Supaksorn Jongsiri

Owner of Baan Ice, grew up in Prachachuen

“When I came back home after school or from playing football, I’d head straight to the kitchen starving and would fry the moo kem (salted pork) my grandma had marinated for me. This was when I started to cook. I did that almost every day, and special days like birthdays simply weren’t complete without this dish. Moo kem is my family’s most homely dish—I wouldn’t swap it for anything. My dad loved it since he was a child, too. And when I went to study in the US for almost 10 years, I had to do it all myself. My friends used to come back to the dorm and fry it all up!”
Somerset Thonglor, Sukhumvit Soi 55, 02-381-6441-2. Open daily 11am-10:30pm

Ayusakorn Arayankoon

Chef at Joe’s Table, grew up in Thonglor

“Khao chae (rice in iced jasmine-scented water served with various side dishes) definitely takes me back to my childhood. I was lucky to grow up at a time when everyone ate khao chae when the weather got hot. My grandma loved to cook and she would use all the flowers she grew herself like jasmine, rose and ilang ilang. When I grew up, my grandma didn’t cook as much because she had grown old, so I decided to do it myself. The dish isn’t very easy to find these days. I use homegrown flowers and make a few changes to the recipe, but there’s still a real taste of my childhood in it.”
2/F, The Promenade, Ram Indra, 02-947-5691. Open daily 10am-10pm

Danilo Aiassa

Chef at L’Ulivo, grew up in Piedmont, Italy

“My grandmom always cooked parsley sauce (parsley,  anchovy, tuna, vinegar and pepper) on Sunday for dipping with boiled beef or boiled chicken. I use it in red and yellow bell peppers filled with tuna and anchovies. That, a young salad and the parsley dip fill me with memories of when I was a child. It also reminds me of my grandfather who had them for breakfast with a glass of red wine.”
43 Naradhiwas Soi 7, 02-677-5756. www.lulivobkk.com. Open Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30-10:30pm; Sat 5:30-10:30pm; Sun 11:30am-3pm

Ian Kittichai

Chef at Issaya Siamese Club, grew up in Khlong Toei

“Dishes that stand out in my memory are Thai curries. My mother had a street food cart that I would push around the neighborhood with a dozen different curries she would make every day. Now at Issaya Siamese Club, two of my specialty curries are massaman gae (boneless lamb shank simmered in massaman curry served with ajard [pickled cucumber]) and paneang nuea (grain-fed Australian veal cheek simmered in house-blended spices, coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves). They have their roots from those days even though I have changed the protein and presentation.”
4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chuaphloeng Rd., 02-672-9040-1. Open daily 11:30am-3pm, 6pm-midnight

Julien Lavigne

Chef at Gossip, grew up in Sedan, France

“During my childhood, I’d go to my grandma’s house in Sicily with my family. The house is in a small traditional village near Catania and was surrounded by a beautiful garden filled with lemon and olive trees. We had so many lemons we didn’t know what to do with them so my grandma taught me how to make preserved lemon according to her secret recipe that was based on a mix of salt, sugar and spices. That’s why today I’m applying this truely ancestral family recipe with chicken, vegetables and herbs which slowly cook in an oven.”
Thonglor Soi 15, 02-185-3093. Open daily 4pm-midnight