Our Story

Chef Kasem “Pop” Saengsawang opened Farmhouse Kitchen with his wife and business partner, Iing Chatterjee, in 2015. Challenged to create a fun, contemporary food experience merged with the traditions of his childhood, he presents a daring interpretation of Northern Thai food in the SF Mission. In an interview with ASNC, Pop explains his inspiration for the contemporary Thai comfort food created at his Mission neighborhood restaurant. Farmhouse Kitchen is one of the food vendor sponsors at the 2016 Asia Society Northern California Open House.

"My passion for food can be attributed to my daily trips to the local market with my grandmother. It was in that marketplace— in Loei, Thailand— where I learned how to select the freshest meat and produce to make meals daily for my family. These meals typically consisted of papaya salad and Tom Yum soup— both of which can be sampled at my restaurants."

"Although I studied computer science in Thailand, I found work as a manager at a Thai restaurant in San Francisco before being offered the job at Blackwood— which I happily accepted. With the job, however, came the challenge of creating an Asian/American fusion menu to dazzle the Marina district’s scrupulous foodies. I said, “We have to be better than the rest. Our diners expect nothing less than perfection.” I achieved this by merging my mastery of traditional Thai fare with contemporary American cuisine using all local organic meat and produce. My wife and I opened Kitchen Story, a California cuisine with Asian influences, situated on the border of Castro and Mission, in 2012 and it easily became a neighborhood staple."

- Chef Kasem