“We have to be patient," says Chorlada Ratchatapat about the cooking method of the popular Thai dish, khao man gai (chicken with rice).
This dish, which can take up to three hours to make, is the focus of a new Melbourne restaurant named after it.
Ratchatapat and her husband, Nonthawat Kongsarai, opened Khao Man Gai on Lonsdale Street at the corner of Hardware Lane in Melbourne's CBD last September. It's their first hospitality venture. The pair are originally from Bangkok and they met in 2007 in San Francisco where Ratchatapat was completing her Master of Business and Kongsarai was studying car design.
For Kongsarai, eating khao man gai evokes nostalgia. Growing up, his grandmother was his family's main cook, and her khao man gai recipe was his favourite until Ratchatapat, a self–taught cook, began testing the recipe during the pair's time in the US.
By the time they moved to Australia in 2015 when Kongsarai's role at Ford Motor Company was transferred here, khao man gai had become one of Ratchatapat's signature dishes.
"When we'd have parties at friends' houses or our place [in Melbourne], Corey [Ratchatapat] would cook the chicken and rice and everyone would say they love it and why don't we just open a restaurant," recalls Kongsarai.
"At that time, we laughed and thought they were just joking. Then the more parties we had, the more everyone kept saying, 'hey, seriously, you guys have to open a restaurant'."
In 2020, Ratchatapat took their friends' suggestions seriously and formed a business plan. Although khao man gai is still on the menus of Thai restaurants in Australia, Ratchatapat noticed there were no restaurants dedicated to the dish like there are in Thailand. In fact, she thinks their restaurant is the only one in Australia that specialises in it.
The poached and fried chicken (The Combo) at Khao Man Gai restaurant. Source: Nonthawat Kongsarai
"In Thailand, it's normal for restaurants to focus on one dish; khao man gai is the one you will find on every corner in Bangkok," says Ratchatapat. "Every Thai knows khao man gai."
In his cookbook Thai Street Food, Australian chef David Thompson says khao man gai was originally a Hainanese dish that arrived in Bangkok in the nineteenth or early twentieth century via immigrants from that region. It commonly consists of a bed of fragrant jasmine rice that has been cooked in broth from poached chicken. It has aromatics like garlic, fresh ginger and pandan leaf, which have all been enriched by the oil from the chicken.
Every Thai knows khao man gai.
The flavourful rice is topped with poached pieces of deboned, skin-on chicken, and it's served with slices of cucumber on the side. The main plate is accompanied by a small bowl of chicken broth and a special sauce often made from soybean, vinegar, chilli, sugar, soy sauce, fresh garlic and ginger. This is drizzled over the chicken and rice.
Though khao man gai appears simple, it takes time to prepare, from poaching the chicken and using the stock for the broth to making the fragrant rice and the serving sauce.
At Khao Man Gai, the traditional dish is just one of nine versions. The other versions include fried chicken, peanut sauce, green curry and a vegetarian–friendly option with tofu and a vegetable-based broth.
"They [Thai customers] say it feels like eating in Thailand," Ratchatapat shares proudly.
However, she and Kongsarai also want Australians to experience the joy and comfort of eating khao man gai. "We wanted to introduce Australians to authentic Thai comfort food just as they would sample it in Thailand."
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