After seven and a half years cooking over the roaring fires of Kiln, its former head chef Karla Knowles is striking out with not one, but two Thai restaurants of her own.
They’re backed by brothers Edouard and Romain Bourrillon. Romain is behind Cocotte, Casa Felicia and Jusu Brothers, and the first, Pam, opens on Charterhouse Street in Farringdon in early November (following a soft launch from October 22). The second restaurant, Aree, is will launch in Notting Hill in March next year.
Aree was originally planned to open first, but delays with construction meant that Pam leapfrogged it. Set to be playful, fast-paced and experimental, Pam is Aree’s “naughty sibling”, Knowles tells Broadsheet. “It’s kind of like your alter ego that starts to happen when the night starts. That fun side of you that starts to come out after work, and you just want to go out and meet your friends.” The name Pam is also a common female nickname in Thailand, and the name of many exceptional female chefs, which Knowles sees as a nod of respect.
At Pam, Knowles will be “respectfully playing with Thai flavours” over fire, folding in European technique and British seasonal produce. It’s an approach born from years of cooking the cuisine and realising quite how much there is left to explore. “There’s always something new,” she says. “There’s so much depth to it.”
The opening menu now includes fresh miang kham – leaf wraps filled with seasonal British produce; Knowles’s version of khao soi noi, a spicy rice flour pancake inspired by the Shan (one of Thailand’s ethnic groups) dish she first encountered in Mae Sai in northern Thailand; and a roast duck with skinny fries and curry sauce, an idea she’s still tinkering with.
Pam will be a 45-seat, industrial-style space with soaring ceilings, an open kitchen and a large concrete leaning table for anyone dropping in for a drink or snack. Knowles wants it to eventually play host to quarterly art exhibitions and collaborations involving chefs, artists, winemakers and DJs. “I really wanted it to be a space where everyone was part of it,” she says, as well as “a space to grow other people in different creative fields”.
Music will be a big part of the experience. Custom-made speakers are going in, while Knowles hopes to work with people from London’s music scene and eventually host live acts. “My greatest passion is music,” she says. “I mostly listen to UK jazz, neo-soul and electronic myself.”
If Pam is the extrovert, then Knowles hopes Aree will be “a little bit more traditional”, with more of a neighbourhood restaurant feel. She says the room will be “very homely”, with an open fire, a bar where people can drop in for cocktails, a more classic dining space and a private dining room. “We wanted to sort of bring back that neighbourhood vibe again,” she says. “There’s not many places like that here anymore.”
According to Karla, both restaurants will heavily reflect the lessons she absorbed during nearly eight years at Kiln, particularly its close relationship with growers and suppliers. Still, she’s conscious of building two restaurants with their own identity. Pam’s menu will keep evolving with seasons, travel and collaborations, while Aree will let producers dictate what appears on the plate.
For Knowles, the attraction of Thai food is partly its breadth and depth. “There are so many different ethnicities in Thailand, so much influence from the surrounding countries,” she says. “I’ve only really cooked northern Thai, and I still haven’t even touched the sides.”
Pam opens November 3 at 61 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HA, with soft launch running from October 22 to 31. Aree is currently planned for March 2027.
