It’s not easy to thrive as a chef in the most continuously food-saturated city in the world. Tokyo may have the highest number of formal restaurants, but once you count hawker stalls, carts, night markets, and unlicensed kitchens, Bangkok is arguably unrivaled. Standing out in that crowd is no small feat. Yet in less than a decade, the Thai-Indian chef Chalee Kader has built one of the capital’s most influential restaurant empires, spanning nose-to-tail Isaan cooking, modern Thai dining, and a Michelin-starred reimagining of traditional khao gaeng (rice and curry).
Born and raised in Thailand, Kader studied cooking in San Francisco before returning home to pursue a career in kitchens. He first worked as head chef at the French Embassy before taking the leap into his own ventures. Today, Kader oversees 100 Mahaseth, his oldest restaurant, focused on northeastern Thai cuisine. His portfolio also includes Soma, which explores dishes from across Thailand, alongside breakfast spots, a Thai diner (Mickey’s Diner BBQ), a pizza joint (Across 100), and the cocktail bar Maha Niyom.
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