“Exploring Thai Cuisine Through Curiosity and Ingenuity: Delving into Uncharted Territories with Chef Sareen Rojanametin of Small Dinner Club”

Embark on a world where Thai cuisine transcends its traditional boundaries and witness the captivating journey of exploration and reinvention. At Small Dinner Club, helmed by the ingenious Chef Sareen Rojanametin, diners are treated to an intimate and extraordinary dining experience that defies expectations. With a relentless sense of curiosity and culinary ingenuity, Chef Sareen fearlessly delves into uncharted territories, pushing the boundaries of Thai gastronomy to deliver a menu that is both thought-provoking and mouthwatering. Prepare to go on a culinary adventure like no other as we unveil the captivating story behind Small Dinner Club and its unrivaled approach to Thai cuisine.

Can you describe the journey that made you a chef and the driving for behind it?

Originally I did my study in Fine Arts and Photography, and had a production company in advertising. However I have always been curious in the art of cooking, wanting to know how diﬀerent cultures cook. As my interest grew, I started working as a barista during my downtime from each advertising campaign and was instantly hooked by the fast pace of the hospitality environment. Fast forward, I started to get deeper into coﬀee, working my way through all the top establishments at the time and would often be in an environment where there are great chefs working in the kitchen.

One day a few friends was coming over for dinner, I decided to bake a sourdough and grabbed the only book I had on the shelf from Tartine bakery. It was the ﬁrst time for me to go through the lengthy process of creating something from scratch, building the sourdough starter, fermenting, baking. The result took me by surprise as I didn’t expect it to come out that good and that was the trigger point of me questioning a lot of things about how we eat, how we buy grocery and other possibilities in cooking.

I had never even considered a career in restaurants at that point. But from day one, I was drawn to the unique energy of the kitchen, the juxtaposition of focused, physical work with a creative, artistic side, the gratifying feeling that comes from hard work through dexterity and the varied skills that the chefs had.

Can you explain the Small Dinner Club’s concept/cuisine? How does it “stimulate the mind and satisfy the sense of curiosity”?

The core concept of our restaurant is the exploration of Thai cuisine, culture and what it means to be Thai. At SDC, we respect traditions and classical techniques while also applying our learned skills and knowledge, working on the edge of our understanding to take Thai cuisine into new territories.

SDC is a unique restaurant in that our diners come here not just to be satiated and have tasty food but also to have a singular experience. I wanted a restaurant that could oﬀer that in every sense: the food, the design, the feeling, the service, the materials that are used, the tableware. The experience has been carefully curated to enable our guests to discover and enjoy a variety of ingredients, compositions, and ﬂavors. And rather than formal, our service is very warm and friendly with the ultimate wish to provide an exceptional experience instead of us aiming to oﬀer something opulent.

The experience at SDC allows our guests to open up to new perspectives, exploring the possibilities of humble local ingredients and diﬀerent unique combinations and techniques that we applied to lift them to new heights.

Can you share your perspective on food and cooking and how it aﬀects the dishes you present?

Earlier in my career, inspiration mostly came from discovering new ingredients, having great dining experiences, and meeting prominent chefs – things directly related to food or cooking. Now, I feel that inspiration can come from anywhere, including other disciplines. There are things that inspire me on a human level, and because I happen to be a chef, that inspiration is applied to food. The inspiration itself doesn’t have to be food-related.

Fundamentally, I believe that a food experience must be delicious, fulﬁlling, nurturing, and well executed at the highest level, anything else is each chef’s uniqueness that they layered on top. We make sure that if you remove the rest of the icing on the cake, that our food fulﬁlls those requirements.

What I gravitate towards and ﬁnd rewarding is touching on certain cultural reference points. I hope after dining at SDC, the guests will diﬀerently interpret Thai ingredients, ﬂavor, technique in their new way.

Dinner Club and your unique culinary style?

Too Many Italians, Only One Asian is a reﬂection of both my artistic personalities and the surprising concept of SDC. The course mainly provoke the concept of questioning traditional ingredients and the possibilities of how far we can take them to.

I have been a long term fan of pasta since I was a kid. My mum used to cook us her Thai version take on with salted mackerel, garlic, dried chilli, and basil. It is so simple, but so delicious and ﬁts in with the Thai palate. With- out her realising, she was already creating her own language, blurring the borders and utilising what was available around her and reappropriating them to ﬁt with her palate and style.

Being young, I was unaware at the time, that was my ﬁrst introduction into the idea of breaking out of the rules or a set of ideas. An introduction to the freedom to create.

Where my old restaurant was situated in Australia, it is an area known for being the Italian district of Melbourne, linked by one main street ﬁlled with restaurants, cafes and all things Italian. I wanted to create a pasta dish that’s uniquely Thai and speaks strongly of our food philosophy. Yet foreigners will also ﬁnd it comforting and nostalgic. Food that links everyone together, blurring the borders.

Green papaya is one of the staples of Thai cuisine, especially the Isan region, as it is the main ingredient is Som Tum, papaya salad. Here we are turning it into pasta. Together with Sator from south of Thailand, which divides the people as most ﬁnd it stinky. We have managed to create a new pasta that is uniquely Thai and even sator haters would love it.

Only my mum was 20 years ahead of me.

Can you share a quote that reﬂects your passion for food and the culinary arts that would be motivated for readers?

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

How do you plan to bring innovation or change to the Small Dinner Club’s cuisine for the year 2023?

2023 is a very exciting year for Small Dinner Club as we’re celebrating our ﬁrst year anniversary. It is the ﬁrst check point and there will be a lot of amazing projects I look forward to. First quarter of the year, we will launch an anniversary menu, then our ﬁrst pop-up project in Tokyo. Collaborating with other admired chefs and people in the industry, doing everything possible to extend beyond our 11-seats restaurant. We are inviting friends from around the world to Bangkok to create exciting events together under the theme of interpreting Thai cuisine and local ingredients. This would deﬁnitely bring new perspectives and innovation on what is possible through the eyes of an outsider.

As for SDC, we are continuing our exploration of more unknown and/or under utilized ingredients to further push our menu in all aspects from savory to sweet.