Tande Thai, a new restaurant promising elevated, authentic Thai dishes, is set to open at Grandscape in The Colony on April 15. Behind the concept is investment manager turned chef, Paul Imjard, whose vision for opening a restaurant persisted despite setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While still working at his corporate job, he helped his parents open a restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012. That experience made him realize he wanted to have a more meaningful and tangible impact on the lives of others in ways that his previous role didn’t quite fulfill.
“When you work in a restaurant,” Imjard says, “you can see the impact you are having on your customer.”
His vision for a concept of his own began to take shape in 2019 but, unfortunately, as many of us know all too well, the pandemic thwarted those plans. Between then and now, he returned to Thailand to reconnect to his native culture and to complete his chef training at Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok.
That enabled him to set up shop for Tande Thai at Grandscape, where he’ll have a platform to share food from his culture, about which the chef says he’s passionate. He’ll import ingredients from farms in Thailand to keep diners’ experiences as authentic as possible.
When we asked him if there were any dishes he was particularly excited about sharing with guests, he highlighted a slow-cooked beef short rib with a scratch-made panang curry paste. On the menu, guests will also find lettuce wraps with pork belly and aromatic herbs along with specialty cocktails, including an Old Fashioned with the unique addition of a coconut water ice cube.
For more information, check out the website, where you can sign up to receive email updates. Tande Thai can also be found on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
Tande Thai, 5754 Grandscape Blvd., No. 105, The Colony. Opening April 15. See website for hours.