Culinary Conversations With Chef Pam, Crowned One of World's Best Female Chefs

When I first saw Chef Pam Pichaya Soontornyanakij of the Fabled Michelin Star Potong Restaurant, Bangkok talk about a happy amalgamation of her food memories, her fondness for aged duck, and the philosophy of ‘5 Elements and 5 Senses’ that sits at the heart of her craft, I swooned with joy. It's not every day you have World's best female chef curate a six-course menu for you.

Recently, I spoke to her again, who had now been crowned the World’s Best Female Chef (2025) by the World’s 50 best restaurant, becoming the first Asian to clinch that title.

Childhood Enriched by Thai-Chinese Flavours

From the cooking to the serving, the symphony of flavours had evoked many emotions that day. But what had truly stayed with me was Chef Pam’s simplicity, her extreme love and gratitude for her mother, and how she took great pride in her rich traditional roots in Chinese herbal pharmacy. “I am the fifth generation of a Thai-Chinese family with a 120-year legacy in Bangkok’s Chinatown," she said to Robb Report India. "My earliest memories of food trace back to cooking alongside my mom, who taught me to trust my instincts in the kitchen. Some of my earliest and most vivid memories are of standing next to her at the stove, not just helping, but being part of something that felt so warm and alive. She cooked from instinct; she taught me to trust my palate. It wasn’t about perfection; it was about heart. That stayed with me far more than any technique I learned later in school or kitchens.”

Chef Pam has studied journalism, but she soon realised that food was her true language. Winning the Asia Youth Hope Cooking Competition by Les Disciples d’Escoffier gave her the confidence to pursue cooking professionally. She enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and trained at Jean-Georges, a three Michelin-starred restaurant in the same city, where she learned discipline, precision, and respect for ingredients. After returning to Thailand, she launched few restaurants (The Table, Smoked, and Smoked Joints) before opening Restaurant Potong, a project that combines her heritage with progressive Thai Chinese cuisine.

From winning her first award at 21 to winning the 'Opening of the Year' award from the Michelin Guide for her restaurant (Chef Pam is the youngest, and the first, female Thai chef to achieve this), she has many accolades under her belt. She is also the first and only Thai female chef who has achieved status of 3 knives from the World Best Chef Award. Potong also recently won the Highest New Entry at the 13th position by World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

"My journey hasn’t been easy, especially opening Potong during the pandemic while recovering from childbirth. But those challenges have shaped both my resilience and my cuisine. The building—my great-great grandfather’s Chinese herbal pharmacy—had been abandoned for decades. Restoring a five-story, 120-year-old space was physically and emotionally demanding, especially with a newborn baby. Potong was the original name of this very building, named by my ancestor. It means “ordinary or simple”. I used this name to value our heritage," says Chef Pam.

As a young cook and entrepreneur full of determination, Chef Pam believes in constantly reinventing herself. Here are some excerpts from her interview.

What is progressive Thai-Chinese cuisine? How does it align with your creative process, fine dining philosophy, and your vision as a chef?

Progressive Thai-Chinese cuisine is my way of honouring tradition while pushing it forward. I don’t want to replicate the past; I want to reinterpret it with intention. At Potong, we take inspiration from Thai-Chinese dishes I grew up with, and evolve those using modern techniques and an ingredient-first approach. It’s a progression, not fusion. This cuisine aligns deeply with my philosophy as a chef, where every dish is guided by the five elements (salt, acid, spice, texture, and maillard reaction). It is designed to engage the five senses. The goal isn’t just to impress but also to evoke a feeling. That’s what fine dining should do: it should stay with you, long after the last bite.

What is the role of luxury chefs towards the global travellers—to educate them about food, to surprise them with great food or design a dining experience that stands out to them?

It should be “All of the above—but with intention”. As chefs, we are educators, curators, and hosts. For global travellers, it’s not just about impressing them with techniques or plating. It’s also about offering perspective. I think the greatest thing we can give is access to culture, memory, and a part of ourselves. If they leave understanding even a little more about our cuisine or values, we’ve done our job.

How do you keep a luxury menu timeless yet relevant?

To keep a menu timeless yet relevant, I listen to my inner instincts and to the world. I let the ingredients speak, but I also challenge myself to see them in new ways. I believe in growth without abandoning my roots. A timeless dish is one that evolves with the chef, while still carrying the same heart.

How do you balance luxury dining with heritage, storytelling and experiences-driven concept?

At Potong, the food we create isn’t just about flavour or presentation. It’s about expressing something deeply personal and rooted. We work hard to bring together many layers: my family heritage, our culinary roots in Thai-Chinese cuisine, and the evolving energy of Bangkok’s Chinatown. We serve a tasting menu that is a curated journey through memory, place, and emotion. Each dish has a reason to exist on that menu. For example, the duck course reflects over two years of research, trials, and failures before we found the precise texture and flavour that felt right. It’s a dish that connects generations.

How important is storytelling in luxury gastronomy?

The building itself is part of the experience. Walking through the restaurant—from the narrow staircase to the rooftop garden—is part of the narrative. You’re participating in a layered expression of history, identity, and emotion.

As for storytelling—I believe it happens naturally when your work is honest. I don’t write a story and then create a dish. I create from a place of truth and reflection, and the story reveals itself. That’s what guests feel when they dine with us. It’s a conversation, a connection, and sometimes, a reminder of something they forgot they loved. That, to me, is what makes the experience complete.

What makes a meal “worth travelling for” in your opinion?

A meal is worth travelling for when it offers something truly irreplaceable—an experience that can’t be replicated anywhere else in the world. It’s not just about technique or ingredients, but the emotion, culture, and memory that come together on the plate.

When guests fly in just to dine with us, it’s incredibly humbling. It reminds me that food, when it’s thoughtful and rooted in something honest, has the power to move people across continents. Through each course, I want our guests to taste the history of Thailand and feel the layers of my own memories translated through modern cuisine. That’s what makes it worth travelling for.

Has your cooking ever been affected with the pressures of fine dining? What is modern fine dining becoming?

Fine dining can come with expectations—but I’ve learned not to let those define me. The pressure I feel isn’t about awards or trends. It’s about the responsibility I carry—to represent Thai-Chinese cuisine on a world stage, to support my team, and to give every guest something they’ve never felt before. That’s a much deeper kind of pressure, and it pushes me to grow. What I’ve noticed over time is that people no longer just want formality—they want feeling. The definition of a memorable meal has changed. It’s no longer just silverware and a tasting menu. It’s the thought behind the dish, the way a certain ingredient reminds you of home, or how a single course can make you pause and smile. That intimacy—that realness—is what I believe modern fine dining is becoming.

You work a lot on fermentation and ageing processes. How do you innovate and elevate traditional ingredients to luxury experience?

Fermentation and ageing are ways to add dimension and time into the food. It’s about creating layers of flavour that don’t exist in the raw ingredient alone. What fascinates me is how a single component, through patience and understanding, can evolve into something entirely new. That process mirrors how I see cuisine as a whole—respecting tradition while letting it grow through experimentation. When working with Thai or Thai-Chinese ingredients, I ask 'how can I give them a new voice without losing their soul?' Sometimes that means ageing fish sauce for over a year to deepen its umami. Other times, it’s developing a koji process with local rice to create complexity in a chilli paste. These aren’t trendy; they’re rooted in culture, but viewed through a modern lens.

What is one luxury ingredient that you can’t do without?

If I had to name one, it would be aged duck. Our ducks have to be at its perfection. We chose carefully the precise time of the duck age and fat ratio and talk directly to the farm. It’s the essences, work, and time that we put into making that duck special. In many ways, it’s become my signature because of the layers it represents: history, science, and emotion—all in one bite.

Have you ever created a dish inspired by a specific luxury travel destination?

I once visited a community of oyster farmers in Klong Klon, Samut Sakhon, where they raise oysters on a small scale. That entire environment—its ecosystem and honest labour—sparked something in me. I created a dish at Potong that honoured that sense of place: an oyster wrapped delicately with sea grapes and seaweed from the same region, topped with a chili pearl to accentuate the natural umami. It was a tribute to the terroir, tide, and the people who live in between the ocean and the river.

If you could go for luxury brand collaboration for Potong—across fashion, design, art or anything that you like to indulge into—what would that be?

Dom Pérignon. There’s something enigmatic and timeless about the way they craft their Champagne, and their entire universe. It’s luxurious, mysterious, sensual, and deeply experiential. That speaks to what we do at Potong. We don’t follow a classical fine dining path; we create moments that are immersive, unpredictable, and emotionally charged. We were deeply honoured to be selected by the maison as the only restaurant in Thailand to become part of Dom Pérignon Society, a curated circle of global culinary destinations that represent the pinnacle of innovation and excellence.

How do you see luxury dining evolving in the next five years, especially in Asia?

I believe luxury dining in Asia is moving towards deeper meaning and cultural expression. It’s no longer about formality or premium ingredients alone. It’s also about identity, connection, and a sense of place.

In the next five years, I see more chefs embracing their roots unapologetically, exploring native ingredients, forgotten techniques, and unique local narratives, but with refined execution. Guests today seek authenticity. They want to feel something new and personal. In Asia especially, where we have rich culinary heritages, there’s room to create dining experiences that are emotionally intelligent, sensory-driven, and fiercely original. To me, that’s the new definition of luxury: care, intent, and a deep sense of belonging.