Sometimes finding your passion can lead you on a roundabout journey to something that was right under your nose all along.

At least that was the circuitous route that celebrated Thai chef Thaninthorn Chantrawan took before eventually discovering what he was good at.

As a kid, Thaninthorn, better known as Noom, was a fun-loving child who detested cooking.

“So many famous chefs talk about how much they have always loved cooking but to be honest, as a kid, I hated cooking!

“My grandparents always helped cook for different occasions in our area. And somebody was always having a party or event. So very often, I would come back from school, put my bags down and get ready to play with the neighbourhood boys but then my aunt or grandma would ask me to make a curry paste.

“I got fed up of asking them ‘What should I put next?’, so I decided to memorise the recipes to finish my duties faster and go play,” says Noom, laughing.

Noom (second from left) is a celebrated chef in Thailand whose first Malaysian restaurant earned a Michelin star less than a year after opening. With him are (from left) Kerk, Wee and Yong.

Noom’s self-proclaimed “hatred” of cooking never really waned, although his culinary knowledge continued to expand as he was given more tasks by the various matriarchal figures in his family.

As a young adult, he went to Britain to complete a degree in communications. When he was done, he pursued an MBA and worked part-time at a restaurant to help supplement the cost of his university education.

It was while he was working at the restaurant that he realised what his true calling was. “That’s the time that I started to fall in love with and become obsessed with cooking because I realised I was good at it. And that was it – I knew where I belonged,” he says.

Over the next few years, Noom worked relentlessly, often sleeping three to four hours a day in order to maximise his culinary pedagogy, whether that was perfecting breakfast staples at The Savoy or learning how to bake bread.

“Whatever I thought I was weak at, I threw myself into learning it,” he explains.

When he returned to Thailand after working in various Michelin-starred eateries in England, he was immediately catapulted to fame as a result of his winning stint on Iron Chef Thailand. 

Eventually, he opened a restaurant in Bangkok that showcased his over-arching talents. That restaurant became the Michelin-starred Chim by Siam Wisdom (a star it has retained for nearly a decade), which showcases elevated Thai cuisine.

The eatery is elegant but has a natural warmth that heralds the experience to come. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

Two years ago, serendipity struck when Noom met enthusiastic Malaysian foodies James Kerk Kai Loon and Rilynn Yong. The two had long wanted to open a fine-dining Thai eatery and were eating their way through Bangkok in search of a diamond in the rough. As soon as they dined at Chim, they knew they had stumbled upon something incredible.

“We were amazed by the food. The entire experience was fantastic that I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I talked to the chef,” says Kerk.

At that point, Noom was used to being wooed by investors and restaurateurs keen to partner and collaborate with him. For years, he had turned down various opportunities for expansion. But with Kerk and Yong, there was an instant connection.

That is how Chim by Chef Noom in Kuala Lumpur came to be in 2024. After a few months in operation, the restaurant earned a Michelin star last year, one of only five restaurants in the Klang Valley to attain this feat.

The kitchen is helmed by chef Willy Wee who has worked in top restaurants around Europe and is thoroughly endorsed by Noom, who pops in at least once a month to check that everything is in order at his KL outpost.

The tasting menu at Chim by Chef Noom is priced at RM600++ per person and provides a fresh, contrasting lens with which to observe and savour the flavours so sacred in Thai cuisine – clothed in brand new guises.

Highlights from the menu include the Hoy Narom, which features a giant Japanese oyster from the Hyogo prefecture, which is known for its plump oysters grown in nutrient-rich waters.

The oyster is a sumptuous, silken vixen heaped with a fiery heart in the form of the chilli granita.

The oyster is topped with a pickled green chilli granita, caviar, sea grapes (latok) and pickled shallot; it is a tribute to oceanic bounties. 

The oyster itself is super­­lative – voluptuous and silken, with a creamy underbelly and a trace of salinity – juxtaposed against the pearlescent bursts of brine and opulence emanating from the caviar and sea grapes; and the granita which is cold to the touch yet distributes a satisfying spread of heat on the palate.

The Kenkori Egg features an organic egg from Perak cooked sous-vide style so that it retains a wobbly, flavourful texture. This is topped with homegrown chilli while kataifi pastry forms a brittle nest under the egg.

The egg course is a masterclass in powerful textural contrasts. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

To eat this, tip the contents of the egg onto the pastry, stir it together and enjoy. The flavours and textures that come together are nothing short of masterful – rich, albumen goodness flows through the egg which is charged with an undercurrent of fire courtesy of the chilli. The pastry adds a satisfying crunch.

The dish pays homage to the joys and importance of textural contrast, engendering the idea that a calibrated union can channel pure euphoria.

Perhaps the superstar of the menu is The Lost Recipe, which is a mainstay primarily because after scouring through Thailand’s National Library, Noom rediscovered a recipe thought to have been made for King Rama II that had been lost and buried for over two centuries.

The Lost Recipe is essentially a Thai palace dish that was kept secret for 200 years until it was discovered by Noom.

The soup is packed with burnt tomatoes, burnt shallots, starch from rice, wild caught river fish, starfruit, Thai herbs and chilli. 

This potent broth is alive with fire and flavour, tethered by a slightly tangy underbelly that tides the dish together. 

From the very first mouthful, you’ll feel sated, soothed and satiated in the sort of ways that only comfort food can deliver. Because fine-dining or not, this is comfort food at its peak.

End the savoury part of your meal on a triumphant note with the Slipper Lobster. 

Here, Thai highland shortgrain rice has been turned into a risotto enlivened with prawn bisque while the slipper lobster has been lightly char-grilled and accentuated with shrimp paste and salted egg yolk.

The aquatic beauty of the slipper lobster and risotto proves appealing from the very first mouthful. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

This is a charming dish whose structural underpinnings are built on aquatic roots that have spawned long, wide tentacles that span the entire length and breadth of the dish. 

You’ll taste this in the smooth, succulent lobster and the risotto which is laced with sea-faring notes.

It all comes together beautifully, like a symphonic culinary rendition of Disney’s classic Under The Sea.

An interpretation of the classic Thai dessert, mango sticky rice.

The meal isn’t over till you’ve sampled the Chef’s Selection Dessert. In this iteration, the dessert is a riff on mango sticky rice: a mango and white chocolate ganache with a Biscoff crust, served with a glutinous rice and yoghurt ice cream.

Moving forward, Noom, Kerk and Yong already have another enticing project in the works: the opening of one more restaurant bearing Noom’s name.

“The Michelin Guide is going to be in Manila (Philippines) soon, so we plan to open a restaurant there and hunt down another star,” says Noom, laughing.