20 Questions with Bangkok Supper Club and Fish Cheeks’ Jenn Saesue

Garlic, lime, fish sauce, pepper, and onion powder. I put onion powder on literally everything; I love it.

I honestly love water! But if I’m having a cocktail, I like a dirty martini: vodka, ice-cold, olives. 4 Charles Prime Rib has a great version with blue-cheese-stuffed olives.

Hot pot: I eat it all the time. I love making my own sauce, all the vegetables, a little bit of meat … you can do it how you want, it’s fun. I grew up having it in Thailand. I’ve had meetings over hot pot. I’ll go to Haidilao, or The Dolar Shop on Third Avenue; it’s not fancy and I love getting an individual pot.

There are so many. I love noodle soup, boat noodles. Also khao soi. My auntie used to make it with pickled cabbage, sweet pork on the side, homemade curry paste. It was very much a homemade dish, and I still haven’t found one here that measures up to it.

I want consumers to have more of an open mind to what chefs are presenting, and to stop generalizing cuisines. That’s been our motto and goal since day one, especially with Thai food. I think we’re doing a good job, and people are being receptive, so I hope that continues to be the case.

I wish that I was able to let go a little bit earlier than I did, to trust that my team can handle any situation that comes their way. We really try to foster an open, inclusive, educational atmosphere among our employees, and show them how we like to handle the business so they can feel empowered to do the same. It took a while to let go but once I did, I was able to see how much easier it could be.

We didn’t start with a lot of funding, we did everything ourselves, so we felt we knew how to do it best — how could anyone do better? But I learned you can’t grow that way — you can’t be good at everything and perform at 100%; other people can do a better job for you. Knowing that then would have saved me a couple of years. That said, I think I’m good at delegating tasks. I let my team take their own leads, and grow on their own. I think the fact that 55 Hospitality has continued to grow to more concepts and locations shows that I’m getting better at that skill.

This is so hard! It would have to be a trip around the world. First is New York — so diverse, so many cuisines, so many great places. Bangkok, of course, that’s my motherland; you can eat all day long. And Tokyo is one of my favorite cities, especially for all of the fish! I could never limit it to one city.

I splurge on food. I order way too much — I want to try everything! I often don’t know when I’ll get to visit a restaurant again, so I see it as R&D: trying, learning as much as I can. I go into every restaurant — even the high-end ones — with a family-style mentality. I want to share.

I value the people. They make the restaurant happen, every single day. I’m extremely grateful for all of our teams; we wouldn’t be where we are without them. The guests too; they spend their money and give us two, three hours of their day, they celebrate milestones with us. One guy recently proposed to his wife at Fish Cheeks and we had a whole discussion about how he was going to surprise her with the ring. She, of course, said yes.