Sammamish resident spotlights family recipes in new Thai restaurant
Sammamish resident Brian Ananratt entered the restaurant business at the early age of 7, helping his mother in their small family restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. At age 48, Ananratt now owns his own restaurant, where he prioritizes the authentic recipes and ingredients used by his family for decades.
On April 22, Ananratt began a soft opening for Thai Trio, his authentic Thai street food restaurant in an eye-catching purple-and-gold storefront in the Sammamish Highlands shopping center.
Although more than forty years have passed since Ananratt first entered the business, his recipes and values are still heavily influenced by his mother’s restaurant.
“Our slogan is ‘good Thai foods come in threes.’ Those are foods, drinks, and desserts,” Ananratt said. “Many Thai restaurants only serve one or two [of these],” he continued, “but I wanted to strike the perfect balance between all three,” explaining how the restaurant’s name also reflects this trio of categories.
Thai Trio’s values and goals reflect a fourth category as well: authentic Thai culture. Like the traditional street food stands that bedeck the roads of Bangkok, Ananratt believes in only serving a curated selection of exceptionally perfected items. In fact, in his mother’s restaurant, they only served—and even now continue to only serve—three dishes.
“[Some restaurants] offer 30-40 items […] to capture the needs and interests of everyone,” Ananratt said. “If I were to put that many items on my menu at the same time, […] I would have to sacrifice the authenticity and quality for diversity,” Ananratt said.
Ananratt’s menu will always offer 10-15 items, most of which will use recipes similar or identical to his mother’s. He plans to rotate dishes quarterly to add variety.
The response to Thai Trio’s soft opening has been positive, with the pad Thai being the most popular item so far. Ananratt also recommends trying their classic Thai tea, their broccoli stew, or his personal favorite, the mango sticky rice dessert.
Ananratt hopes to give back to the Sammamish community by creating jobs for the local youth population.
“We [plan to create] a number of jobs for high school students. All of our front-of-house staff and some of our kitchen helpers [will be] high schoolers,” Ananratt said.
He also hopes to support the high school community by offering future fundraiser opportunities.
Thai Trio is set to fully open in June. In the meantime, customers can order from the soft-opening menu from 4-9 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. As their business grows, they may expand to cover weekday lunchtime as well.
Regardless of how the restaurant evolves, Ananratt will ensure that the authenticity and quality remain the priority.
“One thing I like to ask myself for all of my dishes,” Ananratt said, “is would I be able to sell this in Bangkok?” From time to time, he has considered changes to his recipes, but he always comes back to his value of authenticity.
“I tried adding extra spices, but I felt that the flavor was too strong, and local Thai people wouldn’t buy it, so I kept the original recipe and the original level of authenticity,” Ananratt said.
Thai Trio is located at 600 228th Ave NE, Sammamish, WA 98074
