How a Calgary restaurant became one of the city's hottest tickets for Thai food
Calgary’s restaurant scene is notoriously tricky to navigate, but one Thai restaurant has overcome a number of hurdles to become one of the city’s most popular spots.
From starting as a home kitchen project to its creative partnership with one of Calgary’s distilleries, Thai Siam has been on quite a journey.
From cooking at home
Tiago Sousa, co-owner of Thai Siam, told Dished that the business had been able to scale up from cooking at home to working from commercial kitchens before opening its first brick-and-mortar spot in 2022.
Within six months, it was clear to Sousa and his co-owner and wife, Sawanya, that they had already outgrown the space. Faced with signing a new lease or vacating, they ended up leaving.
However, finding a new spot to fit their needs proved difficult, with spaces being too expensive, too big or too small for the family-owned business. Despite the setbacks, customers were still desperate for a taste of Thai Siam’s food.
Charlie Hart/Dished
“After three months of being closed, we were getting messages [from customers] every day,” Sousa adds.
In 2023, Thai Siam began working with Mike Stanfield at Starr Distilling as a pop-up concept. The limited-time setup, which was initially meant to run for 10 days, was a hit with Calgarians.
The pop-up was extended until the end of last year, when Thai Siam and Starr Distilling decided to continue with the partnership and share the space in the city’s northeast.
“Now we share the same space, and it’s really cool. We’re creating a nice environment,” Sousa said.
In fact, alongside Thai Siam’s menu dishes, diners can also try plenty of handcrafted cocktails inspired by Thailand using Starr Distilling’s spirits.
Charlie Hart/Dished
Dining at Thai Siam
As co-owner of the business, Sawanya is also head chef at Thai Siam and takes inspiration from her life in Northern Thailand for the spot’s menu.
“Most of the flavours that you’ll find will be from that part… It’s a small menu, but at the same time, everything on the menu took time and effort,” Sousa added.
Some of the best sellers on the menu include its authentic Pad Thai with jumbo shrimp, complete with silky rice noodles in a tamarind sauce, perfectly seared shrimp, crispy bean sprouts, egg, and crunchy peanuts.
Charlie Hart/Dished
You’d be remiss not to order its Thai-style chicken skewers with a deliciously rich peanut sauce and its stir-fried wide noodles, a perfect sweet-and-savoury mix loaded with Chinese broccoli, egg, and either beef, chicken or pork.
Regardless of your spice tolerance, Thai Siam can tailor most dishes to your preference.
What’s next for Thai Siam?
View this post on Instagram
While Thai Siam has found a permanent home at Starr Distilling, the hype for its Thai cuisine hasn’t quite died down, with the restaurant regularly packed and securing a seat can be tricky.
However, Sousa teased that there may just be some exciting developments on the horizon, revealing that they’re currently looking for a second location for Thai Siam, which they’re hoping to open in 2025.
While no details have been confirmed just yet, watch this space!
Thai Siam
Address: #15, 4127 6th St. N.E., Calgary
Still hungry? Discover Dished Calgary on TikTok