Gouger Street Nu Thai And About Thomas Ng

Gouger Street Nu Thai And About Thomas Ng

South Australia Chinese Weekly reporter/Jo Phan

You walk down Gouger St and there is always a hand full of restaurants that you think of. One of which is Nu Thai Restaurant. You may have walked past the restaurant or previously had eaten in this restaurant. However, the man behind this divine Nu Thai Restaurant still remains to be a mystery.

Thomas Ng has had a love affair with food for many years. Thomas has devoted his life to creating a pungent and fragrant Thai delicacy, combining the tradition of Thai Food with vibrant new energy to Thai dishes.

As far as he can remember, Thomas Ng has had a love affair with good food.

Thomas grew up in Hong Kong and developed a love affair with fine cuisine. Hong Kong is known to be a Gourmet Paradise for one and all. Thomas took full advantage of this opportunity from a young age to consume himself with a variety of food in every class.

Thomas’s earliest memory was going to central market with his mum, which was a huge market across the road of Thomas’s family apartment to purchase fresh ingredients for daily cooking.

The combination of those beautiful memories with his mum and the mere act of purchasing fresh ingredients to be cooked together on a daily basis only strengthened Thomas’s love for food.

“the combination of smells, noises, having so many different varieties and colour is part of the food culture of Hong Kong and the vibrant Asian central markets.”

Thomas began working part time as a dishwasher hand beginning at the age of 14. However, he decided to seriously pursue a career in the kitchen when he turned 16. Through, determination, hard-work and a lot of sweat Thomas was promoted in the kitchen and in 3 years working full-time at high end fine dining Asian Restaurants, Thomas moved from a dishwasher hand to the youngest Commis Chef at the time.

However, Thomas’s mother wished for her son to continue his studies and obtain higher education. She decided to send Thomas to study in Adelaide to further his education in 1999 to study IT, which he completed. Although, Thomas completed his IT studies culinary food continued to attract himself back to the kitchen. It was his passion.

After years of working in one of the best Asian Restaurants in Adelaide, Thomas was given a golden opportunity that he could not turn down. The opportunity presented itself in the form of the Nu Thai Restaurant. Thomas and a friend decided to take over the current Nu Thai Restaurant.

With all of Thomas’s saving he had as well as support from his family, Thomas beginning his exciting business venture in Nu Thai Restaurant into becoming one of the gems of Gouger St. When Thomas opened his Nu Thai Restaurant door in 2004 although hard, he obtained acknowledgement for his fine cuisine and the restaurant was awarded the Best Thai Restaurant in Restaurant & Catering SA the following year, 2005.

Now, for the last 7 years, Thomas Ng continues to follow his passion in the kitchen and has continued his hand-on mentoring, cooking and management at Nu Thai Restaurant. His creativity, hard work and strive for authentic flavours has treated him well and has earned him in 2011 the Hall of Fame Thai Category by Restaurant & Catering SA.