Kaoyum brings a fresh taste of Thailand to South Yarra

Somsak "Chef Bon" Faisingha wants you to rethink Thai takeaway.

As the founder of CBD Thai restaurant Mr Nice Guy (now closed) and former sous chef of Rice Paper Scissors, he decided to open Kaoyum, a small dine-in restaurant with a takeaway focus, after working at a local Thai restaurant during lockdown.

"When customers dine in, they get their food straight from the wok within a minute or two," he says.

"But when they order takeaway, they miss out on that kind of experience. I want customers to feel that their food is still fresh and that they can request dietary changes."

Kaoyum, named after a traditional rice dish dyed blue with butterfly pea flowers, seats 25 at five timber tables.

The menu lists dishes phonetically by their Thai names with English descriptions.

"I would like people to learn," says Chef Bon, whose family is from Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand, but who was born and raised in Bangkok. "Some people have been to Thailand before, and they know the names [of the dishes], but we are happy to explain as well."

Signature dishes at the South Yarra restaurant include pla tod kamin (fried whitebait with turmeric), plee gluy tod (deep-fried banana blossoms) and pla muek pad khai khem, wok-tossed calamari in salted duck egg sauce, inspired by Chef Bon's favourite late-night Bangkok street food.

He also recommends kao pad phoo (crab fried rice), for which he has tapped seaside memories.

The liquor licence is expected to land within days and he will welcome BYO. Until then, there's house-made Thai milk tea, which is also used to soak the biscuits in the "Thairamisu" dessert.

Open daily 5pm-9.30pm.

206 Toorak Road, South Yarra, 0410 460 416, kaoyum.com.au