Khao Sweet Khao
There’s no place like home. Unless it’s also your place of work.
Before moving to The Good Will Social Club at 625 Portage Avenue in January, Randy Khounnoraj and Korene McCaig operated Khao House, a 10-seat restaurant they opened in their West Broadway home in 2016. It was a challenge to find work/life balance when the lines were not just blurry, but essentially non-existent. “We lived at work,” said Randy.
The new, casual counter service at Good Will is exactly what they were hoping to find for the new version of Khao, said Randy, 39. They’re still serving Asian comfort food, but with more kitchen space to work in, and a bit more space between work and home life. One thing has remained constant, said Randy. “I get to work with my best friend every day.”
While they’re no longer inviting the public into their home, making personal connections is at the heart of Khao. Menu items reflect Randy’s family’s culinary heritage. His parents came to Canada from Laos in 1979, as refugees from the Vietnam War. Growing up, “I was a picky kid. I wanted to eat at McDonald’s. I loved fried chicken from Chicken Delight and KFC,” said Randy, who has developed a Khao version of fried chicken available at the restaurant.
They aim for affordable food that isn’t stuffy. “Everything on the menu is something we like to eat. We want people to be able to come in regularly without breaking the bank.”
Randy’s love for cooking began when he was in his early 20s, working at Wasabi on Broadway. “I liked the fast pace, and the hands-on, physical aspects. When I found cooking, it was work that didn’t feel like work.”
He attended the culinary program at Red River College, a path Korene also followed. Moving from the home restaurant to Portage Avenue was a way to bring their food to a diverse audience drawn in by the live music venue, and one that might not be expecting to find a specialty such as kalapao in a bar setting. The steamed buns come in two versions, one filled with pork, wood ear mushroom and egg, and a vegan option with eggplant, shitake mushroom and miso. Ramping up production on the buns was something Korene worked hard to accomplish, perfecting her technique and reducing the time it takes her to create the bundles.
Korene brought new meaning to labour-intensive food production when she continued to work on a catering order while in labour with the couple’s son, Frankie, now a year and a half old. His arrival also factored into the decision to move the business to Good Will. “I want Randy to be able to have more time to enjoy life outside work, too.”
All photo by Claudine Gervais
