Bangkok’s best restaurant, Potong, takes an inventive approach to Thai-Chinese flavors, adding a modern twist to classic dishes. The Chinatown eatery earned a Michelin star in 2023. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants named Executive Chef Pichaya Soontornyanakij, or “Chef Pam,” the World’s Best Female Chef in 2025.
She named her restaurant Potong or “simple,” after her ancestors’ Chinese medicine shop.
The five-story restaurant housed a Chinese medicine dispensary and four generations of Chef Pam’s family for over 100 years. A glass-fronted elevator lifts patrons to different floors, offering a peek into the bustling kitchen. Chef Pam welcomes guests into her world through food. Each course ties back to the past to make memories for guests going forward.
Chef Pam uses the element of surprise to heighten diners’ curiosity about what they’ll be eating. She achieves this by engaging the five senses and balancing the five elements of salt, acid, spice, texture, and Maillard reaction (a chemical reaction where heats adds flavor to roast meat). Chef Pam’s multiple-course menu creates curiosity using color, texture, touch, and taste.