rock the kitchen*
WOK
the kitchen THAI FOOD IS ABOUT THE PERFECT BALANCE OF MANY COMPLEX FLAVOURS, WRITES ANT ELLIS
H
ot damn, I love food, and I love people. No prizes for guessing how much I love people who also love food. I’ll start this issue’s love letter with a reminder that there was a time when the steakhouse ruled supreme, and the most “exotic” food we could get at a restaurant was Spaghetti Alfredo. So imagine the collective delight of the cheese sauce-soaked masses when the one and only Sean Beatt opened one of South Africa’s first authentic Thai restaurants – Baan Thai on Florida Road – in 1994.
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Shazam! Fragrant, fresh and full of creative dishes jammed with fantastic new ingredients, Sean and wife Premjit’s menu tasted of adventure and boldly challenged a food scene as predictable as grease on French fries. Hallelujah. Food runs in Sean’s family, with dad Brian having owned and run top-end bistro The Colony, an ahead-of-its-time destination with a reputation for gastronomy and mischief in equal parts. Having developed and owned the Bangkok Wok franchise, Sean and Premjit ditched the corporate hamster wheel and now run two ridiculously good and authentic
noodle shops in North Durban – The Wok Box in Mackeurtan Avenue, and SW1 in Mount Edgecombe’s Flanders Mall. My girls and I are super-regulars at SW1, where we’re constantly delighted with a revolving door of killer new menu items, each better than the last. I’m forever amazed at the energy and passion I get from Sean – he’s a contagious, empathetic human, and he knows his spring onions. I had to ask him the question
w w w . t h e r i d g e o n l i n e . c o . z a
that keeps me up at night, and yet for which there is no finite answer: Why does restaurant food taste different – better even – than home cooking? Yes, I hear you, there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal, but also, there’s nothing like the craft and excellence of a brigade of professional, trained chefs in full swing. The answer: In experience, equipment and technique. And of course, it’s the vibe, the mood we’re in when we’re waited on – it
