FOOD MATTERS
AtKitchen’s Asian cuisine hits the No 1 spot! Pond (right) and members of the AtKitchen team
It’s only been open a matter of months and already its ultra-fresh, tasty food has made it Plymouth’s Number 1 ranked restaurant on Tripadvisor: welcome to AtKitchen Asian Cuisine. Situated on Plymouth Market’s Mezzanine, and serving during the market’s daytime hours, AtKitchen’s ethos of simple, reasonably priced Asian food has proved a hit with diners since it was opened in May 2016 by Thai-born ownerchef Prisssana Hosakon. Prisanna, known by her nickname, Pond, opened AtKitchen after moving to Plymouth from London in March 2016: “I moved to London from Thailand 14 years ago and I trained as a chef in London under a Japanese chef,” explained Pond. “Then I visited Plymouth in 2015 and I really liked it. It’s relaxing and it’s beside the sea so I decided to leave London and move here.” It was her business partner, Giles Andrews, who spotted the unit among the food outlets upstairs at the indoor market: “Giles did all of the design and building work himself. He hand-made all the tables and did the kitchen. The little wire men that we have on top of the units was his idea, too. Within three weeks, we were ready to open.” Since launching in May she has now taken on five staff – some of whom are cooks who first came here as customers: “I didn’t know anyone at first so I started to ask my customers to spread the word that I was looking for chefs. That’s how I found my staff. Some came to me through word of mouth and others were customers!” Word of mouth has also helped to alert Plymouth diners: “People come in and taste the food and they tell other people. That’s how we’ve grown and I want to thank them for posting their reviews on Tripadvisor and making AtKitchen Number 1.” At the time of writing, well over 100 customers had posted reviews and AtKitchen had a maximum 5 rating. It also has the highest food hygiene rating of 5.
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The Plymouth Magazine January 2017