The Chef and the Brigade

“Phajongkitt Laorauvirodge is Grandma Somsie Chantra’s eldest daughter. Krua Supanniga by Khun Yai Somsie is Phajongkitt’s passion project to always remember and pay homage to her mother’s home cooking which has lovingly nourished her family’s body and soul through the years. While Phajongkitt and Grandma Somsie were from Trat, they moved to Khon Kaen and became full-time residents when Phajongkitt got married and started her family there. Phajongkitt created a special, peaceful space in her Trat’s property that became Krua Supanniga by Khun Yai Somsie restaurant these days.

Restaurant’s head chef, Chef 'Noi' Samran Deesarapan got her start in the kitchen over 30 years ago when she began her informal training as a house chef for the Laorauvirodge family in Bangkok. Chef Noi’s culinary repertoire is a century-old legacy of recipes and techniques passed down to her from her teacher: Grandma Somsie Chantra—the matriarch of the Laorauvirodge family—whose Eastern Thailand’s heritage informed and inspired much of her cooking. Since the opening of Krua Supanniga by Khun Yai Somsie in 2009, Chef Noi has served as Executive Chef, working closely with the owners—Grandma Somsie’s daughters and grandchildren — to delight the restaurant’s patrons with Grandma Somsie’s home-cooked Thai tastes.”