Saiphin Moore on sustainability, food delivery and the rise of regional Thai food

The mini chain has gone from strength to strength when casual dining has hit a low. But Moore still creates every dish on the menu, based on the recipes she grew up on back home in Thailand, and plans to open a new site outside of the capital, she tells Emma Henderson

The chef met her husband in Hong Kong and after moving the London, the pair set up their first restaurant in Soho

You’ve now got an impressive 15 restaurants in London, do you think you’ll open one outside of the capital?

Rosa’s has become a staple in the London food scene and we’re so grateful to all of our customers who’ve supported us over the years as we’ve grown; it’s been quite a journey! We’d love to open a few sites further afield and have plans to open another site in Liverpool soon... watch this space!

The brand has expanded so quickly in a decade – how have you managed to keep on top of this?

We’ve really benefited from having a strong team both in head office and in our sites to support the growth over the past 10 years. We only ever expanded because we found sites that we loved.

This year has seen so many casual dining restaurants close or reduce their branch numbers. Why do you think you’ve avoided this?

Each of our sites has its own identity and we have specialist menus in lots of branches – from regional Thai specialities to our Soho branch which has a vegetarian and vegan specialist menu available. We might have a small group of restaurants now, but our intention is the same – to serve authentic dishes cooked and delivered by a team who are really passionate about Thai food!

Considering Thai ingredients are not native to the UK, how do you try and reduce your food miles?

I grew up on my parent’s farm in northern Thailand, where our lives were supported by whatever vegetables and produce were in season, and this is an ethos I’ve continued to stick with at Rosa’s.

Where possible, we source all of our meat and produce from local farmers in the UK and Europe, adapting our recipes to make the most of seasonal produce. For any Asian ingredients which aren’t available in the UK, we work directly with carefully selected farmers and producers in Thailand to ensure our business is as sustainable as possible.

You’re a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association: how important is this to you?

Sustainability is of huge importance to our business and is something that we build into everything we do. I’m lucky that my childhood home on my family’s farm in Khao Kor remains unspoilt by deforestation or roads, and at Rosa’s we want to reduce our own impact on the environment as much as possible.

Working with farmers committed to high environmental standards, both in Europe and Asia, and carefully selected drinks partners, we are proud to say that our food and drink not only tastes good but is sustainable too.

As part of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, the brand takes the environment seriously (Rosa’s Thai Cafe)

You started doing delivery from your Tower Bridge branch in August, do you think this is an essential part of business model for restaurants now?

We know that Rosa’s people like to have the flexibility to order their favourite dishes to home or office and we need to cater to that. Rosa’s food also travels really well, and we have excellent packaging and systems in place to make sure it reaches you in perfect time and condition, so we are a popular choice for delivery.

Your menus have vegetarian and coeliac friendly options, might you introduce a vegan one too?

During our veggie pop-up in Soho earlier this year, we worked hard to come up with both vegetarian and vegan alternatives to essential Thai ingredients like fish sauce, and now many of the dishes in our restaurants can be made vegan on request. We’ve always tried to cater to as many dietary requirements as possible, and where we can we will continue to experiment with our dishes to add more vegan-friendly options to the menu.

The Brixton site is one of 15 in the capital after continual expansion over the past 10 years (Rosa’s Thai Cafe)

What has it been like growing a successful business empire with your husband?

It’s had its challenges, but it’s been a great journey! We met in Hong Kong and, when we moved to London together and set up Rosa’s, had to sell our home in Hong Kong to open our restaurant in Soho. This was a big decision at the time but allowed us to begin our growth as a business! We’ve never looked back.

How do the restaurants differ between sites?

We now have 15 sites and each has its own style – Soho and Spitalfields have more veggie dishes available and Victoria specialises in Isaan dishes, from the north of Thailand. Carnaby is the only place to get Bangkok noodles, our take on street food noodles found in the capital.

Why did you choose Spitalfields in east London for your first site?

After starting out as a street stall on Brick Lane’s Sunday market it felt like a natural move to get our first permanent site in east London. While we love all of our locations, the Spitalfields cafe will always hold a special place in our hearts!

How has your time living in Thailand influenced the way you cook in the UK?

With Rosa’s, every dish on the menu has been created by me, based on family recipes or influenced and inspired by places I’ve lived.

I grew up in Thailand so through my family and helping out in the kitchen I developed a passion for cooking. After starting a noodle shop in my parents’ front room, I visited Bangkok and was captivated by the sounds, smells and tastes of the street food stalls and the variety of the dishes available. When I was growing up, I was taught to use whatever ingredients were available and I challenged myself to cook traditional Thai dishes with these ingredients, so nowadays we use a lot of typically British ingredients in our dishes – such as the Jersey Royal potato in our beef massaman curry.

How do you think Thai food has evolved in the UK since you moved here?

People are much more aware of Thai food and the range – it’s not just about pad thai any more. Regional dishes are becoming more popular, as are vegetarian/vegan ones.

You’ve already got two cookbooks, do you plan for more for 2019?

Nothing in the pipeline at the moment, but I’m not one to sit still so you never know!

Rosa’s Thai Cafe (rosasthaicafe.com)