Interview with Charcoa
Interview conducted by Aaron Espana
Dining Guide (DG): How did you end up settling in Chiang Mai and decide to open a business here?
Khun Neung: My mother and I are both from Chiang Mai, and my family has owned a guesthouse here for many years. I used my architecture background from school to make several renovations converting our guesthouse into a real boutique bed and breakfast, and building the Charcoa Restaurant. You can see I like natural things, and I’m eclectic. I love rocks and wood, and also the European chateau, and Japanese styles. I’ve put them together in my own way, with my favorite things from each.
In the beginning there was no restaurant, but I started cooking for fun and selling bakery items out of the small front shop in 2004 to make some extra money for our old guesthouse operation.
DG: Is cooking something you’ve always
enjoyed?
Khun Neung: Well, I love to eat and cook. I remember watching my mother make gaeng hangle when I was a child. It’s delicious - she makes great local food!
DG: When did you start cooking?
Khun Neung: Like I mentioned, I started in 2004 with just coffee and cakes in that small room. I experimented with recipes and techniques. I sold cookies, caramel flan, and chocolate fudge cake which we named “Phupah Dam” after my first experiment baking it. The original cake rose too much in the middle and my friends and I laughed, calling it a “black mountain.” We have used that name ever since, though the cake now bakes and rises properly.
At first we had mostly Westerners and backpackers coming to us by chance because of our location. Two years later, I also started serving Thai food here. The menu was simple with just a few curries over rice - gaeng hangle (Northern pork and ginger curry), gaeng kiaow waan (green curry), and gaeng phet (red curry).
DG: Tell me about your philosophy of food and how it should be.
Khun Neung: My mother and I believe everything has to be fresh, real, and look good. We make as much as we can from scratch. Quality is something people recognize. You also need to have patience and put heart into what you do. I am always sampling what we make in the kitchen to ensure quality. In addition, we always listen to our customers and think how to improve everything to suit our guests’ tastes.
DG: How did you learn to appreciate and make Western cakes and desserts, since they’re so different from traditional Thai tastes?
Khun Neung: I love good food and know it when I taste it. I eat high quality cakes and desserts wherever I can find them. I haven’t traveled to Europe yet, but I have been to San Francisco in the US, and also to the Maldives.
I’ve taken some culinary classes offered locally by a government school, but mainly I love to cook and learn by experimentation. Whenever I find something good, I eat it slowly, examine it layer by layer, what the frosting is, what the filling is, how the cake is probably made. I try to understand it, and then I come back here and try to make it myself.
When we have a few new items to try, we throw a tasting party where we’ll have a few friends over to sample and discuss how to improve them.
DG: Do you do any Thai/Western fusion items here?
Khun Neung: The menu doesn’t really have fusion. But we do have a green curry spaghetti with tuna and a pat ki mao pasta that are sort of fusion foods.
Mainly what we do is increase the spice in our Western dishes to make them more appealing to Thais, and tone down our Thai dishes to make them more appealing to Westerners. But you will taste that everything on the menu has plenty of flavor for everyone.
DG: Do you change the menu with the seasons?
Khun Neung: We get some things special from the Royal Project at different times of the year, such as pine nuts, and so we’ll have a pesto promotion. We also do special menus for occasions like Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday, Mother’s Day. We also do a Valentine’s Day special every year. People think of our place and our food as romantic. We’ve even had a marriage proposal here where the customer asked us to hide the ring in one of our chocolate mousse desserts!
DG: What cakes and desserts are you best known for?
Khun Neung: Well, the chocolate mountain cake “Phupah Dam” is something everyone should try. It’s a very delicious and dense chocolate cake- people love it! We’re also very proud of our chocolate mousse cake– we put liquor into almost everything. The chocolate mousse is very rich. Our tiramisu is very nice too, although I don’t use lady fingers as they would in Europe. I’ve changed it to sponge cake which the Thais prefer, but everything else is the same – grand marnier, mascarpone, and so on. Our desserts are all very special.
DG: What other signature items should people come by and try?
Khun Neung: In the community we’re also known for our blueberry cheesecake and custard flan. They’re both big sellers. We also have panna cotta.
We have some smaller bakery items like American brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and biscotti that western travelers tend to buy. Thais never buy biscotti! It’s usually the Thais that treat themselves to our fancier bakery items.
DG: How is business in Chiang Mai at present for you?
Khun Neung: Well, we definitely do have a low season as most places do, but we also have our loyal customers. Right now there’s less profit, but we still have business in both the bed and breakfast and the restaurant, so everything is ok.
DG: How do people find your place?
Khun Neung: For the restaurant, locals find us mostly by word of mouth. Thais who have been outside of the country, who are well-traveled or are hi-so come here a lot. They enjoy the real flavors of our main menu and love our Western desserts. We also have a good base of local college students and just ‘regular’ people that come by.
As for the bed and breakfast, we get many Thai guests staying here throughout the year. They learn about us through local websites – and come here to live it up. They often book our luxury suites and dine well!
DG: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
Khun Neung: Please let them know that we do catering and can make custom cakes for their parties and events. We ask that they call to order at least two days in advance.
DG: Alright, thank you K. Neung for the desserts and your time!
----
More details about Charcoa House
Other Interviews
Khun Neung: My mother and I are both from Chiang Mai, and my family has owned a guesthouse here for many years. I used my architecture background from school to make several renovations converting our guesthouse into a real boutique bed and breakfast, and building the Charcoa Restaurant. You can see I like natural things, and I’m eclectic. I love rocks and wood, and also the European chateau, and Japanese styles. I’ve put them together in my own way, with my favorite things from each.
In the beginning there was no restaurant, but I started cooking for fun and selling bakery items out of the small front shop in 2004 to make some extra money for our old guesthouse operation.
DG: Is cooking something you’ve always
enjoyed?Khun Neung: Well, I love to eat and cook. I remember watching my mother make gaeng hangle when I was a child. It’s delicious - she makes great local food!
DG: When did you start cooking?
Khun Neung: Like I mentioned, I started in 2004 with just coffee and cakes in that small room. I experimented with recipes and techniques. I sold cookies, caramel flan, and chocolate fudge cake which we named “Phupah Dam” after my first experiment baking it. The original cake rose too much in the middle and my friends and I laughed, calling it a “black mountain.” We have used that name ever since, though the cake now bakes and rises properly.
At first we had mostly Westerners and backpackers coming to us by chance because of our location. Two years later, I also started serving Thai food here. The menu was simple with just a few curries over rice - gaeng hangle (Northern pork and ginger curry), gaeng kiaow waan (green curry), and gaeng phet (red curry).
DG: Tell me about your philosophy of food and how it should be.
Khun Neung: My mother and I believe everything has to be fresh, real, and look good. We make as much as we can from scratch. Quality is something people recognize. You also need to have patience and put heart into what you do. I am always sampling what we make in the kitchen to ensure quality. In addition, we always listen to our customers and think how to improve everything to suit our guests’ tastes.
DG: How did you learn to appreciate and make Western cakes and desserts, since they’re so different from traditional Thai tastes?
Khun Neung: I love good food and know it when I taste it. I eat high quality cakes and desserts wherever I can find them. I haven’t traveled to Europe yet, but I have been to San Francisco in the US, and also to the Maldives.
I’ve taken some culinary classes offered locally by a government school, but mainly I love to cook and learn by experimentation. Whenever I find something good, I eat it slowly, examine it layer by layer, what the frosting is, what the filling is, how the cake is probably made. I try to understand it, and then I come back here and try to make it myself.
When we have a few new items to try, we throw a tasting party where we’ll have a few friends over to sample and discuss how to improve them.
DG: Do you do any Thai/Western fusion items here?
Khun Neung: The menu doesn’t really have fusion. But we do have a green curry spaghetti with tuna and a pat ki mao pasta that are sort of fusion foods.
Mainly what we do is increase the spice in our Western dishes to make them more appealing to Thais, and tone down our Thai dishes to make them more appealing to Westerners. But you will taste that everything on the menu has plenty of flavor for everyone.
DG: Do you change the menu with the seasons?
Khun Neung: We get some things special from the Royal Project at different times of the year, such as pine nuts, and so we’ll have a pesto promotion. We also do special menus for occasions like Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday, Mother’s Day. We also do a Valentine’s Day special every year. People think of our place and our food as romantic. We’ve even had a marriage proposal here where the customer asked us to hide the ring in one of our chocolate mousse desserts!
DG: What cakes and desserts are you best known for?
Khun Neung: Well, the chocolate mountain cake “Phupah Dam” is something everyone should try. It’s a very delicious and dense chocolate cake- people love it! We’re also very proud of our chocolate mousse cake– we put liquor into almost everything. The chocolate mousse is very rich. Our tiramisu is very nice too, although I don’t use lady fingers as they would in Europe. I’ve changed it to sponge cake which the Thais prefer, but everything else is the same – grand marnier, mascarpone, and so on. Our desserts are all very special.
DG: What other signature items should people come by and try?
Khun Neung: In the community we’re also known for our blueberry cheesecake and custard flan. They’re both big sellers. We also have panna cotta.
We have some smaller bakery items like American brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and biscotti that western travelers tend to buy. Thais never buy biscotti! It’s usually the Thais that treat themselves to our fancier bakery items.
DG: How is business in Chiang Mai at present for you?
Khun Neung: Well, we definitely do have a low season as most places do, but we also have our loyal customers. Right now there’s less profit, but we still have business in both the bed and breakfast and the restaurant, so everything is ok.
DG: How do people find your place?
Khun Neung: For the restaurant, locals find us mostly by word of mouth. Thais who have been outside of the country, who are well-traveled or are hi-so come here a lot. They enjoy the real flavors of our main menu and love our Western desserts. We also have a good base of local college students and just ‘regular’ people that come by.
As for the bed and breakfast, we get many Thai guests staying here throughout the year. They learn about us through local websites – and come here to live it up. They often book our luxury suites and dine well!
DG: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
Khun Neung: Please let them know that we do catering and can make custom cakes for their parties and events. We ask that they call to order at least two days in advance.
DG: Alright, thank you K. Neung for the desserts and your time!
----
More details about Charcoa House
Other Interviews
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