Renovation plans for Chat Thai

Haymarket's popular Chat Thai restaurant will close later this year, albeit temporarily.

A renovation is planned for the site with a focus on expanding the dessert offerings.

The grill kitchen facing the street at the front of the restaurant will be replaced with a full dessert bar, while both the front and back kitchens will be refitted to create more working space.

According to Chat Thai director Pat Laoyont, son of owner and chef Amy Chanta, the ratio of dining to kitchen space will remain the same and any renovations to the dining room will be mostly cosmetic.

Laoyont's company, Archstallation, which designed all five Chat Thai restaurants, will direct the Haymarket renovations. He said the popular restaurant chain had "come full circle" and it was now time to revisit the group's original location.

"When we designed this place seven years ago we didn't think it was going to get this hectic and crazy," he said.

"The kitchen doesn't really cater for a busy restaurant."

While exact dates have not been finalised, the Campbell Street eatery will close during the renovations, which Laoyant expects to take "a couple of weeks" in August. It will reopen with an expanded offering, including "four to five [new] southern Thai-inspired dishes" and "a whole new dessert menu", he said.

"Seven years ago the desserts were something new that [mum] hadn't done before but now they are quite popular," he said, adding that the new items had not yet been confirmed.

"We want to look at making a separate dessert menu. I would say it would be twice as big as the current dessert menu."