Pawkhrua: A Chef's Life in Thailand and Elsewhere
Pawkhrua: A Chef's Life in Thailand and Elsewhere
Chef Prin Polsuk, Breaker of Molds
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Chef Prin Polsuk, Breaker of Molds

Thailand's spiritual leader of chefs talks about his journey and process
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*PLEASE LISTEN TO THE AUDIO, SMASH THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE!*

Chef Prin Polsuk in his kitchen at Samrub Samrub Thai with an old book of recipes from Southern Thailand.

Chef Prin is a man of few words and when he speaks you have to listen carefully (in Thai as well) because his thoughts run in a non-linear fashion, to put it mildly. His reputation in Thai chef circles is legendary. He drinks harder than anyone, cooks better than everyone and always has the best hair. I have watched him show up at events, start prep late, start drinking early and somehow still come up with the best dish of the day, time after time, often pulling triumph from the jaws of disaster. One such occasion was at my own wedding when some ducks that were meant to be the piece de resistance turned out to be made of rubber and no amount of cooking skill was going to save them, not even Prin’s. Instead he whipped up some deep fried stuffed tofu that food world luminaries who were present still speak wistfully of 3 years later. Prin is the kind of chef who cooks elaborate meals for his wife Mint on his day off and spends his spare time researching the foodways of Thailand, planning his next menu and almost never taking a vacation. He lives, sleeps, breathes and drinks cooking.

After 7 or 8 years of being Chef David Thompson’s right hand man at Nahm in London and Bangkok, during which both received Michelin stars and showed up on almost every best of list, Prin and Mint started doing pop ups on the side which eventually became Samrub Samrub Thai.


At this point I have to give all due props to Mint: she is a force of nature and managed to both corral Prin’s wild spirit and give him the freedom to run free with his cooking as she managed the business, even giving up her career at the UN to do so. She has just given birth to her first son (Prin’s second; he has a teenage son from a previous relationship), Khun Saam.


Prin finally left David’s side after almost 10 years, opening Samrub as a brick and mortar restaurant in a 16 seat space behind his friend and fellow chef Chalee Kader’s 100 Mahaseth (look out for an interview with Chalee in the future!). Almost immediately it was the hardest reservation in Thailand and to this day, 2 years later, it has only gotten more difficult even in the midst of the pandemic. It’s so difficult, they have been passed over by Michelin twice because the inspectors can’t get in…at least that’s what I choose to believe because anything else doesn’t make any sense; at any given time, he is making the best food of and in Thailand. This is not hyperbole. Everyone I know agrees, including David Thompson himself (at least the last time we ate there together).

Prin’s journey to where he is now is circuitous and a bit mysterious, just like the man himself. Born to a large family in Lampang Province, he grew up in a house where the kitchen was the center of home life. His parents moved to Chiang Mai so he could attend a better school and his mom started making curry puffs as a side hustle and eventually opened a bakery. A wild adolescence led him from working in the family bakery to university in Bangkok, back to Chiang Mai after dropping out of uni to work for the family again, then back to Bangkok to learn how to cook at the Oriental Hotel so that he could have a skill that would get him a visa to work in the USA where his girlfriend had returned. His girl long distance dumped him and so, too ashamed to go home and tell his folks he had wasted their money, he doubled down on work. But instead of becoming a cook, he stayed at the hotel and worked in the butcher room for three years before eventually landing a job at Nahm in London and eventually becoming Head Chef at Nahm in Bangkok.

Listening to the interview, you will have to be attentive; Prin’s English comprehension is excellent but his speaking skills are not as superb…but far far better than my limited Thai. Even in Thai, though, he speaks more like a drunk poet than a chef. I have a hard time following sometimes (as you will see) but once you feel his rhythm you’ll get the gist.


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To give you an idea of what the food is like at Samrub, the following is a run through of the meal I had December 23rd, 2021. Prin describes how he comes up with his menus in the interview but basically he chooses a geographical boundary to work in and also a historical timeframe. He then researches the hell out of it and gets the products from that particular area to build the menu. I can assure you that everything you see here was absolutely delicious and harmonious.

The menu at Samrub on 12/23/2021, “Searching for Srivrichai”, featuring food from the regions of the ancient Srivichai Kingdom.

Mung Bean Cracker from Satun
Marinated Petchburi Oyster with Thai brandy and calamansi with pomelo and starfruit.
Mixed native green leaves salad on krill and kratom leaves topped with lime zest, served with baby sour mango and Thai olive juice.

Sweet potato croquette stuffed with Penshell and a sauce of naam phrik phao and naam phrik seafood. A sort of Thai takoyaki.
Dehydrated Kratom leaf tempura.
Som Saa (bitter orange) flavored Kratom seltzer. Most of Samrub’s beverages are locally produced.
Main course begins. This part is known as “Aaahaan Kap Khao” or food eaten with rice, which is the traditional way Thai food is eaten. In this sense, Prin does not rally do a “tasting menu”, thouh he does serve a progression of starters and finishes with a few sweets served individually. The rice is steamed with turmeric leaves for this menu. The first two dishes shown here are Muslim soup of giant trevally with shrimp paste, tamarind, palm vinegar and coconut oil; White turmeric, torch ginger, water bamboo salad with turmeric marinated tiger prawn.

Lemongrass relish with coconut cream and black pepper, served with local fresh and pickled vegetables cooked in a bamboo culm, grilled squid tentacles and deep fried krill. Check out the tiny potatoes (man khii nuu) and the big pickled Luuk Bla, a kind of seed/nut. the frilly green seed pod tasted like licorice but I cannot remember it’s name.

Muslim beef curry with galangal, Thai figs and masala served with an ajaat of pineapple and green papaya.

Thai figs: they are crazy astringent and this is the first time I have seen them used culinarily. Northern folks don’t eat them!

Stir-fried blue swimmer crab with tamarind sauce. It had heaps of garlic and chilies in it too. Prin said it was related to Malaysian chile crab.
Khai jiaw kratom. I think this was something Prin was doing for his regular customers (everyone in the joint!) on a whim. It was fucking delicious and completely gratuitous!

This is what it looks like after you crush the kap khao course!

Mochi of fermented rice with coconut cream crumbles, steamed fermented rice cake with fried shallots and coconut cream (Maw Kaeng), palm sugar ice cream. The mochi was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. Prin makes the coconut cream crumbles by reducing the cream until it cracks, releasing it’s oil, and then carefully frying the solids in the coconut until they are crunchy and dark. The result is almost chocolatey.
This unassuming looking liquid is banana lao khao: distilled banana liquor. Quite potent but possessing a delicate and fragrant banana essence. Used for cooking purposes only ✔️😉
Prin and his culinary team. Eight people work there, including Prin and Mint. When asked if it bothers him that they have not received the accolades they deserve he says “Not for me; I don’t care. I just want people to enjoy their food and then drink with me. But the staff needs it. They are all young and read social media a lot. But I think they know that we are doing a good thing and they work hard.” 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

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Pawkhrua: A Chef's Life in Thailand and Elsewhere
Pawkhrua: A Chef's Life in Thailand and Elsewhere
Reporting on the food scene, food culture, travels and life in Thailand
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Andy Ricker