832: Pim Techamuanvivit’s First Restaurant Job Was Opening a Now Legendary Restaurant

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney Plus.

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (0:05)
What are you waiting for?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:06)
Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney Plus.

**Matt Rodbard** (0:12)
This is the way.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:13)
Our only chance is to work together.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:17)
I'm like this kid.

**Gidon Coll** (0:19)
Always wear your seatbelt.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:22)
Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu now streaming on Disney Plus. Rated PG-13.

**SPEAKER_6** (0:30)
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**Pim Techamuanvivit** (1:08)
I pretty much just cook what I want to eat. And that's also the reason why neither Kin Khao or Nari are like any particular regional Thai cuisine because, you know, I was born and raised in Bangkok. I was the, you know, capital girl. The food in Bangkok came from everywhere.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:27)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.
Pim Techamuanvivit left a career in Silicon Valley to become one of the most important Thai chefs working today. She's self-taught and runs Michelin-starred restaurants on two continents at Kin Khao, Nari and Bangkok's Nahm. Her new book, Cooking Thai, is a result of writing down everything she had to figure out on her own. It's a remarkable book and you should really pick it up. Pim joins the show to talk about her amazing journey from tech to opening her first restaurant, her first restaurant job and translating her iconic restaurant dishes for the home cook. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Gidon Coll of the Hudson Valley Apple Project. If you love apples as much as I do, you'll want to listen to this conversation. We talk about his work growing heirloom and obscure varieties and discuss his truly amazing farm visits. You really should book a ticket and all info is available in the show notes. I hope you enjoy this episode.
Hey Pim, welcome to This Is TASTE, how are you doing?

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (2:42)
I'm great, thank you, thanks for having me.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:45)
Yeah, this is a long time coming. I've been a huge fan of your restaurants in San Francisco. Kin Khao and Nari, really just terrific. And I have a bunch of questions about the chef world and of course your new cookbook, which I have been able to read and it's amazing. So congratulations.

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (3:05)
Thank you.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:07)
Before we get to all of that, I want to know when you're not, you know, traveling between New Zealand and Bangkok and San Francisco and you have a really active schedule and you're in San Francisco, I want to know where are you dining out?

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (3:22)
Oh, I'm kind of a creature of habit.
Rin Taro is my canteen basically. I probably eat there as often as I eat at my own restaurant.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:36)
Great personal canteen, I'd say that restaurant. Amazing work they do there and I love that answer. Well, I want to talk about media a little bit because, you know, K-Pim was such an influential food blog really, really early. You were writing online in the early, early 2000s. What made you launch that blog back then? You were working in tech, I know.
You know, tell me about the way you wrote then and really what it represented.

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (4:11)
It was, well, yes, it was quite a while ago. So I think you just aged me by pointing that out.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:19)
Listen, I was writing about that time too. So we're both in the same, same bucket.

**Pim Techamuanvivit** (4:23)
There you go. Uncle Matt and Aunt C. Pim right here.
So, well, in the early 2000s, as you said, I was working in tech.
I have some friends who had blogs. I know some people had blogger, which is like way back when. And I just sort of started writing. And even now I'm traveling a lot. But back then, I was also traveling a lot for slightly different reason. I was working in tech. I was in Europe a lot doing projects. And I just sort of try to find things that were fun to do, that kept me engaged in wherever I was. So I started going to restaurants. And back then, not that many people were writing about restaurants online. There was definitely nobody taking pictures in the dining room. So I was like, begging permissions from restaurants. Like, do you mind if I take a little photo with my tiny little camera? No flash. And I just started writing about food. It actually, the blog kind of started off being just kind of writing, you know, about random things, you know, for my friends who are not maybe in San Francisco, you know, I have friends in Bangkok, people like, you know. So to keep up with friends in faraway places, blogging was kind of a good thing, right?