She's made an indelible mark on the US dining scene with her creative reimagining of Thai cuisine at Kalaya in Philadelphia. Now, the ever-charismatic Chef Nok Suntaranon shares the magic behind her mindset.
Chutatip 'Nok' Suntaranon isn't afraid to be bold. At her Philadelphia restaurant, Kalaya, she showcases the rambunctious southern Thai cuisine of her homeland with no room for compromise on flavour. The newly crowned winner of the North America's Best Female Chef Award famously refuses to tone down the spice or serve pad Thai at Kalaya, offering a menu that is unapologetically authentic to her, garnering international acclaim and a spot at No.7 on North America's 50 Best Restaurants list.
When she was 50, Suntaranon didn't think she'd give up her life as a housewife to open a restaurant: "I was in Philadelphia enjoying my life – I was a housewife. Then I went to culinary school just for fun, but I couldn't stop cooking." While opening Kalaya wasn't always Suntaranon's plan, food has been central to her life. She was born in Trang province in southern Thailand, where she grew up helping her mother (for whom Kalaya is named) sell homemade curry pastes at her local market.
The influence of her early years at Yan Ta Khao's morning markets on the restaurant's menu is clear: vibrant coconut turmeric rice topped with prawns and lime leaf and delicate periwinkle flower-shaped dumplings with cucumber and Thai chilli land on the Fishtown restaurant's tables with an aromatic waft.
Dishes at Kalaya focus on bold heat and aromatics
Kalaya calling
After a childhood spent living with her grandparents in Bangkok, Suntaranon travelled the world as a first-class flight attendant for Kuwait Airways. Never one to stick to a single path, she also ran an Italian restaurant in the Thai capital with her first husband. It wasn't smooth sailing: "I went through a lot of tough situations and struggles with that restaurant," says Suntaranon.
"Towards the end of my last three years [at the restaurant] there was a lot of political unrest in Thailand and my restaurant was very close to the Prime Minister's property, so there were a lot of protests. It was bad and I made myself promise that I would never open a restaurant again, ever," she continues.
Suntaranon then spent almost a decade as a homemaker after moving to the US with her current husband, a Wharton School professor she met while working on a flight from Bangkok to New York City. However, the embers of kitchen life still alight within her, she decided to enroll in the French Culinary Institute in New York. "I cook, I learn, I am obsessed. I'm so curious, I can't stop," she explains.
Suntaranon couldn't keep away from the kitchen, opening the first iteration of Kalaya in 2019
While culinary school made her well-versed in cookery basics, she craved the food of her childhood. "Anytime I cooked authentic Thai food, like how my mother used to make it for me, I missed her so much. I craved those flavours," she says. This was the spark that eventually became Kalaya.
Blind faith
In January 2019, after originally searching for a kitchen space that would allow her to scale up her catering business, she found what would become Kalaya's first 32-seat location. What Suntaranon lacked in professional cheffing experience, she made up for in razor-sharp vision.
She knew she wanted a signature dish to be cabbage with fish sauce, made with just four ingredients: oil, cabbage, fish sauce and sugar. "In order for me to make that, I needed to order a wok. I didn't have any idea, so I ordered three woks and they were way too big. We had to take the door frame off, disassemble the wok and reassemble it inside," she says, laughing.
A little online ordering mishap didn't stop her progress. "I invited my friends over every day to the restaurant to eat, just to get their feedback," she says. "I was so excited. I never thought: 'Am I going to be successful? Am I going to make it?' I was not scared, maybe because I'm reckless, or maybe because I just wanted to do it."
Spice school
After three months of recipe testing, Kalaya opened its doors. From the opening night, Suntaranon wanted to educate diners about southern Thai cooking. "Between each ticket, I always come out and talk to people myself about my food," she explains.
Suntaranon's famous tom yum soup is sour, spicy and packed with sweet jumbo river prawns
"I knew I would not change anything about my food, no modification. I will serve authentic Thai food. I will make my own curry paste and I will make something very unique. I want it to be Thai fine dining that serves the food from my family, the food that I grew up eating," she emphasises.
Her mission to educate goes beyond the four walls of her new 150-seat space, opened in 2022. She confesses that the first thing she reads in the morning are her restaurant's online reviews, where diners will sometimes comment that the food is too spicy.
Suntaranon takes them to task: "I've been watching enough CSI and movies about crime so I always do a thorough investigation. I'll email my team asking for them to send me the order. I'll ask: 'Did you have a conversation with them? What happened?' I often call and have a conversation with the customer myself. That's what I've done since the beginning," she says.
Prioritising this key element of Thai cuisine is a delicate balancing act. "Not everything on the menu is that spicy. It's about balance. We layer our flavours. When you do that, the heat becomes pleasant, it's part of the dish," she explains.
Kalaya now calls Philadelphia's Fishtown home, seating over three times the original number of diners
The heat runs deeper: "It's part of our life. How could I open a southern Thai restaurant without making the food spicy? Who am I? It means I'm losing my identity, and I have no reason to open a restaurant at the age of 50 and just do something that everybody is doing or being mediocre just to please the market. I want to do this to please me. I want to do this to celebrate my mom. I want to do this to celebrate the food of my culture."
Kitchen catwalk
Life in the restaurant industry can be gruelling, but Suntaranon chooses to see the bright side, bringing her love for fashion together with her passion for bright, bold cuisine in more ways than just menu creation: "One year I went to a holiday party and I was wearing a very nice dress and [after the party] I went back to the restaurant, and it got really busy, so I jumped behind the line and started working the wok," she says. "All of a sudden, I'm just like, 'Oh my god, I'm wearing high heels and this beautiful dress, and I'm working the wok!'"
The incident made her realise that working in kitchens can be beautiful. "Yes, we are dealing with struggle every day, but it's nothing bad. It's life. It's just up to us how we want to do it," she explains. "For me, I choose to do it my way. I choose to do it with grace. I choose to do it with fashion. I choose to do it in the most positive way and that's what makes Kalaya different."
Icon in progress
In recent years, Suntaranon has been recognised across the US for her unapologetic cuisine and luminescent hospitality, winning the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Mid Atlantic, being named on Time's list of 100 most influential people of 2025, and now, winning North America's Best Female Chef Award 2025.
Emotions ran high at North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 awards ceremony, where Suntaranon was presented with the Best Female Chef Award
"I feel like, finally, I'm getting somewhere," she says of winning the prestigious accolade. "There are so many women like me that are doing the same thing but they get overlooked. Nobody looks at us. Nobody's taking us seriously because we are women," she says. "[People think] I should look up to men [in my industry] and admire them and wish one day that I'll be like them. No, I want to be me. I want to build my own path. I want to create my own success."
For Suntaranon, being recognised as her adopted home nation's premier female chef is part of an important personal legacy. The prospect of inspiring hardworking young female chefs is the best prize of all, she says: "It's more meaningful than being the best chef in North America. For me, it's a symbol that women can pursue anything. We can do it at any age. We can do it with grace. We can do it with love. We can do it professionally. We can do it in high heels."
Flash-fry questions with Chef Nok
Favourite designer?
I love wearing Issey Miyake. I started collecting and bought my first Issey Miyake when I was 22 years old. I never sell any of them. I don't share my Issey Miyake with anybody besides my stepdaughter. I'm a junkie.
Biggest comfort?
My dogs Titi and Gingi. It's the best feeling when I come home and I can just give them a hug. My day is long so when I come home, I just put my purse down, grab the dogs and just walk upstairs and start our grooming time.
Go-to dish to cook at home?
I'm obsessed with making bone broth at home because I can see how flavour develops over time. I keep adding different things, just having fun seeing how the flavour has changed.
What about eating out?
I love Royal Sushi & Izakaya because it's five minutes' walk from my house. My friend Ed Crochet owns Fiori and his pasta and Italian pastries are some of the best. I love eating. I can't contain myself with food.
What inspires you?
When I come back to Thailand, I eat non-stop. One day I ate about 30 dishes. I taste it and I'm thinking about what I want to cook, what I want to change when I go back [to the US].
Next travel destination?
My husband and I are planning to go to Japan next year because I have not been to Japan for almost 10 years. I want to go to India.
Advice for someone in their 20s?
Keep following your dream. Dreaming is free. Everybody can dream but keep pushing. Just start. If it doesn't work, then you'll figure it out. The minute you have something cooking in your head, the first thing you need to do is just do it.
Drink of choice?
I love tea. I don't drink. My father was an alcoholic. I love good green tea. I enjoy tea with a piece of biscuit – shortbread. That's my favorite thing to do.
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