It has been quite the year for Thailand, with Bangkok being home to not only the best restaurant in Asia, but also to Asia's Best Female Chef and Asia's Best Pastry Chef.
Adding another accolade to the list is the announcement of chef Pichaya ‘Pam' Soontornyanakij as the World's Best Female Chef 2025, close on the heels of being awarded Asia's Best Female Chef last year.
She makes history as the first Asian and Thai female chef to receive the prestigious global title, further cementing her status as a powerful force on the world culinary stage.
The award, which will be presented on June 19 in Turin, Italy, at the World's 50 Best Restaurant 2025 awards, seeks to recognise and celebrate influential women in the world of gastronomy.
Pam is chef-patron of the Michelin-starred Potong, which is No.13 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list and No.57 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024 list.
"I'm truly honoured to be named ‘The World's Best Female Chef 2025' and humbled to be the first Thai and first Asian to join the remarkable women who have paved the way before me. This award highlights the importance of recognising women's invaluable contributions to the culinary world. It's not just for me, but for every other female chef who may contribute to the journey of Thai cuisine on the global stage.
"As a Thai, I feel proud that I'm able to bring the words of Thai food, the words of Thailand and Thai cuisine, to the world stage, and hopefully to take true Thai flavours around the world with me, and not just the common dishes. I want to show the world that Thai cuisine has so many sub-cuisines and we have a deep culinary history. Even our produce is amazing all year round.
"Above all, I hope this award inspires the next generation of female chefs to pursue their culinary dreams," chef Pam tells the Bangkok Post.
Chef Pam spent her formative years in Bangkok, refining her skills at the Culinary Institute of America and a stint at New York's Jean-Georges restaurant. When she returned to Thailand, she established The Table, a private dining experience that gained recognition from local and regional gourmands. When Potong opened in 2021, chef Pam returned to her roots bringing her Thai-Chinese heritage to the forefront.
Roughly translated as "simple", Potong is housed in a five-storeyed traditional shophouse that once housed her family business — being producers of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. It is where Sino-Portuguese architecture of 1910 meets the present day.
Most recently, chef Pam opened her newest restaurant, Khao San Sek, a five-minute walk from Potong. The restaurant is a contemporary celebration of sacred Thai ingredients.
"I wanted to open a Thai restaurant because Potong serves Thai-Chinese cuisine. The head chef at Khao San Sek is my former sous chef at Potong, Grace. The name is every meaningful and is catchy, in a way. It means ‘sacred milled rice'. It is the rice that falls on the floor during the milling process, which is collected to be blessed by the monks. This in Thai culture is called ‘lucky rice' and is used to ward off evil spirits," chef Pam tells the Bangkok Post.
"The food we serve is not defined by region, but focuses on the scared ingredients that we have defined," the chef tells the Bangkok Post. Khao San Sek reinterprets Thai cuisine by focusing on five sacred ingredients: rice, chilli, coconut, fish sauce and palm sugar. Each ingredient is seen as embodying core characteristics of Thai flavours: rice as sustenance, chilli for intensity, coconut for versatility, fish sauce for depth and palm sugar for balance.
Looking ahead, chef Pam is preparing to launch Ra-u, a reimagined Thai grill house that continues her mission of honouring heritage through modern expression. It opens in Siam Paragon in July.
"Ra-u means heat, whether it is the heat of the fire or the heat of the spices. The concept will be that of a Thai grill house where we want to serve grilled food with Thai condiments around it. It's similar to eating Korean barbecue except that nothing is grilled at the table. It is grilled in the kitchen and brought to the table.
"The grill house will only serve a ‘House Menu", where dishes will not be served in courses but will be distinguished by the different cuts and types of meat. Me and my husband Tor [Boonpiti] were inspired by the concept at San Ho Won in San Francisco, except that Ra-u will do it in a Thai way when it comes to cooking the meat, marinating it and serving it," she tells the Bangkok Post.
Ra-u is different from her Smoked brand, which is a multi-outlet restaurant that combines the smoky essence of traditional American Texas BBQ with the Thai reverence for beef.
She and Tor co-founded "The X Project", a hospitality group driven by a shared passion to create bold, unique dining concepts that continually push boundaries and bring something new to the industry. The group has expanded to include 10 restaurants and bars across Bangkok, including Tora Izakaya and Opium Bar, an immersive cocktail experience, which is ranked No.73 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2024.
Beyond her restaurants, chef Pam serves as judge on "Top Chef Thailand" and continues to gain recognition through her judging roles on global culinary shows such as "Top Chef Arab World", "The World Cook", "The Maverick Academy", "Iron Chef" and "The Restaurant War Thailand", where she showcases her voice as a leader in modern gastronomy.
Deeply committed to supporting the next generation, she also launched the WFW (Women For Women) Scholarship and Internship Programme last year, a platform designed to empower young female chefs in Thailand by providing them with mentorship, professional opportunities and access to education in the culinary arts.
The World's Best Female Chef 2025 is the first of several awards to be revealed ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 awards ceremony, which will be held at Lingotto Fiere in Turin, on June 19.
