Episode 34 of Season 3 - Kin Khao Thai Eatery

A restaurant can start with spreadsheets and careful planning, or it can start with a mom joking, “What if we open a restaurant?” and then texting, “We have the keys.” On Tasting Arcadia, Karen Mac Nair sits down with Pinki from Kin Kao Thai Eatery in Monrovia to hear how a family with backgrounds in bio, biotech, engineering, and design turned family Thai recipes into a fast-growing neighborhood favorite, and why Taste of Arcadia is the perfect place to try some of their food.

For more information and tickets to the Taste of Arcadia visit TasteOfArcadia.com. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Event Highlights

John Villa Announcer 0:04

Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of Taste of Arcadia. Taste of Arcadia is an inclusive event featuring food and drinks from the San Gabriel Valley restaurants, all for one price. Come and sample food, wine, beer, and spirits, check out our brand new cars, visit our business showcase booths, smile at our photo booth, and take it on the dance floor with me, Johnny Via from Dance Syndicate DJ Entertainment. Taste of Arcadia is September 19th at Santa Anita Park. The fun goes from 2 to 6 p.m. with a special VIP entrance at 1 p.m. Don't forget, this is a 21 and over event. Get your tickets today at tasteofarcadia.com. Now let's hear for our host, Karen McNair.

Early Bird Tickets And Host Intro

Karen Mac Nair 0:45

Thanks, John. Welcome everyone. I'm Karen Mac Nair, the CEO for the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce. The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce is who hosts and plans Taste of Arcadia. We do this podcast, Tasting Arcadia, so that we could put on Taste of Arcadia and you get to see who's gonna be there. I want to give you a little scoop though. We have an early bird special going on right now. For $49, you can get a general ticket, but it's through Friday. Friday at 11.59. The price goes up. So at 12 a.m. you have to spend $69. Now, if someone offered you that kind of discount, wouldn't you go get your tickets today? Thank you for moving, going to tastevarcadia.com to get your tickets today. Now you can pause me and then go buy your tickets and then come back. All right. Now I'm done with my lecture about getting your tickets. I just want you to be there. That's

Meet Pinki And Kin Khao Thai Eatery

Karen Mac Nair 1:40

all. We are here starting the podcast with Pinki. Welcome, Pinki. Hello, Karen. I love that you're clapping. We're clappers. We're clappers. Yay! How are you doing? Good, thank you. This is your second visit with us. You were on last season. So she, you're the manager, part owner, okay. Yes. With your family of Kin Khao Thai Eatery. Yes. Why don't you tell us where is it your restaurant located?

Pinki 2:05

It is located in Monrovia, actually. Sorry, Arcadia Chamber. It's okay.

Karen Mac Nair 2:09

We're both we're part of both. We love all of San Gabriel Valley.

Pinki 2:12

Uh we're located on Fifth and Huntington in the plaza next to Taisho and Robeks and Raising Canes.

Karen Mac Nair 2:19

Okay, great. Busy parking lot.

Pinki 2:22

Super busy right now. I think the summer heat, everyone's looking to like get into somewhere with AC.

Karen Mac Nair 2:28

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought about my whole own life. Yes, everyone wants to have lunch or dinner and just be somewhere nice and cool. Yeah. So we talked last year for taste. So I feel like you were kind of a new business at that point. How long have you been open?

Pinki 2:43

This year is our I think it's a year and a half now. So we hit one year in January and we're mid-year already.

Karen Mac Nair 2:51

Wow, actually heading to two years. Congratulations. There we go. People always say the first two years are hardest, and you're still smiling. So I love that for us and you. If you have not listened to the podcast last year, you could go back and listen. But go ahead, give us a little bit. How did you get in the restaurant business?

How The Restaurant Started

Pinki 3:12

So we actually were not a business family. I graduated with a degree in bio, and then my mom in biotech, my dad in engineering, and my sister in um product design. So uh super non-like food kind of restaurant-oriented family. And then, but my uncle had two restaurants in San Diego. So we uh found this little spot and we kind of just walked by, and my mom was like, as a joke, hey, like, what if you open a restaurant? And I'm like, haha, very funny. And then I think a month later she texted me, we have the keys. I'm like, keys to what? Yay, yay, mom. Yeah, what keys do we have? And she was like, our new restaurant. So I think we it was kind of just like a whim, I guess. Like, we kind of just knew we wanted to open a restaurant.

Karen Mac Nair 4:00

Um sounds like it was the desire of her heart, definitely.

Pinki 4:03

Definitely. I honestly, like a lot of her friends and family, like uh me and my sister as well, too, like pushed, like, we love her cooking and stuff, so we were always like, You should open a restaurant. Like, I would like love to have like other people like try your food and stuff. Um, but funny story, like, we actually bid on this one place only. I have a lot of customers come in to ask, like, oh, like, did you want to open somewhere else? Like, what other places were you looking at? And I literally told them, like, this is the only like place we applied to, and if we got this place, we would open a restaurant. If we didn't, then we weren't opening a restaurant at all. So I guess it was kind of like fate.

Karen Mac Nair 4:39

Yeah, the universe knew this time. So, is your mom's recipe what the menu is designed for? Yes.

Pinki 4:46

My mom, grandma, and then my uncle um also had like a big play in like what we're serving today. Um, they did a lot of like the trial and error for okay, love that. Yeah, so we have some items bringing to taste that are pretty close to home for us to has your menu changed at all since you opened? Yeah, actually, we had only 17, I believe, items, and now we have like 27.

Karen Mac Nair 5:12

Ooh, expanding. Yeah, I love that.

Pinki 5:13

So, like in January for our one year anniversary, we debuted a new menu, which my sister designed. Somehow, like everyone's um like profession or degree, like you can use it in a restaurant. And like, I don't know, I feel like bio with food is also very like trying and testing, like lab.

Karen Mac Nair 5:33

No, it definitely and portions, yeah, yeah, to get the mixtures correctly.

Pinki 5:37

Yeah, so we're kind of loads, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like, okay, this kind of works. I'm kind of applying my degree, so I love that you're

Menu Growth And Top Dishes

Pinki 5:45

expanding too.

Karen Mac Nair 5:46

I'm thinking that says a lot about your business that you know you're able to expand. Is there anything that is popular right now on your menu?

Pinki 5:52

Ooh, for the new items, uh, a lot of customers really like the kao soy, which is like a yellow curry noodle, sorry, noodle curry. And you can traditionally it's like with chicken, but we also have it with beef. Um, and it's like curry but with noodle instead of rice. Okay. Yeah. And there's a lot of toppings with that, but it's super hardy. It's a northern Thai dish, so uh not a lot of people in the southern regions have it, but the northern regions like they make it really spicy and really like hearty.

Karen Mac Nair 6:22

Uh-huh.

Pinki 6:23

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 6:23

So is yours really spicy? No, no, no, no.

Pinki 6:25

Okay.

Karen Mac Nair 6:26

I got scared. It's safe or non-spicy. Thank you. That's me. Um, now if I wanted to make it spicier, is that an option? Or what do you what bam do you put on it?

Pinki 6:38

It'll be either it depends on how spicy, like the we can put dry chili, uh-huh, which will make it a little spicier, or like fresh Thai chilies, which that'll give it a big kick.

Karen Mac Nair 6:48

Wow.

Pinki 6:48

Yeah. So depends how you want it, I feel like.

Karen Mac Nair 6:52

Then you need to order the tea to calm the kick down a little bit.

Pinki 6:56

Like a Thai milk tea just.

Karen Mac Nair 6:57

Now I'm gonna jump ahead and because I know this is a question for later, but you're bring which tea are you bringing to taste?

Pinki 7:03

I'm bringing Thai iced tea, like the classic with milk and everything.

Karen Mac Nair 7:06

I love that.

Pinki 7:06

Yeah, we have a lot of drinks. Um, we have we like wanted to expand. We have more alcohol now and beer. Yeah, so our wine and beer menu has gone a lot bigger too. And the drinks, we've just like tweaked them a little bit. I feel like they're better now. Okay. Yeah. Sometimes I look back at our menu after the one year and we have this new menu. I'm like, what did we have? Like, what did we like 79? Like, what were we thinking? Like, I was like, we had nothing to eat. Looking at the old menu, my sister and I were like, This is so ugly, like, oh my god, like, but this new menu, like, I think we're really proud of to have.

Karen Mac Nair 7:43

Well, just shows the growth in a small business because in the beginning, I'm sure you were very excited about the first menu, but then as you grow and get customers' input and you see what's selling that you guys get to grow.

Pinki 7:54

Definitely.

Karen Mac Nair 7:54

So,

Dine Thai LA Plans

Karen Mac Nair 7:55

any events coming up?

Pinki 7:56

Oh, you know, we I just got back from Thailand, and so we're jumping straight into Dine Thai LA, okay, which is uh organized by the Thai Chamberla. Yeah. So they're doing a lot with the other Thai foods in the Thai food restaurant Thai restaurants, my goodness, Thai restaurants in the area, and then we're kind of like doing the same idea as Dine LA. Um, so that is going on from July 15th to August 15th. So the last day for that is August 15th, but uh we're also doing Dine LA.

Karen Mac Nair 8:30

Okay, you're busy.

Pinki 8:31

Yes. My mom was like, we're doing all of them.

Karen Mac Nair 8:34

We're doing our such a decision maker. I love her. Get the keys, make the menu. Now we're doing dine LA. Okay, so is it gonna be dinner, lunch? What kind of specials are you thinking?

Pinki 8:45

For Dine Thai LA, it's one menu, dinner dinner, lunch and dinner, the same one. And then for dine LA, it'll be two separate menus.

Karen Mac Nair 8:52

Okay.

Pinki 8:53

Um, but dine LA starts, I believe, August 14th for two weeks. Or August 15th. I have to double check on that one. But whatever Dine LA is, we're also doing that one.

Karen Mac Nair 9:03

And do you have a website?

Pinki 9:05

We do have a website. Um, I think it's ginkaotieeatery.com.

Karen Mac Nair 9:09

Okay, and social media, we could also follow you on Yes, Instagram and Facebook. Okay, I believe. Just look up, what do we look up?

Pinki 9:17

Ginkaud um.monrevia.

Karen Mac Nair 9:20

Okay.

Pinki 9:20

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 9:21

Love that. Just so we can follow, because I'm sure you'll make announcements, show things, show the food that is up and coming.

Pinki 9:27

Yeah, my sister usually handles the social media, but she moved out for work, so now like I'm gonna try to catch up on it. She has like an artistic eye that I don't have. Like sometimes I'll do it and I'm like, oh, this looks good. And she's looking at it, and she's like, Okay, let me edit. And then I look at the final minute, the final video, and it's like nothing I shot, or no, like, no, like, none of like whatever I did. She was just like, Oh, let me just like it's like one word.

Karen Mac Nair 9:52

Yeah, I feel like all businesses struggle with their own outlook on how things change. But you guys are doing great. Follow it, you're they're doing a great job. Now, I know there's a little fun fact that I'm dying to talk about. Oh, wow. Something new happened this last 12 months. What is it?

Guinness Record Pad Thai Push

Pinki 10:11

Oh, we talked about this earlier. The Guinness World Records. Yes. Okay, so my restaurant participated in uh world's largest pad thai. Uh-huh. Uh this was oh, this was done at the Thai New Year Festival. Okay. Which is what we call like Song Grand Festival. It was in Thai town.

Karen Mac Nair 10:31

Uh-huh.

Pinki 10:31

Um, and we did this was like 17th annual, and this was like the time we attempted this. And it was, I believe, 1,300 pad ties in one hour.

Karen Mac Nair 10:40

Oh wow.

Pinki 10:41

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 10:41

So that they were made, not eaten. Made made. Bought.

Pinki 10:45

Like we sold them.

Karen Mac Nair 10:47

Okay, so made, purchased, and then people were eating them within an hour.

Pinki 10:51

Within one hour. And there was like like a weight requirement. There was like how much protein, how much veggie, like it was very like, and there were people like walking around like checking, like, because it was 30 restaurants, uh-huh, and we were all like trying to make as many pad ties as we can. It was so hectic. It was so hot. There were so many events going on.

Karen Mac Nair 11:10

So is there like a world record judge that's there watching to make sure that you're telling the truth?

Pinki 11:16

Yeah, there's like I think there was like 12 proctors or something. Oh wow. So they're serious. They they were like blind checking our plates, so they would take it and weigh it.

Karen Mac Nair 11:27

Okay.

Pinki 11:27

Like blindly to see if we like got up to that, like with like the standard, like what they need for to count. Yeah. So I heard like a l a lot of it was like like they had to go back and fix, or like it was like it was just yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 11:43

So and you're in the world record book now.

Pinki 11:46

I believe so. It's like we're like ChatGPT and Google says. So you know what? If they say I have a t-shirt, I have a t-shirt with my name, my restaurant name on it.

Karen Mac Nair 11:57

You need so 13,000 dishes.

Pinki 12:00

Uh right?

Karen Mac Nair 12:01

1300. 1,300 dishes.

Pinki 12:03

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 12:03

In that hour. Wow.

Pinki 12:04

In one hour. Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 12:05

That is crazy.

Pinki 12:06

A little stressful. It was so hot. It was just, we were all like working together. Love to see the Thai community come together.

Karen Mac Nair 12:11

No, it's fun. I mean, great food, people enjoying it, and it's definitely a memory from so many restaurants.

Pinki 12:18

Like, I don't know how many like I think there were 30 spots, and there's a lot of Thai restaurants in like LA and stuff. So we were really like lucky to be like chosen to be a part of that. Yeah. So it was a really good experience. Especially because we were only a year old.

Karen Mac Nair 12:31

Oh wow.

Pinki 12:31

And we just added the Pad Thai, like, I feel like pretty recently before our one year. Thank you to all of our bullies that made us add Pad Thai. Because we were like, we are not going to add Pad Thai. And then our our customers were like, we need Pad Thai. I'm like, okay. Okay, Pad Thai it is.

Karen Mac Nair 12:48

So just so you know, your comments were heard. We take we take your um input seriously. Yeah. It's great.

Break And Sponsor Message

Karen Mac Nair 12:57

Okay, we're gonna take a quick commercial break because when we come back, I want to talk about taste. I want to talk about the food that's in front of us, and there's some alcohol too, which bring us back to um some new things that are at your restaurant. Yeah, so let's take a short commercial break. So hang on everyone, don't go anywhere, we'll be right back.

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Tasting Chicken Satay

Karen Mac Nair 14:01

Welcome back, everyone. Um, we are going to start the best part, the tasting. Yes. We're gonna talk about the food that's in front of us. Pinki, I'm gonna let you lead the discussion. Tell us what is first. Um we also have this camera, so if you're watching on YouTube, you'll be able to see. I'm pointing up. If you're not watching on YouTube, I don't think you could see my finger. You're listening, we'll describe the food that's in front of us and um kind of take us on this dining experience. So tell us what's first.

Pinki 14:29

So we'll start with our appetizer, which is gonna be chicken satay, but our take on it, so we have instead of like the yellow curry, uh-huh, we do musaman curry on it instead, and they're cubed instead of like the flat um chicken breasts. Okay. I feel like that's how they traditionally serve it. Um, peanut sauce and r cucumber relish.

Karen Mac Nair 14:52

Okay, love that.

Pinki 14:54

Do you want to do this one first? Yeah, let's do this one first. Let's do this one first.

Karen Mac Nair 14:57

I'm gonna hold it here so we can have a great shot and all the beauty of it. It does look beautiful.

Pinki 15:02

I should have done my nails for this.

Karen Mac Nair 15:04

That's all right. If you're listening, you can't see them. So I'm gonna try to take off the skewer. I'm taking the chicken off.

Pinki 15:15

Okay.

Karen Mac Nair 15:15

Oops, I may just pull it off.

Pinki 15:16

Yes. Sorry, I think they cooled a little bit. Okay.

Karen Mac Nair 15:21

I'm just gonna use my fingers. Sorry, people out there. If you're watching, and then I'm gonna put a little cucumber relish around it and then dip.

Pinki 15:30

Yes. We also have an alternative uh dipping sauce if you're allergic to peanut. Oh they're cute. Uh we also have an alternative peanut like the dipping sauce besides peanut if you're allergic as well. Okay for it. What kind is that? It's like a sweet chili. Oh, nice. Yeah, it also goes with chicken, really well.

Karen Mac Nair 15:47

Okay, so I'm gonna try it. This is the peanut sauce.

Pinki 15:49

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 15:53

That's delicious.

Pinki 15:55

Flavorful.

Karen Mac Nair 15:56

Peanut, but brown sugar.

Pinki 15:59

It's a little sweet for because of the um palm sugar, I believe.

Karen Mac Nair 16:04

Oh that's it.

Pinki 16:05

Yeah. So I feel like a lot of Southeast Asian and South Asian cooking has palm sugar instead of sugar. It's like a little bit more like mala like brown sugar.

Karen Mac Nair 16:15

Yeah, that's what I thought initially. Like uh it's not molasses, but that thicker taste to it.

Pinki 16:21

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 16:22

So I've got that. This one was without the cucumber relish, but that adds a good flavor too.

Pinki 16:32

It's like I feel like the cucumber adds like a refreshing kind of like bite because the chicken and the peanut sauce are so rich. Kind of cuts through. It does. Yeah. We also make that in-house too, which is yeah, which is really cool. I didn't even know how to pickle anything until this cucumber. Wow. Yeah. Okay, that's a whole show on itself. Pickling. Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 16:52

Next year. Next year. I'm just doing pickled stuff. We're just gonna talk about pickled items. Okay, so

Basil Stir Fry With Egg

Karen Mac Nair 16:59

what's the next thing we have?

Pinki 17:00

Okay, next thing is our kaukapau, which is a uh ground chicken basil stir fry with red bell pepper and with served with rice and a fried egg on top.

Karen Mac Nair 17:11

Ooh. Yes. It looks beautiful.

Pinki 17:14

Thank you.

Karen Mac Nair 17:14

Now, with this that was a lot of stuttering. Should I however you want. Okay, there's no there's no. Okay. So I'm gonna do rice with the chicken to start off. Period. And then I'm the third the second third. The second bite, then, I'll get it.

Pinki 17:35

With the egg. Maybe spoon, yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 17:37

With an egg.

Pinki 17:38

In Thailand, you both use fork and spoon. Oh, you didn't. Like exactly like that, actually. A lot of you know what a lot of people who use fork and spoon, like, don't push it in, which I just did. Thank you.

Karen Mac Nair 17:50

We're clapping. Yay, we're clapping. I did it right. Yes. Okay, cheers to everyone. That is good. Very flavorful. Is that a tomato?

Pinki 18:02

No, it's not tomato. It's red bell pepper.

Karen Mac Nair 18:04

It's red bell pepper.

Pinki 18:05

Tomato.

Karen Mac Nair 18:07

Just a little tint tomato. Thank you for having it. Red bell pepper. They're my favorite. So let me get a bigger bite of the red bell pepper.

Pinki 18:16

Nice. And then in store, we also have like a spice rack if people like it spicier. Yeah. So we have like the fish sauce and chili, which is what we usually put with that to make it spicier, or the dried chili. Yeah. I feel like a lot of the Thai foods have like specific chilies you use with each of them that like make it better. Like with pad thai pads you, it's more of like a sour vinegary spice than like the salty fish sauce spice. But this one, the fish sauce spice.

Karen Mac Nair 18:45

So it's green onions, and what is this? Uh green beans. Green beans.

Pinki 18:50

Basil, red bell pepper, ground chicken.

Karen Mac Nair 18:54

Green beans. I just had to taste a green bean. Very good. Okay, now I'm gonna add the egg.

Pinki 19:04

Okay.

Karen Mac Nair 19:05

Looks like it's over medium.

Pinki 19:07

I believe so. I think it cooked while I was in the car as well. It's so hot right now. It is a hot day. I came back from Thailand and I was like, yay, it's some cooler weather, but it's hotter here, I feel like, than in Thailand.

Karen Mac Nair 19:19

Welcome home.

Pinki 19:20

Yep. I was telling my mom, like, I should just be in this hot weather in Thailand. Like Okay, so I'm gonna add the egg to the chicken and the rice.

Karen Mac Nair 19:27

Perfect. Put it in the spoon.

Pinki 19:29

Perfect. It's not that my sister loves to eat it too.

Karen Mac Nair 19:32

Altogether. It's so nice to be able to get double protein. Right? I am considering my protein intake recently. Oh my god. I mean it's nice, it's hard. Yeah. I also just started doing that. It's hard in life to have double proteins.

Pinki 19:47

In the morning, especially when I'm not trying to like go crazy with cooking.

Karen Mac Nair 19:51

I'm like. Sorry, everybody. That is really good.

Pinki 19:57

Yeah. The egg I feel like gives it a different, like creamy. Not like I don't even know how to describe it like that. No, it does.

Karen Mac Nair 20:04

The texture is different, but it is flavorful. Creamy is probably a great word for it. A little bit, I feel like the yolk. Mm-hmm. Adds a little.

Pinki 20:12

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 20:12

Yeah. Yeah. That is delicious. I love it.

Pinki 20:15

I think this is like the number one Thailand's like most cooked dish or something like that right now.

Karen Mac Nair 20:20

Yeah. Do you feel like this is one of the most popular traditional, most populars?

Pinki 20:24

I this was this has been our most popular dish since we opened, actually. Yeah. So this one was like, I feel like a lot of people really enjoy. I actually brought this one to uh a lot of other like catering things when we went out to like taste of LaSalle and stuff like that. Like everyone loved it too. So yeah. So good. Super glad that this is like our most popular menu. Love it. Awesome.

Karen Mac Nair 20:46

Okay. When I go to lunch, this is what I'm getting.

Pinki 20:49

Okay, period. It's on the lunch menu that we're doing with Dina Late. Yay. Yeah. So you get like flapping again.

Karen Mac Nair 20:55

Okay, so now you talked about

Mango Sticky Rice Beer

Karen Mac Nair 20:57

new things. You've expanded alcohol.

Pinki 20:59

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 21:00

And you have in front of you what?

Pinki 21:01

I have uh mango mango sticky rice beer.

Karen Mac Nair 21:05

Okay. Um my eyes got big. You couldn't see them.

Pinki 21:09

Um, we got tom yum and tom ka soup beer.

Karen Mac Nair 21:15

Okay.

Pinki 21:16

And mango sticky rice beer.

Karen Mac Nair 21:18

Okay. Yes. Is this something that would be traditionally served, or is this like a next generation new this is super like let's put our favorite flavors together.

Pinki 21:27

Yeah. So the owner, I believe, of this company is from from Monrovia, if I'm not wrong. Ooh. Yeah. I actually, but he's uh, I think one of my uncle's like friends as well. Uh, but they're also, I think, testing a Thai tea version. Okay. I don't know if this is like, should I be saying this? I don't know.

Karen Mac Nair 21:47

That's between you and them. Uh let's just stop that. We're gonna beep that up. Okay, so let's try the beer.

Pinki 21:54

Mango sticky rice beer.

Karen Mac Nair 21:55

Um and it's a warm day I'm excited about this.

Pinki 21:58

Okay, let me try to get the perfect AS. Some more like Yay! Yay! Okay, your cup. We have in store a it comes with a frosted glass. Okay, thank you.

Karen Mac Nair 22:12

Frosted and not just chilled. It's in the freezer. Love that. We just haven't this discussion yesterday about a hot day and a cold beer. The frosted glass makes a difference compared to a chilled glass. It's the most important part. So good job.

Pinki 22:25

Yeah. Also, like in Thailand, because it's so hot there, we eat drink beer with ice. Oh! Because like it's way too hot if you put it in a cup. Even a frosted cup, like it's just it's just lukewarm.

Karen Mac Nair 22:40

You can really smell the mango as soon as I took the.

Pinki 22:42

Yeah. I feel like the mango does I mean the sticky rice doesn't really hit until you drink it.

Karen Mac Nair 22:48

Okay.

Pinki 22:49

But the mango is pretty.

Karen Mac Nair 22:50

Yeah, great smelling.

Pinki 22:51

Strong. It is a light beer. It's a Kolsch style ale.

Karen Mac Nair 22:56

Okay. I'm gonna try it. Here we go.

Pinki 23:03

Is it light? It is. It's really light.

Karen Mac Nair 23:07

Sorry, gotta look excited because the end it is the flavor does change. And that I feel like that does taste like when you're having the sticky rice, the sweetness. It's like mango first. Yes, and then sticky rice.

Pinki 23:19

Yeah, it's like yeah, it's like that like Willy Wonka. Yes, you know.

Karen Mac Nair 23:25

I love that. So I was gonna start singing some Willy Wonka songs. Yep. Yeah, so well this is delicious. So we can buy this in the your restaurant.

Pinki 23:32

In the restaurant, yes. So unfortunately, this item and the next item we're talking about, I'm not having a taste.

Karen Mac Nair 23:38

Okay.

Pinki 23:38

But we're gonna bring Thai tea, which is like the thing I'm missing. Um, but I feel like these were more fun to talk about this year, too. Yeah. Because Thai tea is like, you know, nation's drink. Everyone knows.

Karen Mac Nair 23:48

Well, and at Taste of Arcade, we'll be happy to taste everything, and then we could just stop by your restaurant and taste the others. So, what's the other thing you have for us? I'm gonna take another drink of the

Coconut Rolls And Ice Cream Story

Karen Mac Nair 23:57

beer.

Pinki 23:57

No worries. We have uh for sale two Thai coconut rolls. So this one is banana flavored, and we also have one durian flavored and like the regular Panan coconut flavored ones. Uh-huh. Um, but these ones we just introduced. I love eating it with the mango sticky rice. Uh it's like a little extra like crunchy flavor, but this one.

Karen Mac Nair 24:18

Try how are mangoes doing this year?

Pinki 24:21

Unfortunately, we I don't think we're gonna be having them at taste this year. Oh sadness. It's like it was it has it's not been going well. Even in store, I feel like sometimes we're like, sorry. Not happy with not happy with the we have ice cream now, actually. I forgot to mention.

Karen Mac Nair 24:39

Just talking about the episode before this, and how excited I am about ice cream. What kind of ice cream do you have?

Pinki 24:44

We have so there's one rotating flavor. I think right now is gonna be it's a mango, but it's like fresh mangoes. Um, and then flavors to stay are Thai tea and coconut pandan.

Karen Mac Nair 24:55

Oh wow.

Pinki 24:56

Yeah, so these ones are also really good with the ice cream.

Karen Mac Nair 25:00

And this has natural banana in it.

Pinki 25:01

Yes. I was gonna reuse some ice cream, but it would have melted.

Karen Mac Nair 25:03

Oh, okay.

Pinki 25:04

Yeah. Ooh, ASMR crunch.

Karen Mac Nair 25:07

More crunch.

Pinki 25:10

It has sesame seeds in it too. Okay.

Karen Mac Nair 25:13

First it tasted like a cookie. Now I taste banana.

Pinki 25:17

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 25:17

And it's like light and flaky. And now I taste a coconut. Yeah. I don't know how they do it. I don't either. You're it's like a journey. Wow. The last flavor is a coconut flavor. It is very light though.

Pinki 25:30

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 25:31

It's thin, a small little roll, but delicious with the ice cream. Oh my gosh, that would be good.

Pinki 25:36

In Thailand, they do like this thing. Or as a kid, I don't know if this is like now they have it, but it's like people would be on with a bike after school, and there would be like they would have like an ice chest. I guess Thailand's version of like an ice cream truck.

Karen Mac Nair 25:48

Yeah.

Pinki 25:49

And they would do like a little cup with mango, like with sticky rice on the bottom, ice cream, uh, this coconut roll, and then mangoes on top, and that's just like the like the after-school snack.

Karen Mac Nair 26:02

No, it sounds delicious, especially on a hot day. Yeah. So good. So

Pageant Wins And Final Reminders

Karen Mac Nair 26:06

good. So well, Pinki, I'm so glad you're having back to taste. It was so fun. I'm glad you actually was so fun. Um, there's always a line at your booth. So when you go, make sure you stop by. We're very excited to have you back. So remind remember everyone, go to tasteofarcadia.com to get your tickets today. Pinki, before we go, I have one comment. You shared something about exciting with news with you personally. Do you want to share this?

Pinki 26:30

Yeah, so this year I competed in two pageants actually. So we did a Miss Song Gran, which is like Thai New Year, Miss Thai New Year, and then Miss Thai USA. We got first place for one of them and first runner up for the other one.

Karen Mac Nair 26:44

Oh, well, congratulations. So we're amongst royalty.

Pinki 26:48

Period. There's a cutout of me at the restaurant.

Karen Mac Nair 26:51

Is there?

Pinki 26:51

No, okay.

Karen Mac Nair 26:53

Got so excited to go take a picture. Yeah, my parents wanted me to have like a cutout. I was like, this is so awkward. Well, congratulations. We're so glad that your restaurant is part of um Taste of Arcadia. Thank you for being on the podcast again. Thank you for having me. We're really proud of your growth over the last year and a half and um excited that you're part of our chamber. Yeah. So, everyone, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure you go to tasteofarcadia.com and John, take

Where To Listen And Farewell

Karen Mac Nair 27:22

us away.

John Villa Announcer 27:22

Thank you, Karen, for another great episode. You can hear us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Don't forget, join us on September 19th at Santa Anita Park for Taste of Arcadia. You can get your tickets now at TasteOfArcadia.com. Thanks again for joining us for Tasting Arcadia. We'll see you at the Taste.