{"id":160,"date":"2026-09-27T23:16:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-welcome-121a408.netsolhost.com\/?page_id=160"},"modified":"2026-09-27T23:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:29:57","slug":"maothai-people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/?page_id=160","title":{"rendered":"PEOPLE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"skip\" href=\"#content\">Skip to content<\/a><\/p>\n<header class=\"hero restaurant-overview\" style=\"--cover:url('assets\/2e28fefca662cb.jpg')\">\n<div class=\"top\">\n<div class=\"heading\">\n<h1>PEOPLE<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"identity\">\n<p class=\"brand-story\">The Story of a Group of Thai Restaurants in Berlin and Palma<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"brand\" href=\"index.html\">THAI FOOD MAGIC<br \/>MAOTHAI<\/a><\/p>\n<nav class=\"language-switch\" aria-label=\"Language\"><a href=\"people-de.html\" hreflang=\"de\" lang=\"de\">DE<\/a><a href=\"people.html\" hreflang=\"en\" lang=\"en\" aria-current=\"true\">ENG<\/a><a href=\"people-es.html\" hreflang=\"es\" lang=\"es\">ES<\/a><a href=\"people-th.html\" hreflang=\"th\" lang=\"th\">THAI<\/a><a href=\"people-ja.html\" hreflang=\"ja\" lang=\"ja\">JAP<\/a><\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"intro\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"hero-bottom\">\n<nav aria-label=\"Main navigation\"><a href=\"story.html\">STORY<\/a><a href=\"restaurants.html\">THE RESTAURANTS<\/a><a href=\"thai-food.html\">THAI FOOD<\/a><a href=\"people.html\" aria-current=\"page\">PEOPLE<\/a><a href=\"press.html\">PRESS COVERAGE<\/a><a href=\"establishing.html\">ESTABLISHING THAI AS INTERNATIONAL CUISINE<\/a><a href=\"videos.html\">VIDEOS<\/a><a href=\"print-shop.html\">PRINT SHOP<\/a><a href=\"contact.html\">NEWS &amp; CONTACT<\/a><\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<p><main id=\"content\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"breadcrumb\"><a href=\"index.html\">PROLOG<\/a><span>\/<\/span><span>PEOPLE<\/span><\/div>\n<section class=\"restaurant-grid people-grid\" aria-label=\"PEOPLE\"><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"magic-chefs.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/0e845d8af03b41.jpg\" alt=\"Magic Chefs\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.1<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Magic Chefs<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"tuan.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/a9f5c1a02bc95f.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cTuan\u201d Pratuan Kaenphakdee\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.2<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>\u201cTuan\u201d Pratuan Kaenphakdee<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"team.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/2e28fefca662cb.jpg\" alt=\"The Team\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.3<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Team<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"marriages.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/2e7a5434124dda.jpg\" alt=\"Marriages\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.4<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Marriages<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"prayers.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/0d3939c05965c9.jpg\" alt=\"Prayers \u00b7 Exorcising gambling spirits\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.5<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Prayers \u00b7 Exorcising gambling spirits<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"palma-staff.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/5bbe918ac226eb.jpg\" alt=\"Palma staff\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.6<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Palma staff<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"restaurant-card\" href=\"friends.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/27aa3b04b3fa92.jpg\" alt=\"Friends of Maothai\" width=\"640\" height=\"440\"><\/p>\n<div><span>5.7<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Friends of Maothai<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/section>\n<article class=\"prose\">\n<h2>The Face of the Restaurants<\/h2>\n<p>It was the people of Maothai \u2014 the Maothai People \u2014 who wrote its history. Most of the chefs came from Isan, the poor north-east of Thailand, where Thailand&#8217;s unrelenting sun had prepared them for the hard work in the kitchens. With their earnings from Germany they could support their families, buy land, build houses, or give their children a better education. The greater part of their wages went there every month. Some established families in Germany.<\/p>\n<h2>Uthai and the Sudcha Brothers<\/h2>\n<p>Among the defining chef personalities was Uthai Janthimat, who quickly learned to speak good German. He was accompanied to Berlin in December 1992 by Set Sudcha, the &#8220;doyen&#8221; of Maothai&#8217;s Thai chefs. He had begun working in kitchens as a child and embodied the principle of &#8220;learning by doing,&#8221; as did his brothers Jamrath and Padeth. As did the outstanding chefs Wichian Klaikaew, Somkhid Nakhon, Suwimon Tjaenjaem, and also Sanit, Boworn, Somchai, Sinchai, Thawee, Chumpol, Buncherd, Martin, and others who passed through the Maothai school. Many of them still practise their craft today \u2014 some elsewhere in the world, or having opened their own restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>But the service staff too. Joy ran the flagship in Berlin until 2022. Khamphou Maniseng led Maothai am Fasanenplatz in masterly fashion; Khamsouane, Kjet, Hat, Otgo and Baggi from Mongolia; Sugar, Aom, Pornsukwan, Om, Ying, Thep, Gom, Som, Soulignon, Mr Ha and Ms Dao from Vietnam \u2014 they all gave the enterprise its face and soul. As did the German staff \u2014 Petra Gleim, who managed the first Maothai; Julia S., the loyal soul of the restaurants; Bernd F. And not least Tuan, who in 1988 as a tour guide in Bangkok unknowingly gave the first impulse towards the Maothai enterprise. Through their work, they were the finest ambassadors Thailand could have had.<\/p>\n<h2>Friends, Supporters and Companions Along the Way<\/h2>\n<p>Numerous people helped the group through turbulent times. First and foremost J\u00fcrgen H., who built the first Maothai with me; Joachim Zeller, who as Mayor of Berlin-Mitte held a protective hand over the restaurants; Monika Gr\u00fctters; journalists, guests, artists and helpers; my family and friends from Japan \u2014 Yoshi &amp; Fumiko T., Ryuko S.; Alwin Olbrich, the modest and experienced site manager for the first two restaurants; Anne and Jan H.; Sabine Gothan; Dr Jacobson; the media people whose support helped us survive many a crisis in the 1990s; the Ambassador and later Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Khun Damrong; our friend Thomas R.; Volker S. and also Christoph N.; and the loyal friend Tony Z. from New Jersey. Also the landlord on Mallorca, and Schweizer-Toni and Gori in Palma. Andreas S., Simone, Franzi, and Kevin Wilkins, who created the lettering for the smaller restaurants. They are all part of this story.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"sequence\"><a href=\"takeaway.html\">\u2190 Takeaway menu and safe food sealing<\/a><a href=\"magic-chefs.html\">Magic Chefs \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/p>\n<footer><a href=\"index.html\">THAI FOOD MAGIC \u00b7 MAOTHAI<\/a><span>Berlin &amp; Palma \u00b7 A personal archive<\/span><a href=\"#\">Back to top \u2191<\/a><\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skip to content PEOPLE The Story of a Group of Thai Restaurants in Berlin and Palma THAI FOOD MAGICMAOTHAI DEENGESTHAIJAP STORYTHE RESTAURANTSTHAI FOODPEOPLEPRESS COVERAGEESTABLISHING THAI AS INTERNATIONAL CUISINEVIDEOSPRINT SHOPNEWS &amp; CONTACT PROLOG\/PEOPLE 5.1 Magic Chefs 5.2 \u201cTuan\u201d Pratuan Kaenphakdee 5.3 The Team 5.4 Marriages 5.5 Prayers \u00b7 Exorcising gambling spirits 5.6 Palma staff 5.7 Friends [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-160","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/160\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}