Newman Huo

THAI chef Wichian Sriyangnok created six new dishes for the Songkran Festival, a traditional Thai New Year celebration, which starts April 13 every year and lasts three days.

“Songkran is a Thai word which means ‘move’ or ‘change place’ as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac,” said Sriyangnok, 42, who works with the Thai Orchid restaurant in Shekou’s Sea World.

“As important as the Spring Festival in China, Songkran is also known as the Water Festival as Thai people believe water will wash away bad luck,” he added.

The six new dishes were chicken wings, deep-fried egg salad, beef hot pan, seafood hot pan, stir-fried red curry tofu with long bean, and roast chicken in pineapple.

“Of the six new dishes, my favorite is the beef hot pan, which is actually a combination of Thai and Chinese cuisines,” said Sriyangnok, who hails from the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand.

“But, basically, it is still a Thai dish because its main ingredients are from Thailand, including the Thai red curry, lemon grass, red chili and ketchup,” he added. “When the dish is served on the table, our Chinese and foreign customers will be able to find the tender and soft beef smells just great,” he said.

In January, Sriyangnok invented a total of 16 new dishes for the Chinese Spring Festival event, and eight of them were popular among customers and later included as the special dishes on the restaurant’s menu.

“Because I’ve been trying to figure out what our customers here, both Chinese and foreign, really like and want, it is not so difficult for me to invent some new dishes out of my experiences of working in kitchens over the past years,” Sriyangnok said.

In 1980, a 14-year-old Sriyangnok started working as a helper in a restaurant in his hometown. Three years later, he became a chef in a restaurant in Pattaya, a major tourist destination in Thailand.

He worked with different restaurants in Pattaya for about 20 years before moving to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, in 2003.

After working in Cambodia for one year, he decided to move to China in 2004 to try his luck. He worked in a Thai restaurant in Shekou for about three years before joining Thai Orchid in September 2007.

“I love working in China because here it is easy for me to find a job and every month I can earn double what I did in Thailand,” he said.

A divorcee, Sriyangnok has two daughters studying in middle school in Thailand. Every month he sends them 2,000 yuan (US$286).

“My big dream is to open a Thai restaurant in Shenzhen in the future when I have enough financial resources,” he said.

Newman Huo

THAI chef Wichian Sriyangnok created six new dishes for the Songkran Festival, a traditional Thai New Year celebration, which starts April 13 every year and lasts three days.

“Songkran is a Thai word which means ‘move’ or ‘change place’ as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac,” said Sriyangnok, 42, who works with the Thai Orchid restaurant in Shekou’s Sea World.

“As important as the Spring Festival in China, Songkran is also known as the Water Festival as Thai people believe water will wash away bad luck,” he added.

The six new dishes were chicken wings, deep-fried egg salad, beef hot pan, seafood hot pan, stir-fried red curry tofu with long bean, and roast chicken in pineapple.

“Of the six new dishes, my favorite is the beef hot pan, which is actually a combination of Thai and Chinese cuisines,” said Sriyangnok, who hails from the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand.

“But, basically, it is still a Thai dish because its main ingredients are from Thailand, including the Thai red curry, lemon grass, red chili and ketchup,” he added. “When the dish is served on the table, our Chinese and foreign customers will be able to find the tender and soft beef smells just great,” he said.

In January, Sriyangnok invented a total of 16 new dishes for the Chinese Spring Festival event, and eight of them were popular among customers and later included as the special dishes on the restaurant’s menu.

“Because I’ve been trying to figure out what our customers here, both Chinese and foreign, really like and want, it is not so difficult for me to invent some new dishes out of my experiences of working in kitchens over the past years,” Sriyangnok said.

In 1980, a 14-year-old Sriyangnok started working as a helper in a restaurant in his hometown. Three years later, he became a chef in a restaurant in Pattaya, a major tourist destination in Thailand.

He worked with different restaurants in Pattaya for about 20 years before moving to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, in 2003.

After working in Cambodia for one year, he decided to move to China in 2004 to try his luck. He worked in a Thai restaurant in Shekou for about three years before joining Thai Orchid in September 2007.

“I love working in China because here it is easy for me to find a job and every month I can earn double what I did in Thailand,” he said.

A divorcee, Sriyangnok has two daughters studying in middle school in Thailand. Every month he sends them 2,000 yuan (US$286).

“My big dream is to open a Thai restaurant in Shenzhen in the future when I have enough financial resources,” he said.