What started as a humble but wildly popular nuea krob noodle shop behind Thai Airways’ head office four decades ago is now Wuanood, a stylish and sassy beef noodle restaurant. With a love for their grandparents’ authentic beef noodle soup, sisters Smittada “Ploy” Hongsakul, 35, and Narissara “Prae” Hongsakul, 33, have expanded old family recipes to include some next-level premium beef. Think noodles with Thai-French top blade beef dressed with pork crackling. If that doesn’t satisfy your carnivorous cravings, we don’t know what will.

Prae: Cooking became my passion when I was studying for my master’s in England. It gave me a way to de-stress from my studies and cooking for my friends sparked a lot of joy in me. When I came back to Bangkok, I had a business opportunity, so I began brainstorming what kind of food I wanted to make. I wanted it to be comforting, uncomplicated, and something that you would want to eat again and again. Then I thought of the one dish that our family always makes, the dish that brings us all together, which is beef noodles.
Ploy: We’re a big family. Growing up, we would always have these fond memories of everyone getting together to eat the beef noodles that our grandmother cooked. It was like a big event. Actually, this noodle recipe belongs to our grandmother’s brother and his wife, who have both run a crispy beef noodle joint behind Thai Airways’ head office for many decades now. When we told them that we were planning to open our own restaurant, they brought us into their shop and taught us how to cook the beef noodles based on their recipe.

Ploy: We haven’t changed anything in the soup recipe—the taste is still based on what our relatives created 40 years ago. But we did add to the original recipe in terms of meat selections like Australian striploin and wagyu. We also created a new signature dish called khao gao lao haeng, which is similar to kurobuta don, but ours is more Thai-style, using jasmine rice, topped with pork crackling and served with our homemade soup.
Prae: When it comes to flavors, we want our dishes to be as authentic as possible. But since we have such a diverse group of customers, from teenagers and elders to big families, we do sometimes customize the flavors for them.

Ploy: Around five or six years ago, it was kind of uncommon for people our age to quit their full-time jobs and start their own business. We did get comments like, “why do you do this when you have a college degree from abroad?” But luckily for us, our parents have been very supportive of our decision, so we didn’t take those comments to heart.
Prae: The support we got from our family gave us the boost, plus we were confident in the food and recipes we have. We’re proud of launching Wuanood. It has become the place for our family gatherings.

 

Prae: Before we launched Wuanood, we were both in full-time jobs, which meant we had little experience running a restaurant. We had to learn how to manage everything from scratch. But luckily, many people around us are also in the restaurant business, so we got lots of useful advice from them. Listening to talks from successful restaurant owners also helped.

Ploy: We definitely want to expand. Before Covid, many of my international friends asked us if we wanted to open Wuanood in their countries. I think this is a good business opportunity, because not many foreigners are familiar with Thai beef noodles. As for Thailand, right now we only have two locations. We still want to manage everything ourselves, so we’re not going to franchise our business yet. But we’re planning to launch a sister brand of Wuanood soon, which will offer southern khao gaeng dishes.

Ploy: Thailand’s street food is world-renowned. Street vendors have become an integral part of our local culture. That’s why I want to see the young generations elevate the standard of street food and come up with new ways to make it more accessible to a wider audience, while at the same time focus on keeping the authenticity of the original flavors. Many modern street food restaurants today have also brought elements of the old charms we’re accustomed to into their own spaces. When you combine everything together, street food becomes more relevant. I want to see street food be a daily part of our eating culture, not something you look back on.

Ploy: Don’t forget that the food should be at the heart of your restaurant. It is crucial nowadays for the space and vibe to be stylish and trendy, but at the end of the day, it’s the food that will bring back customers.
Prae: That is the challenge of running a restaurant. There needs to be an authenticity to the food you make, especially in the flavors, that will make your customers want to come back again and again. Sure, it’s important for your establishment to be attractive and photogenic, but you need to look at everything in the long term. Research a lot, study the trends and markets, and think carefully about how much risk you can handle.