Kalaya’s Nok Suntaranon stars in Netflix’s ‘Chef’s Table, Volume 7′ this November
Netflix released a teaser for the show's new season, which stars the stylish owner of Kalaya in Fishtown, on Friday, Nov. 22.
November has been a big month for Philly’s beloved Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon, one of the city’s most celebrated chefs and the brains behind Kalaya.
The stylish James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Kalaya in Fishtown is set to appear in Netflix’s Chef’s Table series, premiering Nov. 27. The feature comes just weeks after the release of her debut cookbook, Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen.
“I’m very excited; it’s been a long time that we were working on this project, and it’s just beautiful,” she told The Inquirer. “It’s telling a very good story about my life, about me and my family. It’s something that I’m very honored and proud [of].”
Netflix released a teaser for Chef’s Table: Volume 7 on Friday, introducing a smiling Suntaranon walking with plates in hand inside her restaurant, ready to “blow your mind.”
“It’s just the best thing that any chef ever created, and I created it — it’s me,” she says in the trailer.
The show’s upcoming season highlights an impressive roster of chefs: Kwame Onwuachi of Tatiana By Kwame Onwuachi in New York; Ángel León of Aponiente in Spain; husband-and-wife duo Norma Listman and Saqib Keval of Masala y Maíz and Mari Gold in Mexico City; Evan Funke of Funke in Beverly Hills and Tre Dita in Chicago; Guirong Wei of Xi’an Impression in London; Peppe Guida of Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa and Villa Rosa in Italy; and Nite Yun of Lunette in San Francisco.
Suntaranon’s accolades speak for themselves. A former flight attendant who opened her first restaurant at age 50, she has a James Beard award, an Esquire’s Best New Restaurant award, and a nod from the New York Times. Kalaya also remains a favorite of Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan.
The Chef’s Table feature is “validation of my success,” Suntaranon said. “It’s a big documentary, and it’s going to last forever. Anytime people talk about Kalaya, they can look us up; they know who we are because we are up there together with so many world-renowned chefs — and I [don’t] even consider myself a chef."
The world will see “how amazing Philadelphia’s food scene is [and] how the food community in Philadelphia embraces different cultures,” she said.
Her new cookbook, coauthored with journalist Natalie Jesionka, offers a chance to cook easy-to-follow recipes inspired by Suntaranon’s upbringing in Southern Thailand with beginner-friendly tips and beautiful on-location photos. Highlights include dry red curry with panfried tofu and mushrooms, turmeric sticky rice with coconut shrimp topping, and spicy eggplant salad with chili jam and coconut cream.
“Four years in the making, [the cookbook] is very personal, just like everything about me and Kalaya,” she said. “It’s my life in your hands.”
Purchase the book on Bookshop for $32.55 — just in time to cook along as Suntaranon brings her story to the small screen.