Born in the mountainous Chiang Mai, Thailand, Chef Chookiat is very familiar with the herbs and spices needed for cooking. He discovered his passion for cooking as a little boy when he was helping his mom in the kitchen preparing meals for his family.

Chef Chookiat understands the importance of healthy eating and Indochinese food relies mainly on fresh, varied ingredients and health-boosting herbs and spices to create flavour. He uses his knowledge of the different spices and herbs available in the IndoChina region to create rich complexity of flavours with no MSG, artificial colouring and preservatives.

Chef Chookiat even brought his expertise all the way to the setting up of IndoChine in Hamburg- Germany, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia, Jakarta – Indonesia, Delhi – India and Phuket - Thailand. He has shared his knowledge and passion of using only natural ingredients in cooking internationally.

Among his many duties, Chef Chookiat also designs new menus, guides kitchen staff to dish up new and authentic `nutraceutical` cuisine IndoChine dishes, as well as making appearances on various cooking programmes on television.

Talented yet humble, he was most recently featured on Cuisine and Wine Asia Magazine where he was put on the spotlight as the “Indo Chinese Treasure” showcasing his signature dishes like King Prawns with Lychee and Golden Whitebait with Garlic and Lemongrass. In addition, Chef Chookiat was nominated finalist in the “Rising Chef of the Year” award category in World Gourmet Summit 2001.

His dedication to the creation of healthy, authentic `nutraceutical` Indochinese cuisine presented in different creative forms has earned him tremendous respect and recognition among Indochine`s distinguished clientele like Singapore`s late Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, late President S. R. Nathan, Former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo; top dignitaries such as Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger; royalties like the King and Queen of Sweden, Prince Albert of Monaco, Princess Anne, King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, Lord Sebastian Coe of Uited Kingdom, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Princess Madeleine of Sweden and of course, celebrities like Sting, INXS, Bollywood iconic superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Robbie Williams, Sir Ian Mckellen, Chef Bobby Chinn, Chef Anthony Bourdain, Richard Branson, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li, Black Eyed Peas and Steve Tyler of Aerosmith.