PRU Restaurant, the first and only restaurant in Southern Thailand to receive a Michelin Star in the 2019 Michelin Guide Thailand Edition, has re-open to the public following a two-week renovation. The new additions to PRU mark the first refreshments since its opening in 2016, and will allow the culinary team to place its own aesthetic stamp on the restaurant’s design, offering guests an even more intimate dining experience.
The newly redesigned and decorated spaces feature two distinct dining rooms, which offer guests a much more personal and exclusive experience in-tandem with the new vision of service the restaurant has been developing. The revived interior boasts a neutral colour palette showcasing locally sourced materials, both of which make for a more refined and elegant ambiance.
“The challenge was to create a contemporary ambiance that serves our vision of food and service, while still being able to preserve the original charm and memory of the space,” says Chef Jim Ophorst, originally from Netherlands and renowned for his imaginative cooking style and innovative techniques.
In addition to the updates in the dining area, PRU’s kitchen space has also expanded. “In support of PRU’s “Plant, Raise & Understand” philosophy, we wanted to re-arrange our kitchen in a way that will allow for more creativity and freedom to be showcased in our dishes,” Chef Ophorst said of the kitchen.
The team has also enhanced PRU’s culinary concept by implementing a new “eco-system” based philosophy.
“We believe one of the customer’s needs is to hear stories, to be transported to places they have never been before. Thus, we have introduced new dishes that tell the story of a place. For example, we have a dish that incorporates river prawns from the Tapi river in Surat Thani province, paired with fresh ingredients found in the same ecosystem, such as sauces made from smaller fish, as well as vegetables and plants found in the same river,” says Ophorst. “The end result is a dish that becomes the perfect embodiment of that fantastic ecosystem.”
To present this new philosophy, PRU is launching a signature 8 courses menu that celebrates Thailand’s biodiversity, and the team has also kept favourite dishes from the previous menu in a newly designed 6 course set.
“This new approach certainly makes the sourcing of ingredients more difficult, but we feel it is much more in line with our vision and pushes us to work even closer with the local communities.”
Additionally, the culinary team has invested in further developing the PRU farm, which now grows 50 different species of plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables.
“We are so excited by the development of the farm,” adds Ophorst. “When we opened, tomatoes were one of the only produce we could grow here. Thus, we replaced our long-time signature phrase ‘Tomato from our own farm’ from the menu, and replaced it with ‘Amuse Bouch’, which is made of 14 different ingredients, all sourced from the farm. This really goes to show how much we have grown, both in and out of the kitchen.”
Additionally, the restaurant is expanding its business hours. PRU will now be open from Monday to Saturday.
For more contact: montarahospitality.com