Owner, Chef Damrong Garbutt

Career : Surin owner/chef, Damrong Garbutt, was born in Kayong (which means frog) village (population: c100 people) which is 30 minutes drive from Surin town, where rice farms and silk weaving are the main industries. Her great grandfather helped set up the village and it is essentially one large clan, where most people related. Damrong learned to cook with her mother and grandmother and worked in family restaurants (Kew Gardens) in Bangkok. Before opening Surin in Ramsgate, Damrong spent 15 years working in gourmet Thai restaurants. Moving to England she worked Mai Thai, Leeds before relocating to London to work for Nipa Thai Royal, Lancaster Gate (where she cooked for the Thai royal family, then and Chaopraya (now Eat-Thai) in St Christopher’s Place, which was the UK’s first Thai restaurant when it opened 1977. She has also worked at the De Vere Hotel and Papaya Tree in Kensington. Surin restaurant is one of the best Thai restaurants in Europe and is recommended by The Which? Good Food Guide, Harden's Restaurant Guide, Time Out, Rough Guide to Britain, Lonely Planet and has been widely featured in the national and regional press. A review in The Guardian reported, “simply the best Thai meal I have ever eaten". filmed by BBC TV for "The Nation's Favourite Foods". Damrong has a starring role in the Channel 4 film "Margate Exodus" premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Awards : Kent's first Fairtrade Thai restaurant, and Thanet's first Fairtrade small business Commended in KCC 2007 Environment Awards as a Best Practice Green Business, and award-winner for Kent Wildife Trust. Accredited by the Thai Embassy: Thai Select award. Best Restaurant in Kent: Silver award by Kent Tourism; Kent Business Awards winner for Regeneration, 2004 and Corporate Social Responsibility, 2007. 2008 South East Business Awards: SEEDA and Business Link: Finalist, Environment and Workplace. Damrong with her staff