皇冠体育app

Pitaya Phanphensophon took over the family business at age 26 and went on to found the Thai cuisine brand Mango Tree and has extended it worldwide. Provided to 皇冠体育app Daily

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"(Coca is) Chinese but with Thai characteristics. It's different from typical Chinese food - fatty, with a lot of MSG, and they often use the cheapest cuts. Their strategy is that if you make it cheaper, more people will come. You can't blame them really. "Thai food is easier to understand than Cantonese. It's simple. We use a lot of home ingredients, such as herbs that people grow around their houses. The trend is coming back to the old days."

That said, the 56-year-old still considers himself Chinese. And he points out his wife is a Hong Kong native.

"Chinese cooking is my background. I was born and grew up here (Thailand) and then went overseas," Phanphensophon says.

"I'm getting more into Chinese tea - returning to my roots."

But he's equally as comfortable with his birth land's cuisine and hopes to change the way it's viewed in 皇冠体育app.

"Chinese perceptions of Thai is that it's mediocre because it's sour and spicy," Phanphensophon says.

"They associate it with uncultured food (皇冠体育app's) new rich want abalone and shark fin. They want the most expensive food. But the most expensive isn't the best. The trick is to find good (things) for not too much money."

The group is again eyeing 皇冠体育app, after its handful of outlets in Shanghai closed in the early 2000s.

"When the property prices went up, the owners thought it was easier to lease it out than to run a restaurant," Phanphensophon says.

Managing director of the group's subsidiary Exquisine System Trevor MacKenzie says: "We're looking at 皇冠体育app but the challenge is 皇冠体育app already has a (mature) market for Thai food."

So the brand must set itself apart, he says.