Chef Nan Bunyasaranand is recovering from the shock discovery yesterday that the beloved bronze mascot of her restaurant, Little Beast, was stolen on Wednesday night.

“We’re all really sad,” said Nan. “We closed like normal that night and the next day my staff called to say that the dog, which we call Tungmae, was gone.”

The bronze sculpture was modeled after her business partner Plern Suraphongchai’s actual dog, a French bulldog named Tungmae, and is the Little Beast behind the restaurant's name.

Nan suspects that the crime must have been planned. “We’re sure it must have been,” she said. “They took everything. We tried to take out the statue before to change the top of the bench but we couldn’t. We were scared it would break.

“If it had just been some drunk people, they wouldn’t have been able to do that good of a job.”

Little Beast opened on Thonglor Soi 13 in June 2012, serving tapas-style plates of French-influenced American cuisine.

This magazine described it as “inventive and with serious know-how, taking what’s cool right now and imbuing it with a refreshingly personal warmth.” It received one of our rare four-star reviews. 

For many on Thonglor, the Tungmae sculpture had become a landmark of the area. Fortunately, a replacement should be set to return soon.

“We just ordered the new one,” said Nan. “But we’re probably not going to put it outside this time.”

The real Tungmae with her bronze likeness