The founders of Spitalfields Thai restaurant Som Saa have announced a second concept, which will focus on the cooking styles of Thailand’s southern provinces.
Kolae, to open in Borough Market in October, will centre on grilled dishes, with signatures such as half-chicken marinated in lemongrass, fresh turmeric, and black pepper, all cooked over flames.
Seasonal fish and seafood will be prepared using a similar technique, while salads will be pounded to order in a pestle and served with fiery condiments like nam phrik, which calls for garlic, chilli, lime juice, and fish sauce.
Som Saa founders Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver said the restaurant is to be housed in an old London coach house, with 80 covers split over three floors.
“Borough is an area that we’ve loved spending time in over the years, with an amazing restaurant scene, so it feels like a significant moment for us to be opening Kolae there,” Dobbie said.
The opening is the first new concept from Som Saa since a chef at the first restaurant, Shaun Beagley, was fired in 2018 after he was found to be running a racist social media account in which he mocked Thai accents and made other offensive and derogatory comments.
Oliver, a finalist in the 2009 series of MasterChef, later apologised after he was found to have endorsed one of the videos. He also conceded that the restaurant should have acted sooner in addressing Beagley’s posts.
The team told the Standard: “Since then, the founders have implemented significant structural changes to the business and HR procedures within the restaurant.”
Sam Saa was founded in 2016 and was swiftly admired by leading critics, with favourable reviews.
Numerous high-profile, big budget Thai-inspired restaurants have opened since, and Kolae may show London’s appetite for the country’s cuisine in modern, less traditional settings is only continuing to grow.
Oliver said of the project: “The concept for Kolae has been in the works for a long time and this feels like an exciting new direction for us. It will be a celebration of some very special dishes, ingredients and techniques that excite and inspire us.”
