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Our Story

Do you believe in fate? We do. This is the story of a farmer who became a home cooking sensation and multi award-winning restaurateur. A street food restaurateur

A self-taught Chef who turned to YouTube, Chef New’s love for and connection with the ingredients she utilises in her multi award-winning restaurant started on the family farm in Beung Kan, Isan region of Thailand when she was just three years old, and where to this day the family still farm rice, fish, fruits, herbs and vegetables and her mum also runs a restaurant-cum-shop at the heart of the village community.

It’s farm life that gave her a deep knowledge of the source ingredients, traditional fertilization/fermentation methods, a strong sense of community and a zero-waste mentality that have shaped this young Chef, who on moving to Dubai in 2009 to join her partner, searched in vain for comfort food from Isan. After all, with 20 provinces, Isan is the largest region in Thailand but remains the lesser known. Unable to find flavours from home here in Dubai, New started browsing YouTube videos and called her mum and aunty to pick up a few tips to cook for herself.

A natural at it, word spread fast amongst Dubai’s Thai community who by 2010 had her cheffing for them up and down the city - a now legendary home cooking phenomena that later became Cafe Isan started with just AED200 and along the way, by chance she found her calling in life - cooking!

After 5 years a dream turned to reality when the restaurant we’d scrimped, saved and borrowed to build finally opened on 1st Jan 2016.

Despite such humble beginnings we won our first major accolade a year later, then in 2020 we picked up the coveted Time Out Dubai “Best Thai” award, was named by GQ Magazine as one of the city’s top 25 eateries and all the while Cafe Isan remains a great value, much-loved home from home for the UAE’s Thai community and Asian foodies.

In March 2021 Cafe Isan made history again by winning Time Out Dubai’s “Best Thai” award for the second consecutive year. What an achievement! And with three branches by mid 2021 it was also a fantastic year for Chef New personally - being the only female Chef in the middle east to make the prestigious Caterer Power 50 list.

Our heartfelt thanks for your love and support over the years. We’re just getting started!

*NEWS JUST IN: Cafe Isan’s licensed branch (former pop up) has just been crowned WINNER Time Out Dubai’s “Best Thai Restaurant 2023” and HIGHLY COMMENDED “Best Casual Restaurant in Dubai” [Grand Prix Award]!

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Chef New & Lisa