A Taste of Nostalgia

Kiti Panit General Store in Chiang Mai makes its home in a teak mansion restored by its fifth-generation owner as an ode to the building’s rich history and authentic regional cuisine

The main draw at Chiang Mai’s Kiti Panit General Store are the herb-laced northern Thai dishes ranging from the well-known, such as khao soi noodle soup and sai oua sausage, to the unabashedly obscure. But visually there’s a lot to gorge on, too — from old adverts, antiques and ephemera exhumed from the third-floor attic to the 130-year-old venue itself.

Opened in early 2020, this upscale restaurant in a restored teak mansion compliments its locally rooted dishes with a heady side serving of vernacular nostalgia. Prior to its faithful renovation, this former store dating back to the late 19th century had, save for the frontage area rented out to stall vendors, sat empty for the last 54 years. Few passers-by gave the wooden fretwork and decorative pediment that punctuate its symmetrical facade a second glance, despite a prime location on Tha Pae Road, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Its past lives as a general store, barber shop and medical clinic were all but forgotten.

Rungroj ‘Tao’ Engkuthanon, the fifth-generation scion of the family of Chinese immigrants who founded the store, oversaw its revival with studious reverence. Instead of enlisting the creative services of a third party, interior design was handled by his business partner, veteran regional restaurateur Frédéric Meyer. Local craftsmen, meanwhile, were called on to bring the original features back to life, while family members served as informal consultants, including his 94-year-old aunt. ‘Her husband was a doctor,’ Engkuthanon explains. ‘In the decade before it closed, she was the last one in the family to do business in this building.’ Further guidance was sought from Tao’s uncle, Thai National Artist Jullatat Kitibud, an architect specialising in contemporary Lanna style, and additional insights came from old photographs that provided visual reference points for the tattered exterior.

Outside, the understated gold hue has been restored, now elegantly offset by the dark finish of the restained pillars, shutters, balconies and gables. Inside, three termite-infested teak pillars were replaced, the floors were reinforced with metal beams and the roof was renewed with salvaged tiles — and the results are even more resplendent than before. Hand-painted signs, from the building’s years as a barber shop, hang on raw brick walls and framed family photos complement pastoral wallpaper behind shelves lined with keepsakes. Accents in the bar area include a glassware cabinet, green light pendants and the ‘Kiti Panit’ lettering in a dimensional Thai font, all sourced from the depths of the attic. Furniture is a mix of original and upcycled. ‘When I first went into the building, it was divided into three rooms by wooden partitions,’ Engkuthanon explains. ‘We used those partitions to make all the tables.’

Out back is a courtyard framed by an ornately carved wooden balcony and staircase, while upstairs is where Meyer’s design chops — notable also in other ventures like Bangkok’s Issaya Siamese Club, Saawaan and Casa Sapparod — shine brightest. Here, below the seven-metre-high ceilings, new features blend with old to create an atmosphere that feels grander and more romantic than downstairs, although no less nostalgically Sino-Thai.

Text / Max Crosbie-Jones
Images / Courtesy of Kiti Panit