Basil Thai Cooking!

When you eat Mr. Kai’s food at Basil Thai Restaurant your taste buds take a culinary trip back in time to his beginnings as a son, a cook and an artisan. As a young boy of 10 Mr. Kai began his appreciation and love of cooking through his trips to the marketplace. There he would acquire the necessary ingredients his mother needed to prepare the day’s meals. Soon she would teach him how to cook the recipes that had been passed down from her ancestors 350 years ago. When you eat Mr. Kai’s food you are transporting your taste buds through a generational history that began 350 years ago in a small village on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. That small village’s continued growth would parallel Mr. Kai’s growth as he learned the more intricate recipes of his people. As the village has morphed into the metropolis that is modern day Bangkok, Mr. Kai has transformed from the small boy of 10 at the marketplace to a full-fledged cook and restaurant owner.

A Passion for Thai Cooking!

Since he emigrated from Bangkok to Los Angeles, California in 1978 Mr. Kai has kept the same passion for food that he had as a boy and he has translated his passion into a restaurant that cares about people not profits. Thirteen miles outside of Los Angeles, Basil Thai Restaurant sits in the city of Arcadia, California. This is Mr. Kai’s first restaurant and is completely family owned and operated, a feeling that will not be lost on you when you walk in and experience the smells and tastes of the foods you will soon be experiencing. Arcadia’s city motto is “A Community of Homes” and when you walk into Mr. Kai’s restaurant you are walking into a place very close to home for him, with his wife running the front of the house and his sisters cooking in the kitchen.

Authentic Thai Cooking

Many Thai restaurants in the area tend to relax the use of spices and lean toward the sweet side, catering to the tastes of the faceless masses. Because Mr. Kai wishes to always honor his ancestors through the recipes passed down to him, he uses the same spices they used long ago, although if you wish for an extremely spicy experience just ask and he is happy to prepare your food with more than a medium kick. Mr. Kai is where the preverbal “buck stops” and if the food being prepared is not up to his quality standards he will not serve it to his customers. He cooks and serves not because he wants to make money but has a genuine passion for cooking.