November 27, 2024
Mike Prince/PETER BRESLOW CONSULTING & PUBLIC RELATIONS
Kalaya chef Nok Suntaranon is the subject of a new episode of Netflix's 'Chef's Table.' This photo shows a bowl of Khao Soi made at her restaurant in Fishtown.
Nok Suntaranon, owner and chef of the acclaimed restaurant Kalaya in Fishtown, is the subject of an episode in the latest season of "Chef's Table," released by Netflix on Wednesday.
This episode of the documentary series, now in its seventh season, recaps Suntaranon's life before Kalaya, including her childhood in Thailand. Suntaranon grew up in Trang, one of that country's southern provinces. On screen, she shares the details about the difficult relationship she had with her father and working in her mother's curry stall.
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She also describes how she smuggled ultra-expensive luxury handbags from Europe to Thailand while working as a flight attendant. That job helped keep her first husband’s restaurant afloat and eventually introduced her to her second husband.
For Suntaranon, the episode has "two can't-miss moments," she said in an email this week, "... featuring my beloved Pomeranian, TiTi."
The chef was 50 years old when in 2019 she opened Kalaya at its original location in the the Italian Market in South Philly. To accommodate restaurant's popularity, she relocated Kalaya to a much larger space at 4 Palmer St. in Fishtown in 2022, though Suntaranon continues to live in Queen Village in South Philly.
In 2023, Suntaranon won the James Beard Award for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic Region and three months later Kalaya was included on the New York Times' list of best restaurants in the United States. Last month, the chef published her first cookbook filled with her favorite home recipes.
Each episode of "Chef's Table" highlights a prominent cook from around the world, telling the stories about how the chefs got started, their personal lives and what influences the food the make. Besides talking to the main subject of the episode, the series interviews loved ones and colleagues, contextualizing the chef's place in the food scene.
In 2018, "Chef's Table" released an episode about Cristina Martinez, the chef and co-owner of the Mexican restaurant South Philly Barbacoa, who has become an activist for immigrant rights, particularly among those working in the food industry.
Filming for Suntaranon's episode took place in Philadelphia in October 2023 and then earlier this month in Trang, Suntaranon said. She loved the opportunity to showcase her two favorite cities, she said. Scenes show the chef at identifiable food landmarks in South Philly – Claudio's Specialty Foods and Esposito Meats in the Italian Market and John's Roast Pork and 1st Oriental Supermarket.
In Thailand, Suntaranon makes a meal at her mother's home and fishes for river prawns.
The episode is a love letter to the people in her life, especially her mother, for whom the Kalaya is named. It also show Sumtaranon making some of the food for which she's famous and that are special to her, like the goat curry Kang Pae, bird-shaped dumplings call Kanom Jeeb Nok and Poh Taek, her seafood Tom Yum soup.
