I believe that love is transmitted into the food and thus our bodies when we eat it. We get a special feeling when we eat food made with love.

We can’t put our finger on it but there is a noticeable difference. It awakens our senses and touches our souls.

We remember it long after we have savoured the last bite, with happiness and sadness, and it becomes a taste memory.

Here’s one such taste memory from Bangkok, Thailand that I am excited to share with you.

I arrive at Chim@Home and I am impressed already.

It is a lovely cozy space with a happy vibe. It starts with the owner and chef Khun Tiew who greets me with a big smile.

Her greeting is warm, genuine and positive, and I like her right away.

I knew that I was in for a treat with her food. I’ve always believed that a chef puts his or her personality and energy on to a plate. I was proven right again.

Khun Kiew has a special of the day for the main and dessert. She makes all her food from scratch and uses no MSG or preservatives.

On the day that I visited the daily special was khanom chin sao nam, a fresh coconut noodle salad.

The dish was simple and complex at the same time.  I loved the texture of the fresh coconut and pineapple pieces with the handmade noodles bought at the local market just before service.

The dish combined the salty, slightly sweet and spicy tastes that are so representative of Thai cooking and makes it so irresistible.

It is one of the favourite traditional dishes of my friend Ginny who brought me there. It is was lovely, especially for a hot and sticky day, the usual in Bangkok most days but particularly challenging in the “hot” season.

Locals joke that there are three seasons here: hot, very hot, and absolutely unbearably hot.

I had the daily dessert special, a Thai sticky rice with fresh mango called khao neeo mamuang.

I have tried many versions of this in Thailand but this one was especially flavourful.

I also tried some sweet salty seasonings that she makes from scratch and served with fresh watermelon slices.

All delicious and the perfect ending to the meal.

To accompany my meal, I started with the delicious Thai iced tea and finished with a Thai iced coffee.

Chim@home has a beverage stand at the front in case you want beverages with your meal or if you want to pass by and pick up something to drink and eat. They have take away too and are happy to make orders for offices to pick up.

The food is of excellent quality and the prices are inexpensive, with the daily main and dessert averaging around 50 THB (around $2 CDN/$1.50 USD) and the Thai iced coffee or iced tea at 25 THB  (around $1 CDN/75 cents USD)

The menu changes daily. If you want to find out what’s on the menu for the day, you can go to their Facebook page It’s only in Thai for now, with plans to translate it into English and there is always someone to respond to English messages in English.

After the meal, I sat down with Khun Tiew, with Ginny translating for me, as I wanted to find out more about the woman behind the food.

Why did you start the Chim@home restaurant?

Everybody who tried my cooking said it was really good and they could not find this quality and taste anywhere. They encouraged me to open a restaurant.

I love cooking and have been doing this since I was a child with my mother. My mother was a cook for life, a street food vendor. This love for food and cooking was passed down to me from her. I have a lot of passion for cooking and preserving traditional Thai cuisine.

When I closed the printing business last year, which I owned with my husband for 31 years, I wanted to follow my second passion although I was in my fifties.

I wanted to create a restaurant that makes people feel that they are at home and taken care of them, and thus the name Chim @ home.

What is your philosophy to cooking?

The most important part of cooking is the quality of the food. I want to feed my clients the highest quality food.

I also believe you need to cook food not in hurry so that you don’t lose control over the texture and taste. When I have done my prep and take my time, the food is perfect and exactly how I want it to be.

What kind of influence does your strong faith in Buddhism play in your cooking?

The Dharma (Buddhist principle) I use in my cooking is loving-kindness. When I cook with love, even for strangers, I am wishing that they are happy and fulfilled with the food that becomes part of their bodies.

What is your favourite dish?

I always try tom yum goong (a hot and sour shrimp based soup with herbs such as lemongrass) in restaurants.

[Ginny laughs and says this is because she wants to compare it to her own. ]

What is comfort food to you?

Thai style omelette on top of the rice. It’s affordable, quick to whip up, all ages like to eat it, and everyone loves it.

What’s been the best part about running a restaurant?

I love it when my customers are very happy when they eat my food. They say that no one else is making Thai food this way anymore.

For example take tom yum soup, before it was very strong, but the cream was added more recently for wider public consumption.

[Ginny adds that she uses particular techniques and flavours that are very traditional Thai. These days there are many variations of Thai food so people don’t know what real Thai food is anymore. The food she makes is exactly how her grandmother made it. ]

What do you want people to know about Thai food? Most people think it’s spicy.

Thai cuisine is very tasty because all flavours come out in a very distinctive way. Most dishes are quite spicy. However it’s a food that has a spicy flavour base food but there is a different tone or flavour to complement and match the spicy.

Any tips for cooking Thai food?

It’s very important to have a deep attention and interest in food.  Thai food is very simple but it’s very much in the details. If you miss one little thing the flavour can change.

How would you describe your style of cooking

It’s traditional Thai cooking that is Chinese influenced. There is a large Chinese population in Thailand and I’m half Chinese and Thai.

[Caroline: Thailand is home to the largest and most integrated Chinese community in the world, making up 14% of Thailand’s nine million population and Thais who have an Chinese ancestry account for additional 12% of the population. The current Royal family, most of Thailand’s former prime ministers and the majority of parliament having at least some Chinese ancestry. Thus this strongly influences Thai culture and cuisine. For more info and my fun tour of Bangkok’s Chinatown read my post http://carolineishii.com/?s=chinatown]

What’s been the most challenging part about opening a restaurant?

It’s been a big challenge to bring in people to try my food. I ran a printing company for 31 years. When I told people that I was going to be a chef and open a restaurant no one believed I was good cook apart from my family and friends.

Her husband who was sitting at the table and listening to our interview said proudly, “I am very confident in her cooking and if they try her food at the restaurant, I know they will come back!”

How has the restaurant changed their lives?

We started the restaurant in December. It has changed our lives because we only knew the printing business before and now we have to use different tactics to bring in customers. We didn’t use the Internet before and are now learning new technologies. We are now on Facebook.

I know people want to try your delicious traditional Thai cuisine in Bangkok, but they may not speak Thai. How do they communicate with you?

We have a Facebook page You can send us a message on Facebook. Our daughter who is fluent in English manages this page for us and answers questions.

As I was speaking to her, through Ginny, I was nodding a lot because she seemed similar to the way I approach food although we are different.

The more I travel I realize that there is more that brings us together than apart. Food provides connection and has a language of its own. Its alphabet begins with love. 

She is Thai-Chinese and I am Japanese-Canadian. We live on opposite sides of the world and don’t speak the same language. She specializes in Thai traditional food and I cook international vegan wholefoods. We had never met before.

Khun Kiew cooks in her restaurant as she cooks at home. She uses the highest quality of ingredients and mindfulness in sharing her passion and gift of cooking with the people she loves.

I left with my belly happy and full of taste memories that will linger in my heart.

Thank you Khun Kiew and family! xo

Chim@Home

Hours:  Monday to Friday, 10 am to 3:30 pm

Phone: 062-875-2556, 086-773-3099

Address: 96 Rat Burana Road, Rat Burana, 10140 Bangkok, Thailand

Specialties: breakfast, lunch, drinks and coffee

Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/Chimathome

Service: eat in at a few tables and one table outside, or take away. Also catering is available in advance on request.

Price range: mains and desserts around 50 THB and drinks around 25 THB

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Also published on Medium.