Former Kiln head chef Karla Knowles is opening two Thai restaurants in quick succession, starting next week with Pam, next to Smithfield Market in Charterhouse Street.
Her first standalone restaurant, Pam is pitched as a “playful and creative” take on Thai cuisine, making use of seasonal British produce in a venue that will also host art exhibitions and guest chef collaborations.
The second is Aree, scheduled to open next spring in Notting Hill and billed as Pam’s sensible sibling, with a more traditional neighbourhood vibe. (For what it is worth, according to Google ‘pam’ is a northern Thai word meaning to grill or roast food in a banana leaf, while ‘aree’ means generous or kind).
Karla spent almost eight years at Kiln, Ben Chapman’s influential new-wave Thai barbecue joint off Piccadilly Circus, and is the second ex-Kiln head chef to launch their own restaurant this year after Meedu Saad, who opened Impala in Soho to rave reviews.
Both Pam and Aree are backed by Romain and Edouard Bourrillon of Maisons Vivantes, who also own Cocotte and Casa Felicia – and Karla is not at all phased by the challenge of creating two very different Thai restaurants at more or less the same time.
“There are so many different ethnicities in Thailand, so much influence from the surrounding countries,” she says. “I’ve only really cooked northern Thai, and I still haven’t even touched the sides.”
Dishes trailed for the opening menu at Pam include fresh miang kham (leaf wraps); Karla’s take on khao soi noi, a spicy rice-flour pancake inspired by the Shan ethnic group in northern Thailand; and a roast duck with curry sauce and skinny fries.
Pam opens with a soft launch next Thursday, 22 October, ahead of a formal opening on Tuesday 3 November.
