italian food. With people now becoming more health conscious, Thai food is ideal since it is tasty, nutritious and healthy.
"And contrary to what many people believe, Thai food is not spicy. It is not maanghang," he emphasizes. "Less than 30 percent of Thai food is hot. There are a lot of dishes that are not hot, and these will surely satisfy a lot of people."
When we dropped by Siam Taste recently, a spread of yummy dishes was laid out before us. It was like reading through a list of favorite Thai dishes. There was tom yam kung, chicken galangal, duck curry, chicken curry, grilled beef salad, chicken with cashew nuts, satay, catfish salad, pad thai, and more.
Siri pointed out that the restaurant’s version of tom yam kung, that favorite spicy shrimp soup, follows the royal recipe, which adds milk to lighten the soup’s spicy smell. Even with the milk, it was still a potent brew that was cough-inducing in its spiciness. However, it wasn’t that hot.
We told the Siam Taste managing director that after years of dining on Thai food, here and in Thailand, we have gotten used to the kick in a bowl of tom yam. Of course, the shrimp morsels that we fished out of our bowl were greatly welcomed.
He said most of the spicy dishes were toned down a bit after local diners asked for less spice when they opened in December last year. However, if you want the real thing, the potent kick of chilis and spice in your bowl of tom yam, just tell the waitstaff. The kitchen will gladly oblige.
The dishes all tasted familiar, but a number stand out because of their presentation. Instead of being encased in an egg net, the pad thai comes in an egg omelet basket, a nice touch that adds a little extra to the dish. The condiments to the bagoong rice are plated in a nice pattern on the plate.
Siam Taste can afford to load on the spice because it imports much of the ingredients it uses. Most of the spices and ingredients used in Thai cooking are not available locally, and the restaurant does not use substitutes because they do not have the same flavor and smell. Otherwise, everything else is sourced locally, from the vegetables to the meat, pork, chicken and seafood needs of the restaurant.
Most businesses might be suffering setbacks now, but Siri said they decided to open to help the outlet’s local employees.
"We also believe in offering Filipino diners more choices when they decide to go out and eat," he says. "There are Chinese and Japanese fast-food restaurants now. We believe that Filipinos will like to try something new, and that’s what Siam Taste has to offer."