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Chef Chatchai Saenngarm
Benjamas Taste of Thai
For Chef Chatchai Seanngarm, cooking was not something he contemplated ever doing; as a matter of fact, he was a teacher by profession in his native Thailand, and so a career in the hospitality industry was far from his visions. However as many who venture to a new country without knowing the language and having to work, he found himself in the kitchen of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan as a kitchen helper.
During his employment at the Waldorf, Chef Seanngarm manned all of the stations in the kitchen and therefore became very knowledgeable. As luck would have it, it was during a union strike that his big break came. While the others were walking the line, Seanngarm was made an offer he could not refuse. The management of the Waldorf Astoria saw an untapped talent in him and offered to send him to the Culinary Institute of America to obtain a degree in culinary arts if he would stay on with them.
Upon his graduation from the CIA, they sent him to Europe to further hone his skills, which he certainly did. Chef Seanngarm is a master ice carver and his knife skills are supreme.
After completing his obligation with the hotel, he became the executive sous chef at the Cornell Club where he remained for fifteen years until he opened his own restaurant in Astoria with his wife Benjama who herself is a gifted cook.
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