Shanghai Daily news

Chef Pitak Srichan (above) and Wanlop Ketnawa are creating an assorted spread of Thai delicasies at Four Seasons Shanghai.

Chefs from Chiang Mai are in Shanghai to tickle and educate the palates of local food lovers and some of their charming dishes are provocative but delicious, as Jia Min finds out.
Thai food fanciers are going to love it — a culinary duet by two chefs from northern Thailand at Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. And the tour de force of a well-traveled cooking school instructor is reason enough to try the “Wonders of Chiang Mai” food promotion that runs through May 29.
Chef Pitak Srichan and Wanlop Ketnawa’s culinary show is held in the hotel’s Cafe Studio, an airy buffet restaurant with wall-length windows on the sunny side. Their repertoire, laid out colorfully on the buffet counter, features chilled eggplant and prawn salad, banana blossom, spicy prawns with lemon grass, minced pork appetizers with crudite vegetables, the classic Tom Yam Kung — a spicy seafood soup and roast duck in coconut milk, just to name a few.
The affable Pitak Srichan has been a chef for nearly 20 years, starting as a kitchen helper in a restaurant in Nakornpanom Province in northeast Thailand. It was there he discovered his passion for food and cooking. In 1987 he went to work in Saudi Arabia as a Thai chef for two years before going to Libya for one year.
After returning to Thailand, Pitak worked as chef in a number of hotels in Pattaya, Chiang Rai, Prachuap Kirikhan and Hua Hin.
In 1993 he longed to travel again and chose Germany to test his skills abroad. He worked in several Thai restaurants in Duisburg, OberHausen and Koln.
In 1997 he went to Malaysia working as head chef of a Thai restaurant in Johor Bahru for five years. His culinary talent also brought him to the Mariana Islands in the Pacific where he worked for the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino for one year. He joined Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai in 2003 and has been working there since.
Superb culinary skills, extensive travel and his ability to speak English, German and Malay made Pitak the perfect instructor for an in-house cooking school at Four Seasons Resort in Chiang Mai.
Chef Wanlop Ketnawa, however, has not traveled as much and has spent his 15 years in cooking in northern Thailand. He joined Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai in 1994 and has worked his way up as junior pastry sous chef.
It is Wanlop’s first trip to China and he wants to impress the local guests with his Thai-style desserts which include sticky rice with mango, pendang leaves bread and butter pudding, Mandarin orange jelly and crunchy water chestnuts with iced fresh coconut milk.
Pitak said his cooking school is designed for hotel guests who would like to learn Thai food preparation and cooking so they can later entertain their families and friends.
Their six-day program consists of a variety of spicy and non-spicy dishes that appeal to beginner and experienced cook alike. The focus of his classes is centered on northern Thai cuisine.
He will lead “students” on an early morning tour of local food market to learn about Thai ingredients.
Now in Shanghai, he also goes to the local Chinese market to find out available ingredients for Thai cuisine. “You can cook Thai dishes with most farm produce sold here,” says Pitak. Those who enjoy light and flavorful Thai food and wish to learn to cook a dish or two, the “Wonders of Chiang Mai” offers them a good opportunity as both chefs are eager to share their experience.
Their hotel, Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, was awarded Top Hotel for Food in Asia in the inaugural 2005 Gold List by the Conde Nast Traveller Magazine (UK).

“Wonders of Chiang Mai” at Cafe Studio, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, 500 Weihai Road. Lunch (except May 22 and 29) at 178 yuan per person; dinner at 218 yuan. All prices are subject to a 15 percent service charge. For reservations, dial 6256-8888.