Kin Dee Co-Owner Spins Off Houston Thai-American Kitchen for Delivery and Pickup

Siracha Wings at M Express Thai Kitchen

Lukkaew Srasrisuwan, co-owner of Thai restaurant Kin Dee in the Heights, is opening M Express Thai Kitchen expressly to serve delivery and to-go orders. The new business, launched as part of her MaKiin Concepts restaurant group, is in Fair Food Co. at 5832 Fairdale (just off of Fountainview between Richmond and Westheimer).

Fair Food Co. is from CloudKitchens, the same company that launched Blodgett Food Hall just south of downtown Houston in 2020. It’s also home to numerous other food businesses such as Birriaquiles, Raise The Roost, Don Burgers & Wings and a location from the Marco’s Pizza chain.

Chef O (left) and Chef Bell (right) of MaKiin Concepts restaurant group
Chef O (left) and Chef Bell (right) MaKiin Concepts restaurant group. Photo by Sean Rainer.

Delivery is available through multiple, popular, third-party delivery services: UberEats, ChowNow, DoorDash and GrubHub. Srasrisuwan has retained two Thai chefs — Aphassorn Predawan, aka Chef Bell, and Eakkapan Ngammuang, aka Chef O — to develop dishes that will maintain quality until delivered. Packages are ventilated, thus allowing steam to escape instead of making crisp foods soggy. Sandwiches will be both wrapped and in delivery boxes to retain heat. One last line of defense to protect the integrity of hot food are the insulated bags used by the third-party delivery services.

Beef Drunken Dog at M Express Thai Kitchen
Beef Drunken Dog at M Express Thai Kitchen. Photo by Sean Rainer.

Chef Bell and Chef O, who were both born and raised in Thailand, bring 15 years of experience including at five different Thai resorts, Yao Restaurant in Atlanta and, most recently, as culinary consultants at Kin Dee. They’ve been tasked with developing versions of classic American dishes infused with Thai ingredients. Examples from the opening menu are wings topped with Sriracha sauce, green onions, fried garlic, and cilantro; Panang Chicken Club Sandwich with lettuce, tomato, fried egg, American cheese and bacon in Panang curry sauce; and Beef Drunken Dog, a hot dog with flavors of the classic drunken noodles dish topped with stir-fried ground beef, bell peppers, red onion, shishito pepper and deep-fried Thai basil. There are also snacks, such as tri-color potato chips, and dips, including peanut and laab. The full menu and photos are available on the order page.

Customers can order for delivery either through the M Express Thai Kitchen web page or one of the aforementioned third-party services. Pick-up orders can be placed in person at a touch-screen kiosk at Fair Food Co. (parking is available onsite) or via M Express Thai Kitchen’s page on the Fair Food Co. website. When the order is ready, getting a pick-up order to you is automated. Your pickup locker number is texted to you, then, a robot picks it up from the kitchen and drops it off in the locker. Use your phone to open the locker.

“I am so excited to give Houstonians a first taste of M Express Thai Kitchen’s unique flavors and twist on traditional fast-food items,” said Srasrisuwan via a press release. “I feel that M Express Thai Kitchen represents a wholly unique addition to the vibrant and diverse Houston culinary community, and we are ecstatic to bring a new level of convenience to Houstonians and visitors alike.”

As announced in November, Srasrisuwan will launch her third concept — another brick-and-mortar restaurant called MaKiin, on the ground level of multi-use high-rise Hanover River Oaks at 2651 Kipling. She is also already planning for additional M Express Thai Kitchen locations by the end of this year.

M Express Thai Kitchen is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, visit the website or call (713) 489-1911.

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