North America's Best Female Chef Award 2025

Chutatip 'Nok' Suntaranon

Kalaya, Philadelphia

Luminescent chef serving unapologetically vibrant Thai cuisine

Chef Chutatip 'Nok' Suntaranon, widely known as Chef Nok, is no stranger to the path less travelled. She opened her first restaurant in the US aged 50, having spent the past three decades as a flight attendant and homemaker. Now, Kalaya is a decorated Philadelphia culinary mainstay that's as well known for its precise, bold Thai cooking as it is its shining north star: Chef Nok.

Born in Yan Ta Khao, a district in Trang province in southern Thailand, Chef Nok grew up surrounded by colourful produce, fresh seafood and powerful spices. Her mother, for whom the restaurant is named, sold homemade curry pastes at a local market. After moving to Bangkok as a child to live with her grandparents following her father's difficulties with alcohol and loans, Chef Nok became a business class flight attendant.

It was while working on a flight to New York that she met her now husband, a Wharton School professor, before relocating to Philadelphia in 2010. She spent a decade as a homemaker while also completing studies at New York's French Culinary Institute, then landed roles at The Rittenhouse Hotel and with chef Jose Garces.

Come 2019, and it was time for Chef Nok to go it alone. She opened the first iteration of Kalaya in Philadelphia's Italian Market with just 32 seats. Within its first year, Kalaya's inventive takes on southern Thai cuisine earned it a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, prompting a move to larger premises in Fishtown.

Today, Chef Nok is in her element. Her warmth, drive and unique creativity envelop Kalaya's white-washed brick walls. Dishes like her flower-shaped dumplings with chicken, cucumber and Thai chilli and tom yum laden with fresh seafood are as popular as ever and, no, she still doesn't serve pad Thai or 'tone down' the spice in her aromatic cooking.

While Chef Nok's culinary journey may not have been linear, as North America's Best Female Chef 2024, she has a talent, determination and radiance that will inspire generations to come.

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