11 December 2025
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It is often said that traveling and collecting life experiences helps us better understand and appreciate our own roots. The same rings true for 32-year-old Suwijak “Mond” Kunghae of Royd — this year’s winner of the MICHELIN Young Chef Award presented by Blancpain in The MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2026 edition.
A proud son of Southern Thailand, Kunghae stands out for his passion and purpose: to share the stories and cultural heritage of his homeland with visitors from around the world who journey south to his island home — expressed through every dish he creates.
Born and raised on Phuket, the jewel of the Andaman Sea, Kunghae spent his childhood on an island that draws travelers from around the world and stands as one of Thailand’s most important culinary destinations outside Bangkok. Phuket’s multicultural character offers a rich food landscape, from local Peranakan dishes to international flavors of nearly every cuisine, all woven into a growing contemporary dining scene. The island’s creativity has even earned recognition from UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy.
Phuket’s culinary stage has grown even more dynamic since The MICHELIN Guide expanded to the island in 2021. A wave of new, exciting restaurants has opened since then, including Royd on Dibuk Road, helmed by Kunghae. Though the restaurant has been open for only a year, it earned a spot in The MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2025 selection almost immediately."
The talented young chef — now recognized with the MICHELIN Young Chef Award presented by Blancpain — comes from a family rooted in traditional Southern Thai cuisine. “Since I can remember, my family has run a Southern Thai restaurant called Kab Kluay in Patong,” he says. “The restaurant was basically my culinary playground. I helped with everything — from serving guests to being the kid who pounded curry paste. At first, I wanted to escape food and study design, but I didn’t have the drawing skills. Then, by chance, I had to cook for myself when I went to study in Penang, and that’s when I discovered my love for cooking.
“When I first told my family, they asked if I was really sure, because back then the perception of kitchen work was that it was tough and far from glamorous. So I decided to study hotel management first — that way I could still try out culinary classes on the side.”
Once Kunghae started studying, his confidence only grew — he knew he truly loved cooking. Inspired by manga like Shota no Sushi, Bambino!, and Iron Wok Jan, he decided to pursue French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu Dusit and OHAP, the culinary and hospitality school under Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.
He later interned with his idol and role model in French cooking — Arnaud Dunand Sauthier, former chef of Le Normandie — and also worked at Mezzaluna during the era when twin chefs Thomas and Mathias Sühring, now of Sühring restaurant, were still leading the kitchen.
After gaining experience in top restaurants in Bangkok, Kunghae eventually decided to return home to Phuket. There, he worked as a hotel chef while also running a one-day-a-week chef’s table called Mizulim. His travels with senior chef Phanuphon “Black” Bulsuwan of Blackitch Artisan Kitchen exposed him to local cultures and sparked a deep interest in Thai ingredients and indigenous wisdom.
That journey led him back to the culinary heritage of Southern Thailand, his own roots, and ultimately became the foundation of Royd. The restaurant’s name comes from a Southern Thai word meaning “delicious,” “full of flavor” or even “cool” — a reflection, he says, of both the restaurant’s identity and the spirit of Southern Thai cuisine.
“The food at Royd draws from my own upbringing as a Southern Thai native, from my family’s roots in Southern cooking, and from deeper studies through travels to learn from elders and communities across the South,” he says. “We reinterpret these traditions in a contemporary way while staying true to the essence and flavors of Southern Thai cuisine.”
“It has always been the shared dream of our team at Royd to showcase the value of Southern Thai food and culture.”
Kunghae believes that behind the bold, sometimes fiery flair associated with Southern Thais lies a softer charm and a complex, endearing character — much like Southern Thai cuisine itself. The local ingredients he selects for the restaurant reflect the way of life in the South, chosen for their quality and connection to the region.
Southern Thai food is diverse and rich in wisdom, and when reinterpreted with the French culinary techniques he has honed over the years, it transforms into contemporary Southern Thai cuisine infused with creativity. It becomes a way to tell meaningful stories about the South — its people, its traditions and its identity.
With such a distinctive approach, it comes as no surprise that this young Southern chef caught the attention of the MICHELIN Inspectors and went on to win the MICHELIN Young Chef Award presented by Blancpain, an honor given to the year’s most dedicated and exceptional emerging chef.
“When Royd was selected for The MICHELIN Guide recommendations last year, I was shocked because we had only just opened,” says Kunghae. “I was so happy — it felt like all our hard work was finally being seen. And this Young Chef Award, it was truly beyond anything I expected. I felt overwhelmingly grateful because this award is given to only one young chef each year, and MICHELIN and Blancpain chose me from a small restaurant with a modest team. It showed me that everything we have dedicated ourselves to is on the right path.
“We feel like representatives who can bring pride to the South. It has always been the shared dream of our team at Royd to showcase the value of Southern Thai food and culture and help it gain wider recognition. Receiving this award will help bring even more visibility to what we do, and our team will keep pushing forward to honor it — and to keep getting better.
“We will keep improving the restaurant in every aspect — from the way we express local wisdom and culture to how we showcase Southern ways of life — so we can deliver an even better experience to our guests after receiving this award. And we won’t stop traveling, learning and growing together as a team across every province in the South. Everything we learn about the region, we bring back to the restaurant. I want to break old stereotypes and show the world that Thailand has far more to offer than just pad thai or green curry.”
Kunghae also believes that Thai cuisine is incredibly diverse and that Southern Thai food, in particular, is both roi (delicious) and deeply nuanced. “For every seasonal menu, we travel across Southern communities to learn culinary wisdom from elders and to source the best Southern ingredients we can bring to the restaurant. The best way to learn about a culture and its travel identity is through food. And I want people from around the world to understand Phuket and the South — our way of life, our culture — through the dishes we serve at Royd.”
The chef shares a message for younger cooks who dream of working with food. “Kitchen work is fun and challenging, but it demands a lot of physical and mental strength,” he says. “I want everyone to push through the tough moments and learn to find joy in the work. What matters most is being honest with what you do, honest with your ingredients and giving your all.”
He hopes that Royd’s story will inspire the next generation — no matter which region of Thailand they come from — to embrace and elevate their own local cuisines, and to see that every region has equal potential.
“I've come so far for a Southern Thai boy to be standing on this stage.”
Blancpain is the world’s oldest Swiss luxury watch brand and the proud sponsor of the MICHELIN Young Chef Award, fostering its connections with the world of haute cuisine and award-winning chefs for over 30 years.
“Innovation” has always been Blancpain’s watchword, emphasizing the brand’s core values of precision, passion, authenticity and creativity. These values epitomize watchmakers and chefs as they strive to be extraordinary and test their boundaries with inventiveness to achieve excellence. Both seek to create masterpieces as they innovate for success.
Not only is Blancpain an official timekeeper for renowned culinary competitions, but it also counts chefs, past and present, from hundreds of MICHELIN Star restaurants as friends and boon companions.
For a long time, Blancpain and The MICHELIN Guide’s global partnership has promoted the pursuit of excellence, passion and expertise, which applies to the MICHELIN Young Chef Award presented by Blancpain. The award goes to the most outstanding candidate out of a group of promising chefs who have proven themselves as exceptionally talented and creative innovators, creating unforgettable dining experiences.
The MICHELIN Young Chef Award, presented By Blancpain, is the historic watch brand’s recognition of audacious young chefs seeking to add their creative flair to haute cuisine. The brand lends prestige to the award, promoting Thailand’s place in the culinary world while encouraging young chefs to pursue excellence on both the local and international stage by pushing the boundaries of their creativity and innovation.
FURTHER READING: How Sittikorn "Au" Chantop Won the MICHELIN Young Chef Award With His Bold Dream to Showcase "True" Thai Cuisine
Header image: © The MICHELIN Guide Thailand
