World's Best Female Chef 2025
Pichaya "Pam" Soontornyanakij
Potong, Thailand
1 Michelin Star at PotongWorld's Best Female Chef 2025Asia's Best Female Chef 2024#13 World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 (Highest New Entry)
Signature Dish:Five Dimensions Tasting — featuring reimagined Pad Thai through her Salt-Acid-Spice-Texture-Maillard philosophy, served in the 120-year-old pharmacy setting
"My food is a dialogue between heritage and innovation — every dish tells the story of my family's 120-year journey."
— Pichaya "Pam" Soontornyanakij
Biography
Born in Bangkok in 1989 into a Thai-Chinese family with roots in Fujian Province, Chef Pam grew up surrounded by the cultural richness of her ancestral home — a 120-year-old traditional Chinese pharmacy in Bangkok's Chinatown. After studying at Chulalongkorn University and the Culinary Institute of America, she trained at Jean-Georges in New York before returning to transform her family's pharmacy into Potong in 2021. Her "Five Dimensions of Taste" philosophy and cultural storytelling earned her the World's Best Female Chef title in 2025.
Culinary Philosophy
Contemporary Thai-Chinese cuisine rooted in 120 years of family heritage