Sainam : Angus An’s newest northeastern Thai restaurant in Davie Village

Sainam’s signature dish was not born in a professional kitchen. Spending the holidays in Thailand, in a family house whose construction had just wrapped up, Angus An decided the turkey could wait: what he wanted to crack was Wichian Buri grilled chicken, the specialty sold by every restaurant in the town of the same name, an hour or two from his home. A few tries later, the spice blend finally held together. Since June 2025, that chicken has anchored the menu of his Isan eatery on Davie Street.

Sainam is the newest venture from the chef behind Maenam, and by his own account the most regional of the lot. “A lot of our restaurants have dishes from everywhere, but Sainam hyper-focuses on the northeastern part of Thailand,” he explains. Isan, the country’s largest region, produces what he considers its most honest cooking: humble, robust, built on fermenting, frying and grilling. Even the name stays in the family stream, since sainam means creek, the small waterway running down from the maenam, the river.

Why open it now? Fifteen years ago, flavours this adventurous would have been a hard sell; “now, with more Thai restaurants around and more people understanding what Thai food is, we definitely are able to,” he says. He has described the project as a love letter to the region, in the food as much as in the space.

Back to that chicken. Wichian Buri’s claim to fame rests on crisp, dry skin and a nutty depth from the spice mix, so the team applies a dedicated dry brine to guarantee the crackle. The bird itself is a Loong Kong, a cross between Asian yellow-skin chicken, full of flavour but often on the firm side, and a Western breed, which brings the juicy tenderness.

Then comes the som tum counter. In Isan, a single restaurant can list some 50 green papaya salads; An trimmed his selection to eight, running from the classic som tum Thai to versions with salted crab and the region’s fermented anchovy sauce. Texture obsessives will appreciate the machine he imported to shred the papaya: it mimics the irregularity of hand shaving, so no two strands chew quite alike. From the same fermentation-happy playbook, the house sausage rests three days before hitting the grill, just long enough to develop its tang.

All of it lands in a 40-seat space of soft light, sculptural booths and smooth archways, hung with artwork by George Vergette. Running the kitchen day to day is head chef Poom Sikarin Sirisupanon, born in Khon Kaen, in the heart of Isan; the drinks program comes courtesy of Tony Limchai, of Maenam. With so few tables, booking ahead is a wise reflex. “Something I am super proud of,” says An of this one, 17 years after Thai food rescued his career. A creek, maybe, but one worth following to the source.

Written by Fabie Lubin
Photography by Olivia Horrell

Updated on October 14, 2026

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