Interview with Chef Sumol Hirunmal – Executive Sous Chef of Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa

Some life-changing inspiration happens to people through tragedy and yet some come through an ordinary, seemingly insignificant event. The latter is what happened with Chef Sumol, Executive Sous Chef at Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa. Phuketindex.com gets you to know Chef Sumol Hirunmal or ‘Chef Bird’ better.

Please introduce yourself
My name is Chef Sumol or you can call me Chef Bird. I’ve been a chef since 2005 and I started out as a kitchen helper at Bistro Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok. Then I moved to JW Marriott Hotel – in fact the first JW Marriott Hotel in Thailand – then I was at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel before moving to Chicaco, USA in the position of a Thai Chef. When I came back to Thailand I was chef at JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa before working here at Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa.

What is your inspiration?
I’m not sure if it sounds funny or not but my inspiration came to me when I was a high school student. I saw a Chinese movie showing knife skills. That was my first impression or inspiration behind being a chef. After that I was always looking for ways to become one!

Is there a special dish that you create for the restaurant?
The Marriott has a sustainable seafood program to support the local community around our hotel and that’s why I focus on Phuket lobster. The speciality of the Baked Lobster dish is the balance of tastes in it; for example it’s creamy, salty, and very tasty plus it has a good cheesy aroma. This dish is my favourite, plus we’re very proud to support our community.

Please tell us about the restaurants in the hotel
In our hotel we have total of five restaurants. The main restaurant is Loca Vore which serves breakfast, lunch with an a-la-carte menu, and an a-la-carte and buffet dinner. Sand Box Restaurant and Bar is our signature restaurant and it’s very popular among our guests. It’s where we serve casual dishes such as pizzas, burgers, pastas and seafood. Takieng is our fine-dining Thai restaurant where we serve authentic Thai food – especially local Phuket specialities. We also have a coffee shop called ‘Doppio’ which serves cakes, pastries, sandwiches and nice coffee. Finally, we have The Lounge with its snacks and drinks. It’s a very nice for place to relax.