An Artisanal Cuisine Crusade With Chef Bo

Chef Duangporn Songvisava, or Bo, is a fervent advocate of local and artisanal Thai cuisine. (JG Photo/Courtesy of Duangporn Songvisava)

Singapore. Appearing barefoot on stage at the inaugural Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Forum at the Raffles Hotel, Duangporn Songvisava is young, inspirational and full of lively opinions about the theme of the day: “The Future of Food, Back to Our Roots.”

“Just call me Bo,” she smiles. Voted Veuve Clicquot’s best female chef among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2013, Bo together with Dylan, her Australian husband runs Bo.Lan — the trendiest and arguably one of the best restaurants in Bangkok.

Bo is very passionate about the subject of artisanal Thai food, but local organic products proved very challenging to source when she and her husband first started the restaurant.

“Finding good ingredients and good staff were our biggest challenges in the beginning,” Bo says.

This might come as a surprise to most people, who assume that Thailand, with its rich agricultural heritage, offers a plethora of the best natural cooking ingredients. But Bo is adamant in her refusal to use “mass-produced ingredients such as battery chickens with hormone injections.”

“We wanted artisanal produce that is local and organic,” she says.

It took time for her to build up a collaborative approach, engaging with local farmers, which led to the idea of running an organic farmer’s market once a month outside her restaurant.

“Now we don’t have that issue anymore,” she says with a smile. “Things are getting better now.”

The farmer’s market is organized under the theme “Eat Responsibly Day.”

Her father, although not a chef, inspired Bo to cook when she was a little girl. She went on to study restaurant and catering management and completed her master’s degree in art and gastronomy at Australia’s Adelaide University.

A dish prepared by Bo. (JG Photo/Courtesy of Duangporn Songvisava)

After a brief return to Bangkok she moved to London and started working for David Thompson, a guru of Thai cuisine on the international stage, at his Michelin-starred restaurant Nahm.

“Under David Thompson I learned to be a professional chef and how to work best with others in a busy kitchen,” Bo says.

She met Dylan in London and soon after getting married they decided to move to Bangkok and open a restaurant. Bo.Lan is now in its fourth year and going strong.

As much as possible Bo wants to use local produce, but the local focus can’t cover everything. To complement a relatively small selection of local wines, she uses imported wine as well as sparkling mineral water, where no local alternatives exist.

The style of cooking at Bo.Lan is authentic Thai with seasonal fresh organic produce.

“We adopt a slow food philosophy and promote biodiversity by using both wild as well as cultivated produce. We follow cooking rituals long practiced by ancestors, so our tastes honor Thai traditions and keep our heritage alive,” Bo says.

She grinds her own paste using a pestle and mortar; prepares coconut cream and milk from scratch; and eschews the use of blenders or food processors in the kitchen.

The food is presented in a very modern way without the ubiquitous fruit and vegetables carvings that are a hallmark of Thai dishes.

Thailand’s tourism board has long promoted the country’s cuisine abroad, but Bo says she doesn’t agree with “the standardization of Thai cuisine to cater to the taste of people outside Thailand.”

“We must serve Thai food according to our tradition. If the dish is spicy, we must follow the authentic spicy taste. Otherwise, we lose the soul of our cuisine.

“David has been working and promoting Thai cuisine for a very long time; I often say surely there are local chefs capable of doing what David has done, but they don’t promote themselves or publish cookbooks in English outside Thailand. I wish there was a Thai person emulating his work,” Bo says.

She has big plans for her restaurant when its lease expires this year. Moving to a new venue, she says, will finally allow her to put in place the environmentally friendly water system, solar panels and waste management system that Bo hopes will make Bo.Lan carbon neutral in four years’ time.

An Artisanal Cuisine Crusade With Chef Bo