Growing up in Bangkok, Pongtawat “Ian” Chalermkittichai (known fondly as Ian Kittichai) never had any dreams of becoming a chef. As a kid, waking up at 3am, to accompany his mother to the market for the family’s humble grocery store, what this did was help helm the future chef’s intuition when it comes to choosing quality ingredients and the best produce. He later went to London, where his main motive was to study English, but instead he stumbled into the kitchen and was soon studying at the culinary school in Sydney. And before you know it, the rest was history.

“After Sydney, I returned to Bangkok and decided that I wanted to be a chef, but more than that, I wanted to become a successful chef,” says Ian. He followed what he called, the “traditional” route which involves going to France, working in a Michelin Star restaurant and training with a renowned chef.

His credentials include working at Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok, George V in Paris, French Laundry in Napa Valley, El Bulli in Spain and Four Seasons Chinzan-so in Tokyo. Eventually he rose in the culinary ranks and became the first Thai executive chef of the Four Seasons Bangkok and starred in his own cooking show.

Success did come as a double-edged sword though. Ian remarks, “As an executive chef, your job is not really cooking anymore. A part of me wanted to cook and cook the kind of food that I wanted.” That was when he decided to leave his cushy and stable executive chef position and start his own restaurant in New York. “Starting a free standing restaurant in New York was really tough, thankfully, it worked out well.”

And it did, now, after opening restaurants in other major cities, such as Mumbai and offering a F&B consulting firm, known as Cuisine Concept which has consulted for various restaurants in Barcelona, London, Ian is going back to his hometown, and selling Thai food to Thais – a feat they say that is more daunting than climbing Mount Everest. Ian comments, “Thai people are really picky and if you are able to serve Thai food to Thai people, then I will call you a ‘Superchef!’” For Issaya Siamese Club which opens by the end of this year, the restaurant is set in an old colonial house. Chef Ian will offer his signature menus from his restaurants in New York and Mumbai and hopes it becomes a hotspot for destination dining.

“I started out cooking Thai street food with my mother, and then I went to learning all about traditional French cuisine. So I would say my cooking philosophy involves French cooking techniques to cook Thai food. I feel the French methods of cooking can actually help to enhance the Thai flavours.”

In Singapore recently for the Asian Masters 2011, Ian’s cooking style can be described as a modern and creative version of Thai food. So what does he think is the future of Thai traditional cooking? “I think Thai traditional food, no matter what, will always be around. But I feel young Thais these days, they do want to try something new. The Thai cooking method is not really difficult, as long as you practice, but it’s the creativity and presentation that makes a dish different.”