PAI will be celebrating 10 years since it opened in Toronto and the couple who owns and runs the Thai restaurant is looking back on how it all started.
Even though it's been a decade since they started their business, Jeff and Nuit Regular say the one thing that has remained the same since the beginning is their dedication to serving the most authentic Thai dishes to Torontonians.
PAI's menu is filled with dishes like Pad Thai, Khao Soi and various curries, ones you would find in Nuit's hometown of Pai in Northern Thailand.
When she moved to Canada, Nuit brought her love and knowledge for cooking Thai food to Toronto and to this day uses that same passion whether it's finding the right ingredients or cooking a dish the way it would be made back home.
Her cooking is so authentic in fact, that Nuit has been named as the first Thai SELECT Ambassador for Canada.
This means the government of Thailand has recognized the Toronto chef for how authentic her cooking is and her restaurants were awarded the Thai SELECT Signature designation.
Since PAI first opened in 2014, it's become one of the most popular Thai restaurants in the city. It's so popular in fact that you never know which celebrity you might run into during your visit.
Ahead of PAI's 10th anniversary, Narcity spoke to Nuit and Jeffrey about what inspired them to open the restaurant, where the creativity for each dish comes from and what they hope for their business in 2024.
Here's what we talked about and what you need to know before your next trip to PAI.
Who owns PAI Northern Thai Kitchen in Toronto?
PAI is owned by husband and wife duo Jeffrey Regular and Nuit Regular. Nuit is PAI's executive chef while Jeffrey also serves as the restaurant's general manager.
The couple opened the restaurant in 2014 and they'll be celebrating the restaurant's 10th anniversary in May.
PAI isn't their only restaurant. Jeffrey and Nuit also own the Thai restaurants Kiin and Sukhothai.
What was the inspiration behind PAI when you first opened in Toronto?
Jeffrey and Nuit say the inspiration behind opening PAI came down to passion and it was something they had always wanted to do after they met in Northern Thailand.
"When we were thinking of the name of the restaurant and the motivation behind it, PAI was the first thing that came to mind," Jeffrey said.
"It's where we met, it's our favourite place in Thailand, and it just felt kind of natural."
The town of Pai is where Nuit lived and worked before moving to Canada.
She told Narcity that her hometown was also a huge inspiration for the restaurant in Toronto, including "the food, the culture in Pai, where so many different kinds of people come through the town."
Where does the inspiration for your dishes come from?
Nuit learned to cook from her mom and family back in Thailand and she uses that as inspiration in the kitchen.
The executive chef says she wanted to be able to share the food she grew up eating back in her home country with Torontonians.
"The second inspiration is to keep tradition, to keep the Thai food the way [I had it] growing up," she explained.
Nuit has been adamant about keeping that authenticity in each dish she serves.
When she first started cooking in Canada, the executive chef said some restaurants would serve Pad Thai which was orange in colour due to ketchup being used in the dish.
Some critics then questioned why Nuit's Pad Thai didn't also have ketchup, but she refused to make compromises or substitutes to her cooking to please others.
"That was something that shocked me at the beginning of my career. At that time before I started my restaurant many years ago with Sukhothai I already knew I wanted to continue the traditions of Thai food," she told Narcity.
Do you have a favourite dish on the menu?
Nuit says it's hard to choose a favourite dish because she loves each one on PAI's menu.
"I tend to cook what I love to eat because that way I really know the flavours and how to [cook] them," she said.
The executive chef added that her favourite dish also depends on the season.
"In the cold weather, I like to have something very, very warm, and comforting like Khao Soi and Northern Thai noodle soup which is a pork bone soup."
Another beloved dish is one Nuit says she'll eat when she gets homesick.
"I like to eat more Northern Thai dishes like the Northern Thai Laab where we [use] a lot of spices that originate in Northern Thailand. It feeds my soul, having food that connects to home."
What dish would you recommend to someone coming to PAI for the first time?
Nuit recommends several dishes for any newcomers to PAI.
First off, the executive chef says the Pad Thai is a must.
"The way that we prepare and cook Pad Thai is so different [from other restaurants] because we use the authentic way," she shared.
Everything from the ingredients Nuit uses like tamarind paste to how she cooks it in the wok will influence the flavour of the dish.
For someone who has tried the Pad Thai, Nuit would recommend they try the Khao Soi next, which is a dish made up of fresh egg noodles in a golden coconut milk curry topped with crispy noodles.
Khao Soi is a special dish at the restaurant. Jeffrey explains that before they put it on their menu, it was a meal that was hard to find anywhere else in Toronto.
"I remember the first time I had Khao Soi [...] you could actually only find it in Northern Thailand. Even in Bangkok, you couldn't really find it," Jeffrey said.
He adds that by putting the dish on the menu at their restaurants PAI and Sukhothai gave them something unique that other Thai places didn't serve.
"There's so many Thai restaurants in the city, but if they want this one dish, we'd be the only one serving it," Jeffrey added.
Next Nuit recommends Grabong, which is made up of freshly shredded buttercup squash fritters coated in a red curry paste batter and then deep fried. She says it's a snack that's traditional to Northern Thailand and one she didn't see at other Toronto restaurants for years.
Lastly, the Miang Kung is a fun dish that comes as a platter with deconstructed ingredients.
Nuit says this dish allows customers to arrange a bit of everything together and wrap it in a fresh betel leaf. The combination allows you to have a "harmony" of flavours in each bite.
What are your hopes for PAI in 2024?
Nuit says the past few years have been tough on the hospitality industry and 2023 finally felt like things were getting back to normal.
"It's always a new normal so this year, we hope that we can continue to build on that momentum," she added.
The Toronto restaurant owners say they are looking forward to celebrating 10 years at PAI in May and are hoping to do something fun at their Duncan location closer to then.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Thai-style brunch at Kiin Café.
