In Thailand, Thitid Tassana-kajohn, better known as chef Ton, is widely recognised as a national culinary icon.

Ton has been instrumental in elevating Thai cuisine with his innovative Bangkok restaurants Le Du (which has one Michelin star) and Nusara. Both restaurants rank high on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list.

Ton has also been featured on Netflix’s Chefs Uncut series and is a judge on Top Chef Thailand. His reputation spans far and wide and yet in person, he remains incredibly humble, sweet and soft-spoken.

Ton was in Penang recently for the launch of a new menu at his first Malaysian restaurant, Sood By Chef Ton, which opened in January this year. In many ways, Sood represents Ton’s love for Penang, a relationship that has been fostered and nurtured for well over a decade.

Ton is the celebrated Thai chef behind Sood in Penang.

“I’ve been going to Penang for more than 10 years and it reminds me of Phuket, where I have another restaurant. So when the opportunity came to open a restaurant in this mansion, I wanted to do something special and unique; I wanted to present real Thai flavours but in a modern and elevated way,” says Ton.

Sood is housed in a charming heritage mansion that dates back to the late 19th century and has been preserved to maintain its staid white aesthetic appeal. The interior meanwhile is more bold, with dark red colour accents and rooms carved out into dining spaces.

It is very evident that this is not a fine-dining space. Instead, Ton’s idea was to create a fun dining space that Penangites and visitors to Penang alike would be able to appreciate.

“I think trends have shifted and I see that in the next five years, this is the sort of concept that people will be very comfortable with. I call it casual fine-dining and I think it is very well-received even on a global scale.

“And for our Penang restaurant, our target was to get people to come back regularly. We want people to come every two weeks or at least once a month, so it has to be a restaurant that fits into the community,” he says.

At Sood, Ton says he tries to incorporate as many Malaysian ingredients as he can. While this initially proved to be a challenge at the beginning as he was unfamiliar with suppliers and producers, he had a little help from fellow Michelin-starred chef Su Kim Hock of Penang’s Restaurant Au Jardin.

“The community here is very nice and the local chefs have become good friends. Chefs Kim Hock and Johnson Wong (of Gen Penang) helped me find contacts so that I could push local ingredients onto the menu as well,” he says.

The shrimp paste with Thai crispy roll is good in theory but the crackers fall apart easily. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star

While Ton does periodically pop into Sood, he is obviously a very busy man so the restaurant is ably led by Natthasak Prangthong, who previously worked with Ton at Le Du and has honed his craft at top restaurants around the world.

Sood recently rolled out its new menu and there is plenty to whet the appetite. Start with the Prawn Toast with Tobiko (RM42). The dish features a crisp toasted shard fashioned out of prawns, which is then topped with grilled prawn, cucumber and shallots in what proves to a riotously fun aquatic-themed sojourn.

The toast holds all the flavours together and adds a deeply winning briny undercoat to the meal, which is then livened by the tobiko and cucumber in this assemblage. The dish exudes a fresh yet fishy vibe that is ultimately very flavourful.

Up next, from the medium plates on offer, have a go at the Shrimp Paste Relish with Thai Crispy Roll (RM36). The foundational structure of this meal is the shrimp paste, which is interspersed with fish sauce, chillies and young mangoes. The relish is spread over the paper-thin crackers provided on the side and topped with an assortment of fresh vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, Thai eggplant and long beans.

Expect a ride to fiery town with the steamed squid with red sauce.

The result is a constellation of fresh flavours juxtaposed against the fiery funk of the shrimp paste in what proves to a wild, bombastic explosion on the palate. The only downside is that the crackers are a tad feeble and don’t really hold all the ingredients together as well as they should.

Then there is the Steamed Squid with Red Seafood Sauce (RM65) which as its name implies, is made up of steamed squid coated in a furiously spicy red sauce. The squid is steamed to perfection and retains a spring and bounce in its step and a tender texture that still yields easily on the palate.

The red sauce meanwhile is a fiery vixen that lives up to its name and is intent on lacing your tongue with as much red-hot heat as it can. Be forewarned: water is a necessary accomplice in the quest to complete this dish.

From the soup selections, try the Young Coconut Tapioca Chicken Soup (RM42). This is an ancient Thai palace recipe that Ton says is rarely seen even in Thailand.

“You won’t see this in normal restaurants because it’s a recipe that is hundreds of years old. And the interesting thing about it is there is no sugar added; the sweetness comes from coconut water, so it is considered very rustic,” he says.

The Panang curry with grilled prawns is a masterclass in rich, robust flavours.

The soup is very simple – chunks of tender chicken breast and coconut water interlocked together in harmonious, soothing companionship. It won’t blow your mind but it will soothe your soul.

From the large plates on offer, look at indulging in the Panang Curry Tiger Prawn (RM65). The Panang curry is roasted to thicken it and is then infused with coconut milk and peanuts. This is then layered across the plate, upon which local grilled tiger prawns are placed.

The result is a lovely voyage through the fresh, fluffy sweetness of the prawns and the rich, robustly flavoured curry, which is nutty and intensely flavourful.

End your meal with an ode to banana in the form of the cheekily-named Banana Banana Banana (RM32). Here, banana cake, banana ice-cream, banana mousse and banana crumble vie for your attention in the ultimate culinary equivalent of going bananas!

Go bananas with this banana-themed dessert featuring banana crumble, banana cake, banana ice-cream and banana mousse.

Each component exudes covert banana flavours that collude to provide a memorable banana-centric experience that no human (or monkey) can resist.

Ton is now hard at work expanding his Malaysian empire to Kuala Lumpur where he will soon be launching another restaurant.

“It’s in the capital city so we will be opening one restaurant with two concepts. One will be a very small chef’s table and the other will be a casual restaurant that won’t be crazy expensive,” he says, laughing.

Sood by Chef Ton

33 Lebuh Farquhar

10200 George Town

Penang

Tel: 019-898 2131

Open daily: 5pm to 1am