Chef Pichaya “Pam” Soontornyanakij, chef-owner of Bangkok’s Michelin-starred POTONG, is a celebrated culinary star who made history as the first Asian recipient of The World’s Best Female Chef Award in 2025.
She built her career around an endurance that extends well beyond a busy dinner service. As a mother and mentor, Chef Pam’s approach to longevity is rooted in disciplined preparation, trusted teams, family support and the freedom to keep evolving. It’s a philosophy of protecting what matters today while preparing for the future, a mindset that reflects Standard Chartered’s vision of helping clients protect their health and wealth for the long run.
Walk us through your ideal day of service at POTONG. How much is planned in advance?
Almost nothing at service is truly last-minute. A tasting menu at POTONG is a curated journey through memory, place and emotion. The mise en place, timing between floors — and flow of guests from the welcome drink, up to the table and finishing with rooftop cocktails — is all planned well before the doors open.
What we protect in advance is the ability to be present in the moment. If the plan is tight, the team has room to react without panicking. That is the difference between a service that hums and a service that scrambles.
You’ve spoken about the “discipline of the kitchen.” How has that shaped the way you think about longevity?
The discipline I learned in the kitchen taught me two things: work is work, nothing personal; and if you make a mistake, you fix it and keep moving. Those two habits have shaped almost every decision I have made since. Discipline is what makes longevity possible. Without it, you burn hot for a season and then you burn out. With it, you can keep evolving without losing yourself.
In the kitchen, planning is everything. How does that same mindset show up in the way you plan your wellbeing?
Mise en place is a mindset. In the kitchen it means everything is where it should be before the first guest arrives. Off the pass, I try to apply the same idea to my life. Structure the boring things — sleep, family time, the meetings with my husband about the business — so the important things have room to happen well.
What does it take to protect your physical and mental health from stress, and sustain that level of performance each night?
The pressure becomes something you carry as a team rather than alone. Outside the kitchen, my anchor is my family. My husband works side by side with me. My daughter Pesha keeps me honest about time — she reminds me that whatever happened at the pass has to be left at the door before dinner at home.
I have learnt the hard way that you can’t run at 100 percent forever. Opening POTONG during the pandemic while recovering from childbirth was the biggest lesson. What got me through was leaning on my husband and my family. Longevity has more to do with what surrounds you than with what you can push yourself to do alone.
Recovery and rest are often overlooked in hospitality, even though they are essential for longevity. How do you build recovery into your routine?
I keep it simple. My favourite way to recover is time outdoors with my husband and daughter — we love to go shopping together at the market near our home and think of a simple meal we can make together. That is when love is shared and memories are created. Cooking for the people I love is its own recovery, different from cooking for a full restaurant.
Sleep is non-negotiable when I can control it. And the biggest ritual — closing the loop with the team at the end of a service so the next one can start clean.
As the owner of POTONG, many people rely on you. How does that sense of responsibility influence the way you plan?
POTONG has around 80 people behind it, and when that many people are depending on you, you plan differently. Every decision I make about how we grow and evolve, whether I agree to take on a project — those things are always on my mind. Planning for my own future means planning for theirs too.
What does taking care of yourself so you can take care of others mean in the context of running POTONG?
For a long time I thought pushing harder was proof of caring. Motherhood changed that. Becoming a mother made me more grounded, patient and thoughtful in my work. I used to chase perfection constantly; now I chase balance. If I am not steady, the team feels it. If I don’t protect time for my daughter, my whole week wobbles. So looking after myself isn’t an add-on — it is the base layer that makes everything else possible.
If you had to finish this sentence in one line: “For me, longevity means…” how would you complete it?
For me, longevity means being able to keep being myself, with more depth every year, for as long as I love doing it.
Chef Pam applies the same principles behind a seamless service to life: the right foundations, trusted partners and making room for what matters. Standard Chartered supports this forward-looking approach through holistic financial and health-focused solutions that help clients protect their wellbeing, plan with confidence and build lasting security.