Uncle Nun and Auntie Yai’ Bring Authentic Thai Cuisine To Ta Khai, Rosewood Phuket’s Signature Restaurant

Rotkaew “Nun” and Sangchan “Yai” Suttitummanon first met when Nun was working at a restaurant in Yai’s hometown of Trang. Yai was so enamored with a seafood fried rice dish that Nun prepared that she asked him for the recipe. Nun offered to teach Yai his culinary secrets and as they discussed their shared love for food, it sparked an attraction which ultimately led them to marriage and starting a family together.

Having operated the “Kook Thai” food stall in Trang for more than 20 years, a mutual friend recognized the greater potential for their delicious Thai seafood recipes and asked Uncle Nun and Aunt Yai to head the kitchen at Pak Nam Seafood restaurant in Ratsada, just outside Phuket Town. Here they held a successful tenure for 18 months before being recruited by Rosewood Phuket to produce the authentic Thai seafood menu at Ta Khai.

Guests benefit from the couple’s extensive knowledge of old southern Thai recipes, particularly within the “Uncle Nun and Aunt Yai Favorites” section of the Ta Khai menu, which features signature dishes that they have created together using traditional techniques and ingredients.

One of these favorites is the curried crab (Gaeng Poo) which uniquely features their own homemade curry paste whose recipe has evolved over the couple’s years together, guided by the taste buds of a local community and feedback from patrons at their previous food stall in Trang. With knowledge handed down through the generations, the couple sources the freshest turmeric growing naturally in the south of Thailand and complement the pungent, bitter flavor with wild betel leaves from the same area.

The Ta Khai menu also highlights cuisines distinct to the four regions of Thailand Experience a variety of a la carte dishes. Experience a sample of flavors by partaking in a sharing set menu with your choice of six or eight dishes. With Rosewood’s ‘Partners in Provenance’ commitment, local farmers and producers, and indigenous agriculture are ever-present in delivering the highest quality of foods to the table.

Uncle Nun and Aunt Yai oversee the entire culinary operations at Ta Khai and prepare their dishes as they would when welcoming guests into their own home. Just like home, they use only the freshest and finest ingredients to hand, they base their menus around the local fisherman's daily catch and the herbs that are grown in the kitchen’s own garden. The dishes arriving to the tables always stimulate the five fundamental taste senses in Thai cuisine; sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy.

“The secret of the most successful Thai cuisine is in the freshness of the ingredients, as well as finding the right balance of herbs and spices so that no element overpowers the other,”

Uncle Nun

“Carefully chosen, aromatic seasonings not only provide a unique flavor to the food, but also have distinct medicinal benefits," adds Aunt Yai. “Of course, passion and dedication are also essential for the final outcome to be so tasty!”