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At Jaras, the contemporary Thai fine dining restaurant listed in The MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2025 and located in the 2024 Two MICHELIN Keys InterContinental Phuket Resort, the running joke among the waitstaff is that if they break a plate, the cost won’t be deducted from their pay. That’s because the broken pieces, along with crushed oyster shells and leftover coffee grounds, are sent to a pottery studio to be transformed into new, brass-coloured plates. As the first restaurant in Thailand to partner with WWF Thailand, Jaras takes environmental responsibility to the next level—ensuring that little goes to waste while sourcing 100% of its ingredients locally.
Helmed by a rising young talent who is garnering his share of industry awards, Chef Chalermwut ‘Nui’ Srivorakul transforms authentic Southern Thai food into innovative and photogenic marvels. However, the dishes are not strictly southern food; the menu centres around the produce available during the season. Srivorakul is a native of Sakhon Nakhon, a province in the northeast, and brings with him a farming background and fermentation know-how from the region, which he artfully incorporates into his dishes.
Having studied tourism and hotel management at Mahasarakham University, Srivorakul naturally began working as a chef after his studies. During his decade-long career, he was part of the Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin team when they earned their first MICHELIN Star. After five years there, he moved on to gain more experience at the standalone restaurant Issaya Siamese Club, the food delivery service Grain, and finally, Signature (One MICHELIN Star, MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2025) at VIE Hotel.
His current stint at Jaras, however, is the ultimate expression of his expertise in Thai cuisine and his genuine interest in sustainable gastronomy. “Invasive species are actually edible; it’s just that few people know what to cook with them,” says the 37-year-old. “What we do at Jaras is present them through southern food.”
Trash to treasure
At this beachfront restaurant with both outdoor and indoor seating, visitors can take in views of the sea and Kamala Beach during the day, while dinners offer an elegantly lit ambience. The interiors are lined with dark pine logs—the very trees that once grew on the beach before the hotel was built in 2020. The restaurant’s zero-waste approach extends beyond the food; even the aromatic menu is printed on paper made from leftover lemongrass from the kitchen.Before the meal begins, guests are invited to the rear of the restaurant for a tour of a display area featuring a food map, organic ingredients, and a library of jars filled with pickling herbs of all sorts. All food that is part of the meal is showcased here, from mushroom garum made from leftover mushrooms to organic duck eggs from Katien Farm in Phang-Nga province.
The drinks, too, follow suit. An exclusive Thai sparkling rosé, served only at Jaras, has been created in collaboration with a Thai vineyard in Khao Yai to pair with the amuse-bouche and appetiser courses, while unusually upscale bottles of Thai mineral water indicate that they were sourced from Kanchanaburi in Western Thailand. Again, the waitstaff discreetly shares that its reusable glass bottle is made of high-quality, sturdy glass that breaks into large chunks rather than shattering when dropped.
All this is intriguing and eco-friendly, but what’s even more captivating is how Chef Srivorakul has turned pests and invasive species into a tantalising nine-course tasting menu.
Cooking with invasive species
Befitting its southern location, many of the nine courses in the Taste of Jaras tasting menu showcase seafood and southern delicacies. Crab shells, cucumber flowers, and even twigs serve as decorative elements on the dishes.“It starts with what ingredients we have and what we can make from them,” Srivorakul explains of his menu creation process, which completely goes against how others usually start with what they want to cook “I think about the flavours and the total composition first. It’s all authentic Thai flavours but with a modern look. As a consumer, I like my food to taste good, so it can’t just look good but taste terrible.”
“Some dishes, like fried stuffed zucchini, are ones I’ve been developing for years but can’t serve yet because we’re still waiting for the produce to grow,” he laughs. “We really plan ahead, and by working closely with the farms we source from, I also learn about region-specific produce. In Phatthalung, there’s actually a type of rice that grows in seawater!”
Besides working with local produce, it is noteworthy that Srivolalkul’s creativity also comes with economical innovation. His first course, a black squid tart, featuring squid ink sauce, uses second-cut squid tentacles sitting on top of an invasive water mimosa salad. He had been on a boat in Phatthalung, wading through these floating plants that compete for oxygen with the fish in the streams. “These plants grow so fast and there was so much it was even higher than my head while I was on the boat,” the chef recalls. “When we just leave these pests and invasive species to grow, it becomes a jumble that wrecks the ecosystem.”
The star main course, khanom chin, transforms Phuket’s beloved rice noodles with curry into a zero-waste triumph. The noodles are crafted from blackchin tilapia—an invasive species often dismissed by cooks for its dense bones and meagre flesh. This African fish has recently dominated headlines in Thailand, where its increasing presence in local waterways is stirring concern. A formidable disruptor of native ecosystems, the blackchin tilapia competes fiercely with indigenous species for sustenance. In response, the Thai government declared an all-out campaign against it in July of last year, committing 450 million baht to control the fish’s spread. At Jaras, Srivorakul has taken a different approach: by embracing the invasive fish, he turns it into a sustainable culinary ingredient. In the khanom chin, the fish not only elevates the dish but also serves as a symbol of the restaurant’s commitment to innovative, eco-conscious cuisine.
“We don’t need a pretty fillet; we can just blend the flesh to make the noodles. This really makes the dish more exciting than normal rice noodles. The fish bones are ground into powder for curry pastes, and the fish scales are used as crispy toppings, replacing the fried chicken that Phuket locals traditionally enjoy with khanom chin,” the chef proudly explains of his multi-layered dish.
Growing together with the locals
Another physically demanding aspect of Chef Srivorakul’s work is spending field days with the villagers and farmers who supply his produce. However, he’s more than happy to bring the hotel’s food waste compost to his producers and, most importantly, to learn from them. “It’s really tiring but also so much fun. The number of people who truly understand the forests is dwindling, but they’re the ones who know which invasive vegetables are edible and have medicinal properties. Newer generations don’t have that knowledge, so we simply don’t eat them.”By sourcing invasive flora and fauna from villagers, the chef is steadily reducing their burden while keeping traditional knowledge alive. “It’s not just us helping them—they know which parts to use and can recommend how to cook with these species. It’s better than having our vegetable plot at the hotel and missing out on the chance to exchange knowledge. I always feel good when we visit the villagers and have that exchange.”
