Thinking Backwards: Family, Community, and Real Thai Food in Guelph
** This is an earlier version of an article that eventually appeared in the 2018 Food Issue of TOQUE Magazine **
There is a little yellow house on York Road in Guelph, just before the intersection at Victoria. It wasn’t always yellow – it used to be red brick, home to a small Portuguese Piri Piri restaurant. After the ownership changed hands, I wondered if it would become one of those untenable locations for a restaurant, host to a semi-annual switching of signs as one restaurant after another tried their luck; the location is near a busy intersection, but its far from downtown, has little foot traffic, and the space itself is tiny, only offering half a dozen seats and even fewer parking spots.
A new sign went up on that freshly painted yellow house, which read “Na-Ha-Thai’s Kitchen.” It wasn’t long after that everyone was telling me about “the new Thai place” in Guelph. I was recently able to try it for myself, and, after my first bite, I pledged to join those growing ranks of loyal Na-Ha-Thai patrons – ambassador-types who would scream in support from a nearby soapbox should they have the chance. It might seem extreme, but this is really good Thai food.
Naruemon, the owner of Na-Ha-Thai’s Kitchen, moved to Canada just over a decade ago after meeting a Canadian through an online ESL program. In Thailand, she worked as a Researcher in Sustainable Agriculture at Chiang Mai University. Upon moving to Canada, language barriers made it difficult for her to find similar work, so she turned to her lifelong passion of food and cooking to get by. In 2013, she opened “Love at First Bite” a small food stall in the Guelph Farmer’s Market. After quick success she opened another stall in the Aberfoyle Market, and finally achieved her dream of opening a restaurant in 2015.
On a recent afternoon, I had an opportunity to sit down to a lunch that was filled with incredible food and insights into what sets her restaurant apart. I chose 4 or 5 dishes from the large menu, mostly from the “Northern Thailand” and “Thai Street Food” sections. While everything was excellent, there were a few dishes that stood out. Pad ga pow, a Thai street food staple which I was told is the most popular dish in Thailand, consisted of ground pork stir fried with holy basil, served with stingingly spicy fresh chili sauce, steamed rice, fresh vegetables, and a fried egg on top. Khao soi, Nauremon’s personal favourite from her home region of Northern Thailand, was unbelievable – firm egg noodles in a delicately spicy coconut curry broth, with chicken, beef, shrimp, red onion, cilantro, and garnished with crispy fried egg noodles.
“Na-Ha-Thai’s is authentic Thai food, made from scratch by Thai people,” Naruemon told me. “Good food is important. We use organic ingredients everywhere that it’s possible. Our food is healthy, and we try our best to make everyone feel welcome, whether dairy-free, gluten-free or vegan.” Nauremon also closes the restaurant for a month in the summer, in order to return to Thailand. “Those trips are for two reasons: family and research,” she said, “I like to keep up to date and bring back new ideas for the restaurant, but for me, family is the most important thing.” Cooking has always been a way for her to provide for her family, and while the long hours of owning a restaurant can quickly add up, she goes to lengths to make time in her life for her husband and kids. “We are closed two days a week, so we can rest and see our family. And not just for me, but for everybody who works at Na-Ha-Thai.” Not to mention, Na-Ha-Thai’s Kitchen is named after her daughter, who grew up spending time in the family’s home kitchen helping her mom cook.
Owning a restaurant isn’t easy, especially when it serves a specific ethnic cuisine. Expectations and pre-conceived notions of Thai food all too often force these types of restaurants to serve a diluted, Westernized version of their homelands cuisine – places where Pad Thai comprise 95% of the dishes sold. I asked what it was like to deal with these types of expectations, and Naruemon spoke of her goals and her approach to business. “I want to share real Thai food with people, especially dishes from Chiang Mai because it’s so beautiful and diverse,” she said. “When it comes to how to put that in place, I like to think backwards. I do what I love first and foremost – food, family, sharing – and business and profits come after.”
That might not seem like a sound approach to a successful business, but the two and a half hour waits for take-out on a Friday night speak for themselves. “I am so thankful, because the community has been so supportive and people can be so patient,” she gratefully sighed, “good food takes time, but there are just so many orders on a busy night!” If you have tried Naruemon’s food you’ll understand. If not, you need to call Na-Ha-Thai’s Kitchen as soon as possible.
