One of Vancouver’s best Thai chefs comes out of retirement for our guest chef series.
October 16th at 6:30pm
$49 for five courses by donation
Email us for a seat. Only 4 seats left
As part of Swallow Tail’s guest chef series, acclaimed Thai chef, Chef Montri, comes out of retirement to cook a five-course feast.
Chef Montri retired four years ago after 11 successful years as the owner and chef at Montri’s. His restaurant, located at Broadway and Alma, was consistently awarded ‘Best Thai Restaurant in Vancouver’ for each year it was open.
Montri started cooking as a young man in a Bangkok hotel. He then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where he trained as a chef. After five years in Denmark, he spent another five years as the Chief Steward on a cruise ship. The cruise ship was how he came to Canada. In the late seventies, he cooked with Umberto Menghi at Il Palazzo. In 1990, he opened his first restaurant at Fourth Ave and Trafalgar, which is now home to Q4 Restaurant.
After four years running his own business, which was also consistently awarded best Thai in the city, he left Vancouver to return home to Thailand where he opened the Four Seasons Hotel restaurant in Chang Mai.
“After working for yourself, you can’t go back to working in a corporate environment,” says Montri laughing. “There are too many meetings! You don’t get any work done!”
In 1995, he moved back to Vancouver to open Montri’s. And after 11 successful years of being the city’s favourite and most beloved Thai Restaurant, he decided to retire.
“I’ve become a snowbird,” he says, laughing, about his plans to go back to Thailand for three-months.
But he also has an interest in the supper club scene. He likes the supper club dining set up and has plans of his own to offer private chef services when he returns to Vancouver.
He looks forward to his dinner at Swallow Tail and is collaborating with Chef Robin to prepare the menu where 24 lucky diners will have the rare opportunity to experience dinner with Montri.
