THIS IS LIFE : Heir apparent

THIS IS LIFE : Heir apparent.

It used to be fast cars and pretty girls that did it for Paniti Vasuratna. Now, however, he's all about food

MIMI GRACHANGNETARA

At first glance Paniti Vasuratna, or Heir, doesn't look like he belongs in the catering industry. Somehow his thin frame doesn't exactly accommodate the idea of him having much to do with food. But Paniti Vasuratna is all about food.

He grew up surrounded by food, as a photograph of him playing with a Japanese bento lunchbox hung up on the wall of Bharani restaurant proves. True, one doesn't have to sport a pot belly in order to run a successful restaurant, but one would imagine that the cornucopia of dishes he must have tasted throughout the years would have at least given him a more generous waistline.

Slim and seemingly agile, Heir admits that he has tasted virtually all of the dishes on the menu at Bharani - a restaurant founded back in 1949 by his grandfather, First Lieutenant Aphai Isarabhakdi - but he just doesn't put on weight that easily. He is probably one of those lucky few who can say that.

Were he the average human being, he would have had to order clothes from the United States where everything is available in extra large. And perhaps it is also his fondness for kuaytiew rua, the traditional Thai noodle soup that explains why he hasn't been tipping the scales after all these years.

Kuaytiew rua, as die-hard punters know, comes in tiny portions and is not fattening. By the looks of it, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. With all the factors that would bring about the rapid expansion of both Bharani and Saen Saeb (a restaurant he himself founded, which specialises in noodle soup) working in his favour, it looks like he will have a flurry of dishes to chow down on in the years to come.

Since you love eating so much did you know straight away that you wanted to become a restaurateur after you graduated?

Actually no. When I got my degree in International Marketing from the American College of London, I started off helping my father in the real estate business. The 1997 economic collapse forced me to change sails and try out something different. I was an assistant to the senator under the Chuan Leekpai government for eight years before finally deciding to start up a noodle business as well as taking the helm at Bharani.

Being a restaurateur doesn't necessarily mean that you love to eat. Is there anything you actually can't stand?

The only things I remember hating as a boy were fruit and vegetables. I just didn't like the way they tasted. I didn't like their inconsistency. One fruit would taste sweet one day but then the next day, if I tried the same kind of fruit, it would taste different. The same goes with vegetables. I don't like that. I hated the unpredictability of fruit and vegetables. Now that I'm older, there is the health factor that I've become more aware of. I only eat the fruit and vegetables that I like now, because you really need them to maintain a healthy diet.

What is your favourite dish?

I have always adored kuaytiew rua. It was for this very reason that I eventually decided to open Saen Saeb, a restaurant specialising in noodle soup and quality Thai-French beef. The response has been amazing.

You plunged into the business without having any experience of running a restaurant whatsoever?

Yes. Initially I started off with only four or five tables, but it later became so popular that problems ensued. We didn't have enough staff and the system - or shall I say lack of system - back then created many loopholes for human error. People started to disappear, so it was then that I slowly started to work out what the problems were and set up a new system, which thankfully works just fine now.

You never imagined that a noodle business would give you such a headache, did you?

No, I really thought that it was going to be a cakewalk. But let me tell you something, if you have a patron who orders something like "no vegetables, no innards, no chilli and no meatballs" in his noodles, it can seriously drive you up the wall.

I believe that like every business, the restaurant business is replete with problems. It's up to the owner to solve them and to please the customers. For example, at Bharani, there was a customer who didn't like pla dook fu (deep-fried catfish), the reason being that she had just made merit by releasing some into the river. My duty was to create something else along a similar vein. I proposed fried salmon.

You were known as the guy who loves fast cars and pretty girls as a teenager. Has that changed?

I still love fast cars. When I was a teenager, perhaps I was more concerned with the adrenalin rush more than my own and other people's safety.

When I think about it now, it was a crazy thing to do. To drive in town at such ridiculous speeds, without thinking about the consequences was plain stupid.

But I believe that everyone needs to learn by trial and error, or as the Thai saying goes, "Every warrior must have wounds to show". So in that sense, yes I have changed: I've become much more sensible. I still love speed, but I wouldn't dream of compromising my own life or, at that, anybody else's ever again. If I wanted to drive a fast car, I'd go to a go-kart racing circuit.

What would you have done before?

Before I came to my senses? I would go to these gatherings where people who wanted to take their car out for a spin would meet. Back then, going over 200 kilometres per hour was normal. Nowadays, I'm more into vintage cars.

What made you realise that running Saen Saeb and Bharani was your calling?

My grandfather founded Bharani 58 years ago. Our loyal patrons would know that Bharani was one of the first restaurants that sold both local and international cuisine. My grandfather was fond of eating and cooking, so during his travels to many parts of the world, he would ask for the recipes of some of his favourite dishes and adapt them into his own signature dishes with the ingredients available in Thailand. My grandmother took over the restaurant right after my grandfather passed away. But she's getting old and for nearly two years now, she's been letting me call the shots. She tells me that she just wants to relax and enjoy life now.

It was when Saen Saeb patrons began to question why they couldn't order tacos and sausages from Bharani at my restaurant, I slowly began to see the logic in running both Saen Saeb and Bharani myself. As my grandparents' only grandchild and as a self-confessed foodie, it was the most logical thing to do.

Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007