Baan Lao and Its Transcendent Chef Continue to Ascend

Near the end of a three-hour sensory feast, Nutcha Phanthoupheng sends diners a petit fours serving of tiny treats that look like jellybeans and are shaped like fruits or vegetables. A jalapeno pepper, a tiny tomato, and a yellow eggplant are placed in front of me and I expect to taste the sugar of candy. Instead, I find my tongue tickled by dark bean, more savoury than sweet, elegant like everything else out of the Baan Lao kitchen.

The petit fours selections are luk chup, a candy that is traditional in Thailand, where they are mass produced for daily consumption after dinner. At Baan Lao, Phanthoupheng serves them to complete her masterful menu, providing in a ramekin a microcosm of her hard work, creativity, and devotion to the finest expression of the cuisine of her homeland.

The sliver of an indulgence is created over a three-hour process that involves Phanthoupheng dipping each luk chup three times in agar at different intervals before it is ready to serve. Such meticulousness is at the heart of the Baan Lao experience, in which Phanthoupheng compromises on nearly nothing, focusing on serving artful work that has a large purpose no matter how minuscule the size of an offering. A nurse who had a previous career as a cancer researcher, Phanthoupheng is now relentless in her desire to serve “food as medicine rather than pills.” She has witnessed how unhealthy eating leads to illness, which motivates her ambition to offer a refined dining experience. That desire drives her to put flawless dishes in front of her guests.

Course after course, she succeeds.

The 18-course menu is stunning — and less daunting than it sounds. One early course is a chicken dumpling shaped to resemble baby chicks, dotted with blue eyes for extra cuteness. Among the larger plates is a marvellous twist on the use of squid ink pasta. Phanthoupheng turns the product into an ornate tuile wafer that looks like a necklace. It’s placed atop vermicelli noodles with finger-sized pieces of crab meat and topped with a wild pepper leaf decorated with edible flowers. A velouté bath of green curry completes the dish. A lengthy langoustine is lavished with caviar and a blissful green curry. The water buffalo, sourced from an organic farm in North Vancouver, is braised for 10 hours, which tenderizes the shank before it is served with massaman curry and its own jus. The jus takes 24 hours to reduce and consists of the buffalo’s bone marrow, Thai herbs, leeks, carrots, and celery. Pad Thai isn’t on the regular tasting menu but can be added for a $55 supplemental charge. It takes four hours to prepare the Baan Lao version, which is served with thin strings of egg noodle delicately wrapped around the sustainably sourced black tiger prawns and vegetables.

The massaman curry is indicative of the spicing of many of Baan Lao’s dishes. Fish sauce with coconut and the primary Thai ingredients — lemongrass, pandan, and galangal — are present in many of the plates. It creates a problem for strict vegetarians as Phanthoupheng hasn’t devised a suitable substitute for the fish sauce. To execute a culinary vision so precisely requires rigidity and Phanthoupheng is a committed artist in that sense.

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Baan Lao has no freezer and a fridge that would fit in a normal-sized home. Food is purchased daily from fishmongers at the wharf in Steveston and suppliers in the area. That effort is to maintain the nutrition and health-conscious focus of the menu.

Her altruistic attitude towards the guests who enter the classy dining room is complemented by her years working with the chefs from the Thai royal family, an experience that has inspired Phanthoupheng to treat patrons like kings and queens.

Baan Lao, which means “Our Home,” is the creation of Phanthoupheng and her husband, John, who has provided the design work and funding for the enterprise. An entrepreneur and the consular general for Laos, John Phanthoupheng has roots in British Columbia and a lengthy career working for the Thai royals and diplomats around the world. He has supported his wife’s vision by contracting leading consultants in wine, bartending, and hospitality, trying to make the front-of-house experience at Baan Lao as exquisite as the efforts from the kitchen. There are luxurious touches everywhere in Baan Lao: The cutlery is the same as what’s used by the Thai royals in their Bangkok castle; the tea service includes a selection that comes in a $1,000 bag; and the artwork is show-stopping and jaw-dropping when you find out that, yes, an elephant painted it. The paintings were created by Suda, the Thai elephant who learned to draw. These pachyderm versions of masterpieces, purchased by John Phanthoupheng to buttress his wife’s culinary goals, adorn the Baan Lao walls.

“He is the key,” the chef says of her husband. “His inspiration is what put me up to starting the restaurant. He told me to do what I was happy doing and he would support me. I said, ‘I want to become a chef.’ It’s not an easy thing to do. In Thai culture, you are taught to be a follower not a leader, especially as a woman. John opened my mind and that gave me the freedom to pursue this path and then came the belief that I could do it.”

Given that Steveston is a small community and a 40-minute commute away from downtown Vancouver, finding staff has been a difficulty for the restaurant. But with only 20 seats the small team of servers — which includes Leagh Barkley, an exceptional sommelier with years of work and study in Bordeaux — typically execute the Phanthouphengs’ vision with grace and elegance.

Soon, the team will be hosting a series of chefs for collaboration dinners. The first of which features Larry Jayasekara, the 2016 United Kingdom Chef of the Year and current executive chef of The Cocochine, a buzzy restaurant in London’s Mayfair district. Heavily funded by private investors and designed by a leading art dealer, The Cocochine is steadily gaining popularity after opening in 2024. [Read More: Larry Jakasekara Heading to B.C.]

Like Nutcha Phanthoupheng, Sri Lankan-born Jayasekara has risen from a humble upbringing in Southeast Asia to become a culinary star in his adopted country. Jayasekara and Phanthoupheng will cook together both at Baan Lao and Phantom Creek Estates in the Okanagan Valley (details below).

The dinners with leading chefs from abroad are another indication of Baan Lao’s blossoming as the premier dining room in British Columbia and Nutcha Phanthoupheng’s continued rise in prominence in the Canadian dining scene.

MORE ABOUT BAAN LAO

Location: 4100 Bayview Street, Richmond (in Steveston Village), BC (see map below)
Website: baanlao.ca
Menu Price Range: The 18-course From Thailand with Love dinner menu costs $245 per person. Additions, such as wine or sake pairings, are available for supplemental charges. The Afternoon Thai Tea Experience is available on Saturdays and Sundays for $95 per person with a choice of tea pairings available for an additional charge of $20 to $45.
Notable Collaboration: The Cocochine x Phantom Creek x Baan Lao Collaboration dinners take place on August 1 (Phantom Creek; tickets here) and August 7 and 8 (Baan Lao; tickets here). Tickets cost $550 per person and include wine pairings.

 

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