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Thanyapura Phuket is well known among professional athletes who stay there, coming from all over the world to prepare themselves for competitions. The name is also reputable among locals too, due to running, cycling and triathlon events it regularly organizes to promote and support the community’s healthy lifestyle.
Other than sports, Thanyapura also elevates people’s health through healthy eating and mind training. In other words, Thanyapura cares for peoples’ well-rounded health from the inside out.
Phuketindex had the chance to interview Thanyapura’s F&B Director and Executive Chef, Udomsak Boonsopone or ‘Chef Dom’.
We asked what inspired him to follow a cooking career and he explained that his mom pushed him towards this path.
“What inspired me to be a chef? It began when I was a kid living with my mom in my hometown. I had a chance to help her out most of the times she cooked. I was asked to pick kaffir lime leaves, and cut lemongrass for my mom. I used to wonder why but after I was on this path I realized it helped make me familiar with herbs and other ingredients.”
About his working experience
“I’ve been on this path for over 30 years now. During this time, I’ve worked for many hotels both in Thailand and abroad. I started working at Thanyapura about three years ago and it’s a big challenge for my cooking style to be healthier.”
Your challenge
“Thanyapura has a clear vision about ‘Organic Healthy Wellness’ and this was a big challenge for me. It changed my thought and challenged me to study more. Working for Thanyapura satisfies me in a way that it makes me more concerned more about our guests’ health not just to make them happy with the food like in the past. It requires more work. I need to dig in or know more about each ingredient’s nutritional value and health benefits. It’s hard but we consider ‘fresh is best’ and to be chemical free is important.”
What are you doing now at Thanyapura?
“At Thanyapura, we serve healthy foods for those who are concern about their health. Since each ingredient has different health benefits whether it is to help weight loss or body detoxification, this encourages us to diversify. And because my background involved farming, I decided to begin organic farming myself. I also pass my knowledge about food and organic farming I learned to other farmers. Less chemicals or chemical-free farming only has health benefit for consumers and is good for farmers themselves. Thanyapura and I have worked together to make this happen for real.”
Healthy food at Thanyapura
“It’s not just clean food that we serve here. We also offer over 20 dishes that follow an alkaline diet which means a proper pH balance. Our choices include ‘brain foods’ which have been served here for more than one and a half years now. We try to create new menus all the time so that our guests won’t get bored. Since I’ve been here, almost 300 dishes have been created with a ‘food is medicine’ concept. If you come to Thanyapura, you will definitely get healthy food.”
Special Manu ‘Mango Avocado’
“Our special menu for today is called ‘Mango Avocado’ which is a signature dish as it has received a lot of good feedback from our guests; sport complex members, parents from UWCT’s school and athletes from around the world. The athletes demand food which gives them high energy, is easy to digest and with a good taste and then they always come back for more.”
Dining outlets at Thanyapura
“Our main restaurant is called Divine. It’s an all-day dining place serving 80 percent healthy food and 20 percent ‘normal’ dishes with both Thai and international cuisine. The menu has something for everyone and it’s open from 06.30-21.30 daily.
Booster Deli & Café is under a ‘grab & go’ concept. If you are in a weight loss course or a detoxification process, you’re welcome to grab from what we prepare according to the correct guidelines from specialists and take the food home.
Thanyapura also has food services to support seminars, meetings, conferences or parties and you are allowed to create your own menu. For cooking classes, we have two standard menus available for those who are interested to learn, whether it is Thai dishes or healthy food. You can also change the menu from what we’ve arranged. Just ask.”
Plan for 2018
“In 2018, we plan to raise the level up and to enter the catering service industry. With our ‘Healthy Food Truck’, we are looking forward to touring our cooking classes and romantic dinners or family parties at your own place or at any location you prefer. We will help you arrange everything and you don’t need to worry about a thing.”
A message to readers
“I understand that you may have limited time or resources. But if you reconsider how much you have to spend to keep yourself healthy, compare to only 10 minutes, 30 minutes or maybe an hour to take care of your own health by cooking yourself. If you are not ready to cook yourself, at Thanyapura we have choices of healthy foods that can be used as a ‘medicine’. We would like you all to be aware of a healthy lifestyle. Eating at Thanyapura is not expensive when compared to junk food; you might not see any harm today but eating junk food will have effects on you in the in long term. I would like to encourage everyone to start looking after your health from now on with the concept of ‘mom’s cooking’. It’s the idea of eating mom’s food; when we were young we required no complicated techniques and we had clean and chemical-free ingredients. I also would like to pass this message on to farmers about chemical usage. Please consider organic farming as it has many benefits. As we know that the market price for organic food in the market is relatively good. Less chemical use is also good for both farmers’ and consumers’ health and it is good for the environment that means it’s better for our descendants in the future.
